Netflix has recently released a web series titled ‘Apple Cider Vinegar’ starring Kaitlyn Dever as Belle Gibson, the woman who faked having cancer to become an Instagram influencer. The film is inspired by real events around how an Australian woman Belle Gibson claimed in 2013 that she was diagnosed with an inoperable brain cancer with only four months to live and how she cured herself using natural therapies and diet. It, however, turned out eventually that Gibson was telling a compelling lie.
Belle Gibson launched her Instagram account with the username @healing_belle in 2013. She claimed to have been diagnosed with inoperable cancer and how she overcame the same through a healthy diet etc. She began sharing those healthy recipes on her account and amassed thousands of followers. Belle Gibson used to share updates on how she was coping with her health condition which she claimed was due to a negative reaction to the Gardasil HPV vaccine, taking her followers for a ride. Belle Gibson also claimed that she nearly died during a medical procedure and that her cancer spread to her spleen, liver uterus and blood.
In no time, Gibson’s story became an inspiration, she solidified her position as a wellness expert, landed a book deal and even launched her own wellness application The Whole Pantry. Back in 2014, she was awarded Cosmopolitan’s Fun Fearless Female title. Similarly, Elle Australia called Gibson the ‘most inspiring woman you’ve met this year’.
While her cookbook was to be launched in US and UK bookstores in 2015, some Australian journalists began digging into Gibson and found that her inspiring and emotional story was nothing but a bunch of lies convincingly told and foolishly believed by the people. Meanwhile, several charities to whom Gibson pledged thousands of dollars revealed that they never received a single penny from the wellness influencer.
Soon after, Belle Gibson appeared in an interview with an Australian news outlet and admitted to having concocted a fake story. “None of it is true,” she said back then. This, unsurprisingly triggered severe backlash from people who believed her lies and followed her.
Later, Gibson appeared in 60 Minutes Australia and said, “I didn’t trade in on my story or in other people’s lives. I’m not trying to get away with anything.”
As her lies were getting exposed, Apple withdrew Gibson’s wellness app from the Apple Play Store and Apple Watch. Her book was pulled back and her business was shut. Gibson had multiple lawsuits against her making false claims of donating money to charities. She was further fined by a federal court judge for deliberately deceiving cancer patients. Till 2019, she claimed to not be in a position to pay the fines and in 2020 she reportedly joined an Ethiopian community and called South Africa her “home”. As of now, her whereabouts are unknown.
Describing the premise of the six-episode series based on Belle Gibson’s fake story, Netflix said, “Set during the early days of Instagram, Apple Cider Vinegar follows two young women who set out to cure their life-threatening illnesses through health and wellness, influencing their global online communities along the way. All of which would be incredibly inspiring if it were all true. As we’ve since learned, it’s often impossible to tell what’s real and what isn’t on social media, even when it comes to the most serious subjects.”
Netflix stated that the series is inspired by the 2017 book The Woman Who Fooled the World by journalists Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano.
