Maximillion Cooper is a British entrepreneur, designer, former model, and racing driver. He is best known as the founder and CEO of Gumball 3000. His profile also grew through his marriage to American rapper and actress Eve. Cooper founded Gumball 3000 in 1999 as an ambitious European road trip.
It developed into an international lifestyle and entertainment brand connecting cars, music, fashion, and celebrity culture. His earlier experience in fashion and motorsport helped shape the unusual combination.
| Quick Fact | Details |
|---|---|
| Full name | Maximillion Cooper |
| Born | 1972 |
| Birth country | England |
| Nationality | British |
| Profession | Entrepreneur, designer, former model, and racing driver |
| Known for | Founder and CEO of Gumball 3000 |
| Education | Central Saint Martins; University of Sussex |
| Wife | Eve |
| Married | 2014 |
| Children | Five |
| Gumball 3000 was founded. | 1999 |
Who Is Maximillion Cooper?
Cooper is an English entrepreneur who founded Gumball 3000 in 1999. He studied fashion design before working as a model and racing cars in Europe. Cooper later combined cars, fashion, music, travel, and entertainment into Gumball 3000. He is also married to Grammy-winning rapper and actress Eve.
His professional background is unusually broad. Cooper moved through fashion, modeling, motorsport, design, and entrepreneurship before Gumball became his main business identity. Those experiences also gave him cross-industry contacts that later became central to the brand. His story is therefore broader than his connection with Eve.
Gumball 3000 has operated for more than two decades and remains his defining professional project. The event has also taken its participants through destinations across Europe, Asia, and North America. For another entrepreneur whose public identity extends beyond a famous marriage, read Artandwriters’ Cash Warren biography.
His Early Life and Education
Cooper was born in England in 1972. His official Gumball biography says he studied fashion design at Central Saint Martins in London. His contemporaries there included designers Alexander McQueen and Stella McCartney. He later studied law and film at the University of Sussex. This combination gave him experience across creative and academic fields before he became an entrepreneur.
His education also helps explain the mix of design, media, and business that ran through his later career. Cars were another important interest. Cooper eventually pursued motorsport while developing his fashion career. Rather than following one traditional profession, he built experience in several fields that later intersected through Gumball.
From Fashion Model to Racing Driver
Before establishing his company, Cooper worked professionally as a model during the 1990s. According to his official biography, Elite represented him during this period. His modeling work included advertising campaigns for Giorgio Armani and Ralph Lauren. The income from modeling helped Cooper pursue another interest: motor racing.
He competed in Europe and raced with privateer Porsche and McLaren teams. That experience introduced him to another network of drivers, sponsors, enthusiasts, and automotive professionals. Fashion and motorsport may appear unrelated at first. For Cooper, they became two pieces of the same future business idea. His contacts in cars, entertainment, music, and fashion provided the social foundation for the event he launched in 1999.
How Cooper Created Gumball 3000
Cooper started Gumball 3000 with a road trip involving friends and cars. The first rally took place in 1999 and traveled across Europe. It combined driving with parties, nightlife, entertainment, and the personalities in Cooper’s social circle. The idea wasn’t limited to finding the fastest route between two locations. Cooper wanted to create a memorable travel experience influenced by popular culture.
Music, fashion, celebrities, unusual destinations, and distinctive cars became parts of its identity. That formula attracted media attention. Gumball’s official history says early events received coverage from outlets including MTV, GQ, Rolling Stone, and Vanity Fair. Famous figures also became associated with rallies and related events.
What Exactly Is Gumball 3000?
Gumball 3000 describes itself as a lifestyle brand built around its international rally. Entrants drive distinctive vehicles along a planned route between major destinations. The experience includes public displays, events, music, and social activities around the driving. One detail matters when understanding the event: Gumball describes itself as a rally, not a race. Participants travel on public roads and remain subject to the traffic laws of the countries they enter.
The organization emphasizes the journey and shared experience. The concept has grown beyond its original European road trip. Gumball has staged routes in different regions and developed projects involving apparel, entertainment, gaming, and brand collaborations. Its longevity is one reason Cooper remains closely associated with international car culture.
How His Different Careers Shaped the Brand
Cooper’s background helps explain why Gumball never developed as a conventional motorsport event. His racing experience supplied the automotive element. His fashion and modeling experience contributed to style, branding, and relationships with creative industries. His interest in entertainment added another component.
Gumball became known for bringing people from music, sports, film, fashion, and automotive culture into the same event. That crossover distinguishes it from traditional rallies designed mainly around competition. Cooper has described his original goal as creating a lifestyle brand connecting his interests. The road rally became the most visible expression of that plan. Over time, the Gumball name expanded into additional products, partnerships, and entertainment projects.
Cooper’s Interest in Art and Design
Cars aren’t Cooper’s only collecting interest. His official biography identifies him as a collector of contemporary art, particularly graffiti and street art. That interest fits naturally with his background in fashion and design. Street art also connects to Gumball’s interest in popular culture. Both can combine visual identity, music, fashion, and urban influences.
Cooper’s collection therefore provides another example of how his creative interests overlap with his business career. Design has also remained part of his professional work. His Gumball biography lists collaborations or roles involving automotive and fashion companies. These projects reflect the same combination of design and car culture that influenced his original business concept.
Cooper and Eve’s Relationship
American audiences may also know Cooper as Eve’s husband. Eve is a Grammy-winning rapper and actress whose career includes music, film, and television. The couple’s relationship has connected two people from different sides of entertainment and popular culture. They met through Gumball 3000 in 2010. Their relationship developed afterward, and Cooper proposed on Christmas Day in 2013. The couple married in Ibiza, Spain, on June 14, 2014.
