Founded by entrepreneur Dame Anita Roddick in 1976. In a controversial move, Roddick sold her company to L'Oreal in 2006, who sold the business to Brazil's Natura in 2017, who sold the business to European investment firm Aurelius in 2023. A few months later Aurelius placed The Body Shop into administration and in 2024 it was bought by Aurea Group. It was later revealed that Aurelius paid only US$4.5 million upfront, with the remainder tied to performance-related payments now unlikely to be executed due to the chain's administration.