Early influencer Belle Gibson rose to fame as a self-proclaimed health guru who “cured” her brain cancer through wellness and clean living. As highlighted in Netflix’s limited series Apple Cider Vinegar, she was ultimately exposed as a fraud. But where is Belle Gibson now, and did she ever face repercussions for her actions?
The six-episode series was created by Samantha Strauss (“Nine Perfect Strangers”) and inspired by The Woman Who Fooled the World, a book written by Australian journalists Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano, who reported on Gibson’s scam for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.
While Belle Gibson is real, some characters and events in the series were created or fictionalized. For example, Milla—a cancer patient who rises to fame for using food to fight her illness and ultimately inspires Belle’s fabricated story—does not exist. Her character was inspired by multiple wellness influencers, including teen magazine editor Jess Ainscough, who went viral for sharing how she remained in remission from cancer without chemotherapy or radiotherapy.
Here’s everything you need to know about the real Belle Gibson, from how her web of lies unraveled to how she got caught and where she is now.
Who Is Belle Gibson?
Belle Gibson is a former Australian social media influencer who built a massive following—and a lucrative career—on a lie. She falsely claimed to have been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer in 2009 and given just six weeks to four months to live. She used her fabricated story to create a bestselling app and cookbook, all while neglecting to pay the charitable causes she had vowed to donate almost all of her earnings to.
In 2012, Gibson launched the Instagram account @healing_belle, describing herself in her bio as a “game changer with brain cancer + a food obsession.” Within a year, she amassed 200,000 followers on the rising social media app. In April 2013, she registered her business name, The Whole Pantry, and enlisted young developers to create an app for cheap, according to Vanity Fair.
The Whole Pantry debuted with 50 gluten-free, plant-based vegan recipes, a shopping list function, and a conversion tool. It quickly became successful and was downloaded hundreds of times. In its first month, the app topped the App Store charts, and by the end of 2013, Apple had named it the year’s “Best Food and Drink” app. Subscribers were led to believe that their $3.79 AUD payment would partially or fully go to charity.
Gibson eventually secured a lucrative book deal with Penguin for The Whole Pantry cookbook, which featured 100 recipes “built from the world’s most nutritious foods” along with wellness guides for detoxifying personal care products and living spaces. The book was marketed as a reflection of what Belle had “learned about getting back to basics and discovering what it means to be truly nourished.”
In her book, Gibson provided further details about her diagnosis, describing initial symptoms such as difficulty reading and seeing—concerns she claimed doctors dismissed. She also recounted suffering a stroke after work and the moment she received her “cancer” news. “I will never forget sitting alone in the doctor’s office three weeks later, waiting for my test results,” she wrote. “He called me in and said, ‘You have malignant cancer, Belle. You’re dying.’”
She continued, “I remember a suffocating, choking feeling and then much else.” The health influencer said that she tried “chemotherapy and radiotherapy” for two months but eventually traded traditional therapies for natural foods and alternative medicines.
How Did Belle Gibson Get Caught?
Investigative journalists Donelly and Toscana received a tip suggesting that Gibson was fabricating her illness. When they attempted to verify her claims, they could not access any medical records confirming her diagnosis. “We asked ourselves, if she’s lying about this, what else would she lie about?” they wrote in The Woman Who Fooled the World.
In their book, Donelly and Toscana revealed that Gibson maintained a lavish lifestyle throughout her deception, earning “half a million dollars in less than two years” from The Whole Pantry. She rented a million-dollar beach house, bought a BMW and designer clothing, and had her teeth straightened.
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Donelly and Toscana began investigating financial complaints from charitable organizations that claimed they never received the donations Gibson had promised. (Gibson had previously stated that she was donating 25% of her company’s profits and even wrote in her book that “a large part of everything” was allocated to charitable causes.)
Inconsistencies also began to surface regarding Gibson’s age. She claimed to be 20 when she was diagnosed in 2009, but records allegedly listed her birth year as 1991, which would have made her only 17 at the time.
Once the press exposed Gibson’s fraud, Penguin Australia halted publication of The Whole Pantry cookbook, admitting that they had not fact-checked her claims but had published the book in “good faith.” By March 2015, The Whole Pantry app was removed from all Apple platforms.
What Has Belle Gibson Said About Her Deception?
Belle Gibson finally admitted that she never had cancer in April 2015. “None of it’s true,” she told Australia’s Women’s Weekly. “I am still jumping between what I think I know and what is reality. I have lived it and I’m not really there yet.”
She also admitted that it was “very scary” as she came to terms with the fact that she was not terminally ill. “Because you start to doubt the crux of things that make up who you are. You know, I’m blonde and I’m tall, and I’ve got hazel eyes and I’ve got cancer,” she said. “And all of a sudden, you take away some of those high-level things and it’s really daunting.”
She added that she wasn’t seeking forgiveness but felt that speaking out was the responsible thing to do. “Above anything, I would like people to say, ‘OK, she’s human. She’s obviously had a big life. She’s respectfully come to the table and said what she’s needed to say, and now it’s time for her to grow and heal,’” she said.
Where Is Belle Gibson Now?
Although Belle Gibson largely stayed out of the public eye after 2015, in a 2020 interview surfaced on social media, she claimed to have been “adopted” by the Oromo community, an Ethiopian ethnic group in Melbourne.
But Dr. Tarekegn Chimdi, president of the Australian Oromo Community Association in Victoria, told Daily Mail Australia in August 2021 that Gibson was not involved with them. “It was concerning when someone is using the community’s name who is not a member of that community,” he said. “She is not involved with us. She’s not coming to our place, no way, no time.”
Although she didn’t face criminal charges, Consumer Affairs Victoria sued Gibson in the Federal Court of Australia in 2016 for engaging in misleading and deceptive conduct and unconscionable conduct in breach of Australian Consumer Law (Vic). In March 2017, she was ordered to pay penalties totaling $410,000.
The Australian Associated Press (via The Guardian) reported that as of early 2020, Gibson had yet to pay the fine, which had accumulated to over half a million Australian dollars with interest and additional fees.
Authorities raided Gibson’s home in Melbourne in January 2020 to seize items to sell to recoup her unpaid fine. After the fine remained unpaid, Gibson’s home was raided once again in 2021.
In late 2023, Donelly and Toscano provided an update in their book from Consumer Affairs Victoria. A spokesperson told them the agency was “continuing to pursue” Gibson and that the “entire amount” of her debt was “still outstanding.”
Does Belle Gibson Have A Son, And Is She Still With Clive Rothwell?
As depicted in the Netflix series, the real Belle Gibson does have a son, according to The Woman Who Fooled the World. As for Clive, neither has publicly addressed their relationship status, but a Daily Mail article from November 2023 reported they had split earlier that year.
Apple Cider Vinegar is streaming on Netflix. Watch the official trailer below.
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This article was originally published on forbes.com.