The wedding had a fitting connection with their first meeting. It took place around the conclusion of that year’s Gumball rally. Their marriage has continued while both have maintained their respective careers.
How Many Children Does He Have?
Cooper is the father of five children. He had four children from his previous marriage: Lotus, Jagger, Cash, and Mini. Eve became their stepmother after marrying him. Cooper and Eve later welcomed their son, Wilde Wolf. His arrival expanded their blended family to five children. The couple has occasionally discussed family life publicly while keeping much of their children’s daily lives outside constant media coverage.
Eve has spoken about becoming part of the existing family after her relationship with Cooper became serious. Recent coverage continues to describe the couple as married and raising their son while balancing their individual careers. Their family story has consequently become another frequent subject in profiles of Cooper.
Is Eve Still Married to Cooper?
Yes. As of 2026, current public reporting continues to identify Eve and Cooper as married. They celebrated their 12th wedding anniversary in June 2026. Eve recently discussed their relationship and the importance of mutual support, honesty, and maintaining individual interests. Their careers remain distinct, with Eve working in entertainment while her husband continues his association with Gumball.
The couple has been together for much longer than before their wedding. Older biographies may not reflect later family developments, so publication dates matter when checking information about their relationship.
What Is Cooper’s Net Worth?
Online celebrity-finance sites publish various estimates for Cooper’s wealth. Don’t confuse these numbers with an audited personal financial statement. His actual assets, ownership interests, liabilities, investments, and private financial arrangements aren’t publicly disclosed in enough detail to confirm an exact figure.
Stronger evidence exists for the businesses and activities behind his wealth. He founded Gumball 3000 and has spent decades developing its events, licensing, partnerships, apparel, and entertainment activities. Earlier reporting also documented significant revenue connected with the wider Gumball business.
This distinction matters for celebrity biographies. A specific net-worth figure can look authoritative even when it’s an estimate. Readers can evaluate Cooper’s documented businesses more confidently than an unverified personal wealth calculation.
Gumball 3000’s Lasting Influence on His Career
Gumball has lasted far longer than its founder’s original road trip. The organization continues to stage international rallies and develop brand collaborations. Its official website currently promotes future rallies and other projects. The event also gave Cooper a recognizable identity outside conventional fashion or motorsport.
He became the person most closely associated with bringing together Gumball’s mix of cars and popular culture. That role remains central to his public profile. Gumball also established a charitable foundation in 2013. The foundation says its work supports disadvantaged young people through educational and recreational projects. This added a charitable component to the broader organization.
Why Cooper Remains a Recognizable Entrepreneur
Cooper’s career is unusual because it doesn’t fit neatly into one industry. He didn’t move directly from business school into a conventional company. His path took him through fashion education, modeling, racing, art, and entertainment. Those experiences eventually became useful parts of one brand. Gumball uses cars as its centerpiece, but its appeal has always included travel, personalities, style, music, and social experiences.
Cooper’s earlier careers provided practical connections to each of those areas. That background also explains why his biography attracts readers beyond automotive enthusiasts. Fashion followers, entertainment audiences, and Eve’s fans encounter his story from different directions. His career connects all those subjects through one long-running project.
You can also browse Artandwriters public-figure profiles for more entertainment stories.
The Bigger Picture
Cooper turned several seemingly separate interests into a distinctive business career. Fashion gave him a design background, modeling expanded his international contacts, and racing deepened his connection with cars. Gumball 3000 eventually brought those experiences together under one name.
His marriage to Eve added another dimension to his public profile, especially in the United States. Yet his professional story began years before their relationship and remains centered on the company he founded in 1999. More than two decades later, Gumball still defines his place in automotive and popular culture.
Readers researching public figures should distinguish documented facts from estimates that circulate across celebrity websites. Cooper’s education, modeling career, racing experience, family, and role at Gumball are well documented. Precise claims about private finances deserve more caution when no audited information is publicly available.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Maximillion Cooper?
He is a British entrepreneur, designer, former model, and former racing driver. He founded Gumball 3000 in 1999. He is also widely known as the husband of American rapper and actress Eve.
How old is Cooper?
According to his official Gumball 3000 biography, he was born in 1972. That means he turns 54 in 2026, although his exact age at any given time depends on his birthday. Reliable primary sources reviewed for this profile don’t provide a confirmed full birth date.
What does Cooper do for a living?
Cooper is primarily an entrepreneur and the founder and CEO of Gumball 3000. His earlier career included fashion design, professional modeling, and motor racing. He has also worked on collaborations involving fashion and automotive brands.
Is Cooper still married to Eve?
Yes. Current reporting in 2026 identifies Cooper and Eve as married. They married in Ibiza in June 2014 after first meeting through Gumball 3000 in 2010.
Does Cooper have children?
Yes. Cooper has five children. Four are from his previous marriage, while he and Eve share a son named Wilde Wolf.
What is Maximillion Cooper famous for?
He is primarily famous for creating Gumball 3000. The event began in 1999 and developed into an international rally and lifestyle brand. His marriage to Eve has also increased his recognition among American entertainment audiences.
Did Cooper race cars professionally?
He competed in motorsport before founding Gumball. His official biography says he raced for privateer McLaren and Porsche teams in Europe. Modeling work helped finance his racing ambitions during the 1990s.