The Real Story Behind 'Apple Cider Vinegar': Belle Gibson's Wellness Scam, Explained

There are no shortage of wellness influencers on the internet today, but, as with all creators who contend with the attention economy, only a handful ever achieve global, goop-level fame. Among them? Belle Gibson, an Australian whose rise and fall is now the subject of a new (albeit fictional) Netflix show, Apple Cider Vinegar.

Based on the 2017 book The Woman Who Fooled the World, the new show Apple Cider Vinegar follows three main characters—Belle Gibson (Kaitlyn Dever), Milla Blake (Alycia Debnam-Carey), and Chanelle (Aisha Dee)—as they navigate the world of influencer wellness. Gibson quickly shoots to fame when she reveals that she once had brain cancer, however, there's a catch: she's lying.

"Apple Cider Vinegar is a true-ish story based on a lie, about the rise and fall of a wellness empire, the culture that built it up, and the people who tore it down," Netflix said. "The series has its inspirations in real events, but it is a work of fiction."

While the show is fictional, the origin story as reported by The Woman Who Fooled the World is not. Ahead, the true story that inspired Apple Cider Vinegar, explained.

Belle Gibson was an Australian wellness influencer.

Gibson shot to fame in the early days of Instagram as a food blogger and wellness advocate. Her story was as viral-worthy as they come: she claimed to have cured herself of a "malignant brain tumor" in 2009 by withdrawing from chemotherapy despite having "six weeks, four months tops" to live.

Gibson detailed her journey in her book The Whole Pantry, explaining that she embarked on “a quest to heal myself naturally… empowering myself to save my own life, through nutrition, patience, determination and love—as well as vitamin and Ayurvedic treatments, craniosacral therapy, and a whole lot of other treatments." She launched an app of the same name in 2013 and reportedly earned over $1 million from the combined sales, according to Elle.

Despite the impossibility of surviving a brain tumor without treatment, Gibson continued to up the ante, telling her followers that she was also diagnosed with "cancer in my blood, spleen, brain, uterus, and liver."

“You are THE most inspirational person I have ever encountered," one follower wrote in response to Gibson's disclosure, as reported by The Independent. "I ‘look’ at you in awe, in wonder and in the greatest admiration I have ever felt for anyone.”

She is the author of 'The Whole Pantry.'

Gibson achieved mainstream success with the launch of her app, The Whole Pantry, and her book, also titled The Whole Pantry, which offered "more than 80 new, delicious and nourishing plant-based recipes (gluten, dairy and corn free) aimed at nurturing the body."

Despite the book's success, however, critics began to publicly doubt Gibson's claims. In July 2013, she took to Facebook to double down on her story: “It is unfortunate someone [is] trying to discredit the natural healing path I am on," she wrote. "I have been healing a severe and malignant brain cancer for the past few years with natural medicine, Gerson therapy and foods. It is working for me.”

She was convicted of fraud in 2017.

Claims against Gibson ramped up in 2015 when she failed to donate $300,00 to five charities after soliciting money from her social media followers. Fairfax Media broke the story on March 8. "Fairfax Media understands some friends held an 'intervention' at Ms. Gibson's beachside apartment in Elwood last last year, questioning her about her illness," the Sydney Morning Herald reported. "'She admitted her diagnosis was questionable,' a former friend said."

Amid increasing scrutiny, Gibson admitted that she might have been “misdiagnosed” over some aspects of her health problems, adding that “it’s hard to admit that maybe you were wrong” and saying she was “confused, bordering on humiliated."

Gibson's scheme unraveled from there. She was charged with "false claims...concerning her diagnosis with terminal brain cancer, her rejection of conventional cancer treatments in favour of natural remedies, and the donation of proceeds to various charities" by Consumer Affairs Victoria in 2016 and convicted by the Federal Court of Australia in 2017. She was also fined $410,000 for making false claims about donating to charity (her home was raided in 2020 and again in 2021 in an effort to recoup the unpaid fines).

Her story was made into a documentary.

The release of Apple Cider Vinegar is not the first time that Gibson's story has gotten the star treatment. In 2023, ITV produced a two-part documentary series about her rise and fall titled Instagram's Worst Con Artist. As for the fictional rendering? Tune in to Netflix on February 6.

Read the original article on InStyle