Alright, pop culture fanatics, gather ’round!
We’re diving deep into the juicy world of celebrity news, movie reviews, and those oh-so-addictive pop culture trends.
Specifically, we’re dissecting Netflix’s latest true-crime-esque drama, Apple Cider Vinegar.
You’ve heard about it, maybe even binged it, but how much of this wellness guru gone wrong story is actually, well, *real*?
Let’s spill the tea, shall we?
The Belle Gibson Saga: From Instagram Fame to Infamy
The series, which dropped on Netflix Feb.
6, tells the tale of a wellness influencer who pretends to be seriously ill.
Sound familiar?
It should.
It’s loosely based on the real-life escapades of Belle Gibson, the Aussie entrepreneur who convinced thousands she was curing her brain cancer with… you guessed it, good eats and positive vibes.
But, surprise!
Turns out, it was all a sham.
Remember that whole scandal?
A decade ago, it was revealed that Belle Gibson, the Australian wellness entrepreneur, billed herself on Instagram as a “Gamechanger with brain cancer,” and a “food obsession,” did not have a malignant brain tumor after all.
In 2017, Gibson was convicted of misleading and deceptive conduct, and the Federal Court of Australia ordered her to pay a fine of about $400,000 (or $322,000 USD).
Her cookbook, The Whole Pantry, was pulled from circulation.
So, how did this Netflix series come to be?
To create the character of Belle in Apple Cider Vinegar, played by Kaitlyn Dever, showrunner Samantha Strauss turned to The Woman Who Fooled The World – The True Story of Fake Wellness Guru Belle Gibson, a nonfiction book about the scandal by journalists Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano.
The ‘Trueish’ Disclaimer: How Much is Fact, How Much is Fiction?
Now, before you start picturing a carbon copy of events, Netflix is playing it smart (and legally sound).
Each episode kicks off with a disclaimer – a *”trueish”* story, as they say.
The show uses real events as a springboard, but liberties have been taken for dramatic effect.
So, what’s real, and what’s artistic license?
That’s the million-dollar question.
Strauss sees the show, which follows Belle’s rise and fall after her lie is discovered, as a PSA about scammers in the wellness industry at a time when anti-vax sentiments and bogus COVID treatments became rampant at the height of the pandemic.
She also hopes that the show will be a conversation starter about what might lead some patients to distrust doctors and put their faith in people like Gibson and alternative therapies.
Let’s face it: we all love a good scammer story, but sometimes these stories can offer more than just entertainment.
And listening to scientists and doctors doesnt do us any disservice.
Belle Gibsons rise to fame The real Belle Gibson joined Instagram in 2013 with the username Healing Belle, just as the photosharing social network was getting big.
She quickly went viral for her aesthetically pleasing posts about being a terminal brain cancer patient healing herself naturally, rather than through traditional chemotherapy and radiation treatments.
Her feed was full of recipes for organic meals and juices.
That same year, she debuted a recipe app called The Whole Pantry that earned the top rating in the Apple app store in its first month.
Gibson earned half a million dollars in less than two years from the Whole Pantry brand.
She published a cookbook in 2014.
As she dished out recipes, users would write to her asking for advice on how to treat their conditions, and shed suggest foods or treatments that could help them heal.
The show’s title is a nod to wellness gurus who often tout apple cider vinegar as a cureall, though it wasnt necessarily Gibsons goto cureall.
In Apple Cider Vinegar, Kaitlyn Devers Belle comes off as someone quite sure of herself with lines like “I’m not ordinary to survive, I’m extraordinary.
I had to be” and “If the story isn’t working for you anymore, change the story.
Change the story, change the world!”
The Milla Connection: A Wellness Warrior or Just a Plot Device?
Another key character in Apple Cider Vinegar is Milla, a fellow wellness guru who actually has cancer.
Her journey intertwines with Belle’s, creating a fascinating dynamic of rivalry, inspiration, and ultimately, tragedy.
Was Milla based on a real person?
You bet.
Apple Cider Vinegar introduces a character named Milla , a cancer patient who has gained popularity for using food to fight her illness and inspires Belle to craft her lie.
Milla is inspired by several wellness gurus, but based mainly on Jess Ainscough, a teen magazine editor who went viral on social media for recording how she stayed in remission from cancer without going through the traditional chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments.
Even Ainscoughs mother followed her daughters guidance when she was diagnosed with cancer , but she died in 2013.
Ainscough died in 2015 at the age of 29.
