Byrne was born in 1945, Melbourne, Australia, to parents Ronald and Irene Izon. She worked as an executive producer for television, with credits including Oz Encounters: UFO's in Australia, Sensing Murder: Easy Street, Loves Me, Loves Me Not, and one episode of Sensing Murder. After the death of her father in 2004, Byrne became very depressed. At the instigation of her daughter Hailey, she read The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace D. Wattles. She discovered positive thinking, the laws of attraction, and how to find further success in life. Hence, she started doing research on the subject and the project of The Secret was born.
The Secret
According to Byrne's research, she claims that all great men in history knew about the laws of attraction, suggesting Abraham Lincoln, Ludwig van Beethoven, Winston Churchill and others. Furthering her research, she found current proponents of the laws of attraction include author Jack Canfield, entrepreneur John Assaraf, visionary Michael Beckwith, John Demartini, Bob Proctor, James Arthur Ray, Joseph Vitale, Lisa Nichols, Marie Diamond, and John Gray. Byrne found success with both the DVD and the book of The Secret. The Secret was published in 2006, and by the spring of 2007 had sold more than 19 million copies in more than 40 languages, and more than two million DVDs. The Secret book and film have grossed $300 million. There are numerous testimonies of success stories of people around the world, who using the positive thinking approach explained in the book have elevated their lives. In 2007 Byrne was featured in Time Magazines TIME 100: The Most Influential People, which is a list of 100 people who shape the world every year. Since 2010, she has been featured in Watkins Mind Body Spirit magazine's annual list ofThe 100 Most Spiritually Influential Living People. She gained mainstream popularity and commercial success after appearing on The Oprah Winfrey Show.
Sequels
Byrne was inspired to write a sequel to The Secret called The Power after answering several thousand letters from readers of The Secret. On 17 August 2010The Power was published as both a hardcover edition and audio CD. She later published a third book called The Magic.
Additional works
More of her published works include The Hero, The Power and The Magic, and she has a website dedicated to The Secret, www.thesecret.tv. Her latest book is How The Secret Changed My Life.