[Un]reasonably outraged by BELLE GIBSON: an unreliable narrator
The biggest fiction writer of them all!
Apple Cider Vinegar is the talk (or the taste) of the town.
Haven’t heard of it? It’s the new Netflix series based on the real-life horror show that is Belle Gibson.
Who the hell is Belle, you ask? She’s the Australian wellness influencer who became infamous for claiming she cured terminal cancer through diet and natural remedies. Her rise to fame came through her blog, cookbook, and app, The Whole Pantry. But in 2015, investigative journalists Nick Toscano and Beau Donnelly exposed the truth: Belle’s cancer diagnosis was fabricated. The scandal eventually inspired the book The Woman Who Fooled the World, and now, Netflix has adapted her story into a series.
I’ve been following this story for years for several reasons:
The unravelling scandal captivated me.
I knew a local family connected to her.
My editing class used her case to study publisher liability and fact-checking.
And okay, maybe it inspired a novel I was working on…
Have you watched this interview?
What struck me most was Belle’s ability to lie with a straight face. She used language to avoid questions in a way I’d never seen before. I’ll never forget watching her 60 Minutes interview, shouting at the TV: Just answer the question! Her charisma and business savvy were undeniable—I mean to get her app on the Apple Watch was pretty significant. If only she had used her talents for good instead of personal gain.
This case hit close to home for me. In 2012, we lost a dear friend to bowel cancer at age 36. The following year, another friend passed away from brain cancer at 38. My father died of oesophageal cancer in 2017, at 66. I’ve seen firsthand the devastation cancer causes, both to patients and their families. To think that people may have followed Belle’s advice, abandoning conventional treatment for her “natural” approach, and that could have cost them everything—hope, health, and even their lives—boils my blood.
One cancer survivor shared their experience, saying:
“I started following @healing_belle in 2013, just as her star was rising. I fell for Belle Gibson's story hard. I wished I could be as strong as her, to heal myself with food and a natural approach, but I was scared. Everything moved so quickly, and I had a fundamental faith in science and medicine that propelled me to jump into treatment within 24 hours of my diagnosis. Nonetheless, it was a tremendously tumultuous year where I doubted myself and my choices, especially compared to the sexy, modern, and all-natural cancer-fighting style of Belle Gibson. It was rare to see cancer icons my age who were still full of life despite their diagnoses."
Once the scandal broke, Belle became a major liability for Apple, who quickly removed The Whole Pantry app. Her publisher, Penguin, pulped the cookbooks, too.
Kaitlyn Dever as Belle Gibson
In the Netflix series, Kaitlyn Dever does an incredible job portraying Belle, capturing not only her story but also the Aussie accent. If you're curious about the real-life details versus creative liberties in the show, this article breaks it all down.
So, what happened to Belle? She faced legal action for deceptive conduct, was fined for misleading consumers, and breached Australian Consumer Law. As far as I know, those fines have never been paid. The fact that she has effectively gotten away with her deception—possibly contributing to people abandoning real treatment and even causing deaths as well as raising money on behalf of charities that she never paid—and continues to skirt responsibility with excuses of being young, vague, and misunderstood is enough to make me go postal. My outrage, in this case, is extremely reasonable. Why has it taken a TV series to prompt any real follow-up on her crimes?
The last I heard, in 2021, she was adopted by the Oromo community in Melbourne, and she started identifying as "Sobantu," speaking Afaan Oromo, and claiming to be “blessed by Allah.”
Fabricating a story is what fiction writers do.
Fabricating a life and cheating people out of their money is what a criminal does.
Did you know about the Belle lies before this Netflix series? What are your thoughts?