Gibson and Ainscough ran in the same wellness guru circles, but they were never friends, as Apple Cider Vinegarshows.
Gibson is seen running up to speak to Milla at one of her lectures, but Milla doesnt give her any time.
In the show, Milla is actually seen working to expose Gibson as a fraud, but that did not happen in real life because they never knew each other well besides occasionally commenting on each others social media profiles.
In reality, Jess really had very little to do with Belle Gibson, says Donelly.
And yet, as the show depicts, Gibson did show up at Ainscoughs funeral and turned heads with her loud, hysterical sobbing.
She stumbled into Ainscoughs childhood bedroom and cried on Ainscoughs fiancés shoulder.
Her crying came at a time when Donelly and Toscano had just sent her 21 questions for their exposé, suggesting that its possible her tears were not only about the end of Jesss career, but the impending end of her own.
The Journalists: Unmasking the Truth
Every good scam needs an expose, right?
And Apple Cider Vinegar doesn’t disappoint.
The show features journalists hot on Belle’s trail, piecing together the puzzle of lies and deceit.
But, were they actually inspired by real-life reporters?
Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano, investigative journalists at The Ages newsroom in Melbourne, got a tip from someone who knew her and doubted that she actually had cancer.
Throughout Apple Cider Vinegar, journalists are investigating Belle.
One of them, a journalist named Justin , learns about Belle from his partner Lucy , who takes solace in Belles feed while shes undergoing breast cancer treatmentand even decides to pause it altogether and try alternative remedies.
Neither Donelly nor Toscano had a partner undergoing cancer treatment during their investigation.
In real life, their tipster was a friend of Gibsons, Chanelle , who had tried to stage an intervention, but failed when Gibson stuck to her story.
Chanelle described how Gibson had a seizure in the middle of her sons fourth birthday party in 2014, but she wouldnt allow anyone to call an ambulance and she refused to go to the hospital, which aroused her suspicions that she was lying.
Chanelle had also spent two days cooking meals for a family that had a son with brain cancer, but Belle never delivered them, and Chanelle discovered them stacked in her freezer.
Overall, she never looked sick, and Gibsons jetsetting lifestyle online did not reflect her supposed diagnosis.
The journalists spoke to several people in Gibsons inner circle who wondered whether the seizure was real and who had never seen her go to a doctor.
The journalists showed several oncologists Gibsons post describing how her cancer spread, and they said thats not how cancer works.
But since not enough sources would go on the record, they decided to figure out if they could uncover another lie.
In March 2015, Donelly and Toscano broke the news that Gibson had promised to raise money for five charities, but that none of them had received the funds.
Then they published the doubts about her cancer.
Amid the onslaught of criticism, Gibson posted on Facebook “the work my company and its content did change hundreds of thousands of lives for the better.”
Three months later after The Ages exposé, she admitted to The Australian Womens Weeklythat she lied about having cancer.
Donelly and Toscano turned their reporting on Gibson into the 2017 book The Woman Who Fooled The World, which detailed the lengths that Gibson went to cover up her cancer lie.
One of Gibsons former assistants told them that she never had medical treatments in her schedule, despite posting on social media that she was at doctors appointments.
An artist who almost collaborated with Gibson said she told them she developed psychic abilities after her seizures that enabled her to feel peoples auras.
Once, her partner Clive Rothwell dropped her off at a hospital and then watched her walk into a neighboring park instead.
Thats the biggest mystery to this day.
Belle has always, since an early age, been peddling stories of miraculous medical survival, Toscano says.
For the book, the journalists spoke to many childhood friends who knew Belle and they recalled she would talk about having heart surgery and that shed tell people she once died and had to be resuscitated.
She managed to elicit sympathy from people by telling people these both stories of bogus medical dramas.
Strauss made a concerted effort not to portray her as having a particular mental health illness because that has never been confirmed in real life, arguing, We didnt think that was appropriate.
Donelly thinks that the seizure at her sons birthday party was attentionseeking behavior designed to garner sympathy at a time when several people in her inner circle were starting to wonder whether or not she really had terminal cancer, so maybe she was trying to offer some evidence that she was sick.
Certainly Gibsons story was popular because she gave people something to believe in.
She got away with it because she was promising hope to very sick, vulnerable people, says Donelly.
It really helped that it was wrapped in a pretty bow on Instagram with beautiful photos and nice recipes.
