Back in 2013, Belle Gibson was a wellness influencer whose story about battling terminal cancer through whole foods and alternative therapies saw her rise to stardom in Australia. Then, it turned out she faked the cancer. A new Netflix series Apple Cider Vinegar is loosely based on her sharp rise to fame and diabolical fall from grace.
The term ‘fiasco’ doesn’t get used enough, in my opinion, but it is more than applicable here, in terms of Belle Gibson, a very troubled person who would get slotted into the ‘grifter’ category if the implications of her lies weren’t so startlingly serious. All of this is the basis for a new Netflix show, Apple Cider Vinegar.
In 2013, Belle Gibson was one of the biggest names in Australia. She was an Instagram influencer in the wellness space, who announced the tragic news that after being given the diagnosis of malignant brain cancer and other multiple cancers – and told she had months to live – she was healing herself from her cancer with wholefoods and alternative therapies.
Or, as she put it, she was on “a quest to heal myself naturally… through nutrition, patience, determination and love”.
Her Instagram profile skyrocketed – she gained 200,000 followers and the media followed: she was named one of Cosmopolitan’s Fun, Fearless, Females in 2014, there were numerous interviews with her, and she became a wellness celebrity overnight, for her seemingly alternative, courageous journey through terminal cancer.
Along the way, she also got a cookbook deal for the recipes she had credited with ‘saving her own life’ and started an app, with Apple, called The Whole Pantry. It, again, went gangbusters – downloaded 200,000 times in one month. It won an Apple award. Everything she touched was turning to gold.
But there were whispers around the corner that for someone who was, alternative treatments aside, still battling multiple cancers, Belle was looking very well. There was a lot of energy, a lot of public appearances and a busy schedule. Not much time for all the appointments you need with cancer treatment.
At this time, two junior journos from the Sydney Morning Herald were digging into Belle’s story and the first unravelling of Belle’s reputation came when, after she had promised to donate $300,000 worth of proceeds to a charity, the journos contacted the charity and found they had never received them.
Then came the next, giant blow that the journalists would uncover: Belle never had cancer, she had faked the whole thing. What followed was a train-wreck of an interview with 60 Minutes where Belle went on to become the most-hated woman in Australia.
Later, in an interview with the Australian Women’s Weekly, she admitted she had faked it all. You can see why Netflix turned this into a show, right? Apple Cider Vinegar, which has just hit screens now, stars Kaitlyn Dever as Belle and is mostly based on the real story – with some creative license thrown in (after the Baby Reindeer lawsuit, I would say they’re pretty careful about using ‘based on a true story’ as a tagline).
But unlike Netflix’s other famous scammer, Anna Delvey of Inventing Anna fame, this was not just a bunch of rich New Yorkers getting tricked by a glam blonde with an unplaceable accent. Through her own story, Belle encouraged people going through cancer – people in one of the most desperate situations you can be in – to think outside of traditional, medicine-based treatments, and perhaps be influenced to forgo them altogether.
The Rise Of The Cancer Influencer
Last year, we spoke to a Kiwi, Lara Charles who, when going through her own cancer treatment, was influenced by another ‘cancer influencer’ who was well-known at the same time as Belle. Her name was Jess Ainscough, and she was an Australian magazine editor who hit the headlines after being diagnosed with a rare form of cancer when she was just 22. Like Belle, Jess had turned away from modern medicine to battle her cancer and used her platform to spread this awareness. However, unlike Belle, Jess’ cancer was real and the alternative treatments didn’t work – she died at 30.
What Jess’ journey of alternative medicine did, says Lara, was offer her “a sense of control.” But it didn’t work and on the morning she read about Jess’ death, Lara says she called her doctor immediately and said, ‘Put me back on the medicine.’
Belle’s story is a complicated one – In March 2017, an Australian court found that Gibson breached the law with her cancer story – and she was forced to pay a whopping fine – but stated that she may have “genuinely” believed her diagnosis. In the AWW interview, they wrote that it was very possible that Belle was ‘a vulnerable woman dealing with a psychological disorder.’ But they also noted that she showed little empathy for those who her lies may have affected: when she cried, they noted, it was only for herself.
Belle was also incredibly young while all of this insanity was happening and at no point during getting the book deal, or the app deal with Apple, did anyone think to fact check her cancer diagnosis (you can imagine all those involved have not made that mistake again).
Since then, Belle has dropped off the face of the earth, emerging every once in a while in weird rumours, but the Netflix series Inventing Anna gave Anna Delvey a whole new shot at fame. Who knows if Apple Cider Vinegar will do the same for Belle, but one thing that can’t be measured is the overall impact she had on desperate people, looking for hope, who put their faith in a scammer.
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The master-class podcast on this is by Maintenance Phase: I’m going to say it’s probably the best podcast episode I’ve ever listened to and I re-listen at least once a year.
Shameless also covered it in one of their deep-dive, three-part series – and as Aussies, they had a front-row seat for the media frenzy around Belle’s ascent and demise in public opinion.
The two journos that cracked the case wrote this book The Woman Who Fooled The World: the true story of fake wellness guru Belle Gibson and it is EXCELLENT.