Belle Gibson, Social Media Influencer, Built On A Lie Or Two
Apple Cider Vinegar is streaming now on Netflix. The story is based on the book The Woman Who Fooled the World. The series shows how people follow and believe what they see and read on the internet.
Belle Gibson
Belle and Milla are featured as they document their journeys with cancer on social media. Milla was a fictional character, designed to represent ‘an amalgamation’ of wellness influencers at the time.
Gibson, an Australian wellness Influencer, based on her statement she cured herself of brain cancer. She never had cancer of any type. Her business was built on lies and deception spread through her posts on social media.
She developed a wellness app called ‘The Whole Pantry’ which had millions of followers worldwide, at the time. Because it was so successful that ‘Apple’ named it the ‘Best Food and Drink’ app. Apple, also, considered this app as a pre-installation app for its new phone.
She secured a book deal from Penguin Books Australia for AUD 132,000. Belle announced at that time that 25% of all sales would go to various charitable causes. This never happened. Penguin admitted to not fact checking and removed her book from shelves.
Belle Gibson Hosts Fundraiser
Gibson hosted a fundraiser in 2013 to raise funds for her chosen charities. In 2015 investigative reports/authors Donelly and Toscano reported none of the charities had received any of the allocated funds. Belle cited ‘cash flow issues’ as the reason.
Meanwhile, she lived the life of a celebrity; renting a million-dollar beach home, purchasing a BMW, and designer clothes.
Once her fraud was brought out into the open she made her Instagram Account @healing_belle private. She deleted 1000 pictures and posts with captions like ‘detailing seizures’, ‘hospital admissions’, and ‘multiple diagnoses’.
Her lies began to unravel when Belle called her brain cancer ‘a stage two cancer’ with 6 weeks to 4 months to live. Because Brain Cancers are known as grades, not stages. There were also issues over her age, she stated she was 20 when in fact according to birth records she was 17.
Because she admitted the truth in 2015; Consumer Affairs Victoria sued her in Australia’s federal court in 2016. She was sued for misleading and deceptive conduct and unconscionable in breach of Australian Consumer Law.
In 2017, Justice Debra Mortimer Gibson found her and her company ‘Inberman Road Nominees’ had engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct in promoting her app and book. Gibson was ordered to pay AUD 410,000.
Her home was raided in 2020 and 2021 to cease assets to pay her fines. In 2023 it was revealed she had not paid one cent towards her fines. She did not receive any jail time. The adage should be followed here: ‘Don’t believe everything you read on the internet.’
The Search For Instagram Worst Con Artist (Belle Gibson) will be coming Netflix February 20th, 2025. It will feature the real people and their stories.
Photo Credits: Netflix and YouTube