The journalists hope that viewers will think again when they come across toogoodtobetrue claims of cancer survival, or seemingly miraculous therapies for any other health issues that are not supposed to be used in conjunction with conventional medical treatments.
Toscano says “The real danger that we came across, portrayed in this show really well, is that some of the people peddling these remedies are promoting them as something that you should do instead of chemotherapy, radiotherapy or conventional treatments.
Except for the terminal brain cancer, 2014 was the best year of Belle Gibsons life.
The young Australian entrepreneurs wellness app, The Whole Pantry,Apples best new food and drink app the previous year, and chosen for preinstallation on the upcoming Apple Watch.
The 300,000 followers shed attracted on Instagram helped score Gibson a lucrative book deal with Penguin.
Shed banked over half a million Australian dollars in two years, ostensibly giving a large part of it to charity.
But beneath Gibsons inspirational success story hid a big, dark secret she never had cancer.
In fact, like all good grifters, Gibsons motives remain intriguingly unclear.
She’s my absolutely favorite kind of protagonist to write because she’s so deeply flawed and problematic, but we can only speculate why, says Samantha Strauss.
Apple Cider Vinegar has a few ideas.
But before it introduces its version of her, heres everything to know about the real Belle Gibson.
Investigative journalists Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano, authors of The Woman Who Fooled the World on which Apple Cider Vinegar is based, dug deep into Gibsons past.
They found records showing that by 2009, Gibson had moved to Perth in Western Australia, where she got a job listening to medical claims at a private health insurance company.
On a skateboarders chat forum, she posted increasingly dramatic accounts of her health.
In early 2010, Belle retold her cancer story to the parenting forum What to Expect.
On a skateboarders chat forum, she posted increasingly dramatic accounts of her health.
On a skateboarders chat forum, she posted increasingly dramatic accounts of her health I just woke up out of a coma type thing.
The doctor comes in and tells me the draining failed and I went into cardiac arrest and died for just under three minutes.
Right from the start I was very open In 2012, a yearold profitless startup called Instagram welcomed a new user , agame changer with brain cancer a food obsession.
Her highly curated and perfectly stylized posts featured inspirational quotes, posed selfies, recipes for Buddha bowls and superfood smoothiespar for the course today, but an innovation by the standards of the era.
She framed cancer in a way that it hadnt been framed before, write Donelly and Toscano.
She gave her fans a glimpse of life with a terminal disease, and what she showed them wasliving.
Gibson rented a milliondollar beachside house, bought a BMW and designer clothes, and had her teeth straightened, according to The Woman Who Fooled the World.
While riding high on her apps surprise success, Gibson sent a cold email to an editor at Penguin, Donelly and Toscano write.
For the first time, Gibson put her lies officially into print proper I will never forget sitting alone in the doctors office three weeks later, waiting for my test results, she wrote.
He called me in and said, You have malignant cancer, Belle.
Youre dying.
She claimed she quit traditional chemo and radiotherapy in favor of natural foods and alternative medicines, which had kept her alive and well.
According to a news tip, Donelly and Toscano wrote in the about the influencers failure to donate the promised funds.
Still, the article sparked Gibsons rapid exposure and immediate decline Over the next several days, there were two more.
Friends and doctors raise doubts over Healing Belle cancer claims.
I am not advised to discuss facts at the moment With Gibsons continued silence on the matter, whether she deserves empathy remains debatable a decade later.
Without absolving her of her crimes, she says, I wanted to find empathy for her.
While Gibsons current whereabouts arent known, as recently as 2017, she was reportedly living in a Melbourne suburb where her neighbors wouldnt speak to her and former friends walked the other way when theyd see her in the street.
At that time, her family said they were estranged from her.
But just when ones starting to feel sympathy for Gibson, she makes it hard again.
While she never faced criminal charges in connection with these actions, Consumer Affairs Victoria sued Gibson in Melbourne federal court in 2016 for violating Australian Consumer Law.
Nearly nine years later, Belle Gibson has yet to pay a cent.
Now comes Apple Cider Vinegar, a selfdescribed trueish story based on a lie that documents the rise and fall of Australian wellness bloggercumscammer Belle Gibson, who built an influencer miniempire on the back of claims that clean eating enabled her to live a normal life despite having a terminal brain tumorwhich, of course, she didnt.
Even more than money, both women seem to have been in it for the validation that they were special and admired.
But where Delveys activities defrauded largely people with substantial wealth, Gibson did not deprive her followers of their money so much as threaten their health Many who believed her were cancer patients for whom the clock was ticking and so did not have the luxury of wasting time on dubious nutritional cures.In the series, one of Belle Gibsons followers is a young woman, Lucy, who is diagnosed with breast cancer.
Her doctor warns her to resist the impulse to go on forums, but miserable due to chemotherapy, she does so.
She finds Belles story of feeling healthy despite living with a Stage 4 glioblastoma and her message Change your life, one meal at a timereally resonates.
Gibson was indeed exposed by a journalist whose wife had cancer, but it wasnt Justin, who is a composite character.
The first journalist to become suspicious was a reporter for the Australians weekend magazine called Richard Guilliatt.
Richard Guilliatt published a story in which several of these cancer specialists disputed the efficacy of her remedies.
At the same time, two investigative journalists on the Age newspaper, Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano, started looking into Gibsons claims after being tipped off by no fewer than six people in her inner circle that she didnt have brain cancer.
He comes across a blog by Milla Blake, a young woman who was living her ideal life until she was diagnosed with sarcomas on her arm and told she will need an amputation and chemo.
Even though she is not invited and the deceased despised her, Belle turns up at the funeral and tries to make it all about her by weeping theatrically throughout.
Belle is looking around for another enterprise.
She rejected this in favor of a very strict juicebased diet routine called the Hirsch program and, after, her tumors disappear, becomes determined to spread the gospel of natural selfhealing and positive thinking.
Belle wins.
Even worse, her mother is diagnosed with bowel cancer and, out of loyalty to her daughter, foregoes chemo for the juiceandenema cure.
However, it only makes her worse and hastens her death.
Milla is based largely on a woman named Jess Ainscough, one of the first wellness influencers who was indeed diagnosed with sarcomas on her arm at 23, and in 2008 decided to forgo the recommended amputation in favor of a cleansing regime called the, documenting her progress online and becoming known as the Wellness Warrior.
Belle turned up at the funeral and tried to make it all about her by weeping theatrically throughout.
Belle’s Troubled Past
Was Gibson also manipulative?
In the series, Belles relationship with her mother, Natalie DalBello , is shown to be prickly.
The real Gibson made similar claims inmagazine, in which she said.
I didnt have any toys.
However, in a subsequent interview with the same publication, Natalie gave her side of the story, asserting, “What a lot of rubbish.” Interviewed by the BBC in 2022, her brother Nick confirmed that he had no idea why shed describe me as autistic.
He also claimed that when Natalie was in a hospice shortly before her death in 2017, Belle turned up at the family home and made off with her mothers jewelry.
Guilliatt’s Discovery
For a documentary made by Britains ITV channel calledInstagrams Worst Con Artist, Guilliatt interviewed two former friends of Gibsons, who both described her as fun, outgoing, and confident until mid2009, at which point she started to post crazy stories on the forum about her heart surgery.
And in the BBC documentary, an anonymous school friend recalls, You knew you couldnt trust her.
She would come to class in an arm sling or claim to be a test tube baby.
We all kind of went OK, sure, Belle.
Shed always ask heaps of questions about Joshys cancer and treatments,Was it to give her more credibility?
This was devastating because the family relied on public donations, along with the sale of their house, to help fund Joshuas treatment, which was limited to experimental techniques.
Joshua died in 2017.Gibson claimed 300,000 Australian dollars had already been given to charity, but then in 2016, the Age article showed this to be false.Belle Gibson really pretended to have cancer.
So why is Netflixs Apple Cider Vinegar only trueish?
Apple Cider Vinegar is based on the case of the Australian fraudster but even after the controversy over Baby Reindeer, it fictionalises parts of an already shocking storyThree minutes into its first episode, Apple Cider Vinegar breaks the fourth wall.
This is a true story based on a lie, says Kaitlyn Dever, who plays Belle Gibson, to the camera.
Some names have been changed to protect the innocent.
Belle Gibson has not been paid for the recreation of her story.
Then as Gibson she pauses, looks away, and mumbles under her breath.Showrunner Samantha Strauss, it felt like an essential inclusion.The kicker, of course, was that Gibson never had cancer.
Nor had she donated any significant amount of money .
It was all a spectacular con, one that enraged and captivated Australia and had real world consequences for her followers who actually had cancer, and were encouraged to shirk conventional medicine in favour of alternative treatments.
Photograph Hanna LassenGetty Images for Netflix
In terms of Apple Cider Vinegar, a great deal of Donnelly and Toscanos reporting is recreated faithfully Gibsons troubled childhood, her youth spent posting about invented maladies in online forums, and her ascent as an Instagram star.
They also explore the true toll of a cancer diagnosis, and how those who feel unheard or let down by conventional medicine end up scrambling for alternative options.The team spoke to psychologists in the course of their writing, but stopped short of diagnosing Gibson in the show, she is painted as a longtime fantasist who feigns sickness as a shortcut to receiving attention, sympathy and much yearnedfor love.
The Real Belle
The latest reports on Gibson have her claiming to be, calling herself Sabontu and speaking in broken English.
Gibson has been seen in public.
In 2020, she appearedin Melboourne claiming to be part of the Omoro community, an Ethiopian ethnic group, and said that she was now called Sabontu.
She also claimed she wanted to raise funds for the community.
What motivates people to tell that kind of a lie?
It creates an easier life for her.
We wanted to leave her in that place of fragile hope at the end.
Contradictory Stories
The show claims the inspiration for the story, Apple Cider Vinegar took inspiration from Jess Ainscough.
The show, unlike the real story, has Belle as the antagonist.
The show did not take place without research as the authors did a really beautiful job talking to as many people as they could.
Belle Gibson’s Con
Belle Gibson has been featured and interviewed by the newspaper, The Age and other media outlets.
The press and media only added fire to fuel the flames, as they brought forth more and more controversy to Belle’s life.
The Video Integrations
Ready to delve deeper?
Check out these videos for more insights on the Belle Gibson saga:
What it’s like to know the real Belle Gibson | Extra Minutes
Tara Brown from 60 Minutes discusses her iconic Belle Gibson interview.
Sheree Gibson, the 60 Minutes producer who spent months getting to know the cancer con whose story inspired the Netflix drama, Apple Cider Vinegar.
Dangerous Lies: Unmasking Belle Gibson (2025)
Apple Cider Vinegar Isn’t Just a Show… It’s a Real-Life Nightmare
Learn about Belle Gibson and the wellness influencer, who built an empire by claiming she cured cancer through natural remedies—only to be exposed as a fraud.
In this video, we uncover the real people behind the characters, the lies that fooled millions, and how Gibson’s scam was ultimately revealed.
So, What’s the Takeaway?
Apple Cider Vinegar is a captivating watch, no doubt.
It blends fact and fiction to create a narrative that’s both entertaining and thought-provoking.
But remember, it’s just *inspired* by true events.
The real story of Belle Gibson is far more complex, disturbing, and frankly, unbelievable.
The show’s a drama but hopefully, this article and the show are reminders to be critical of what you see on social media.
Unveiling the Truth: FAQs About Netflix’s ‘Apple Cider Vinegar’
Is ‘Apple Cider Vinegar’ a true story?
Netflix’s ‘Apple Cider Vinegar’ is inspired by the real-life story of Belle Gibson, but it’s presented as a ‘trueish’ story, meaning it takes liberties for dramatic effect.
Who is Belle Gibson in real life?
Belle Gibson is an Australian wellness entrepreneur who gained fame by falsely claiming she cured her brain cancer with natural remedies and healthy eating.
Is the character Milla based on a real person?
Yes, Milla is largely based on Jess Ainscough, a wellness influencer who documented her journey of fighting cancer with alternative methods.
Did the real Belle Gibson face legal consequences?
Yes, Belle Gibson was convicted of misleading and deceptive conduct and ordered to pay a fine for her false claims.
Were journalists involved in exposing Belle Gibson’s lies?
Yes, investigative journalists Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano played a crucial role in uncovering the truth about Belle Gibson’s fake cancer claims.
Reflecting on Reality: The Impact of ‘Apple Cider Vinegar’
‘Apple Cider Vinegar’ serves as a cautionary tale about the dangers of blindly trusting wellness influencers and the importance of critical thinking when consuming information, especially regarding health.
While the show fictionalizes elements, it highlights the real-world consequences of Gibson’s deception and the vulnerabilities of those seeking alternative treatments.
Navigating the Wellness Landscape: What to Do Next
- Stay Informed: Research health claims thoroughly and consult with qualified medical professionals.
- Be Skeptical: Question information presented by influencers, especially if it seems too good to be true.
- Verify Sources: Check the credibility of sources and seek out evidence-based information.
- Support Ethical Journalism: Value and support investigative journalism that exposes scams and holds individuals accountable.
