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If you, like us, have already gobbled up Netflix's Apple Cider Vinegar, you've probably found yourself wondering — just how much of the true story is actually true? The addictive six-part miniseries tells the story of Belle Gibson, an Australian wellness influencer who built an empire off the back of her personal journey to recovery from cancer using holistic treatments — the only catch? Her whole story turned out to be a lie.
Not only does Apple Cider Vinegar satisfy our cravings for a good, old-fashioned wellness scammer narrative, it also hooks us with its claim that is it a “true story based on lies.”
While Belle's story is based on truth, just how much of the show is also inspired by real events? One character we can't stop wondering about? Chanelle. Is her story also true?
From Belle Gibson to Elizabeth Holmes, we can't get enough of the downfall of a girlboss scammer.
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Who is Chanelle in Apple Cider Vinegar?
In the show, Chanelle, played by Aisha Dee, is the first person to suspect Belle's story. Working alongside Milla Blake — a woman who really did have cancer — Chanelle becomes Belle's manager and later becomes the whistleblower who tells journalists Nick Toscano and Beau Donelly about her suspicions surrounding Belle.
Wondering what happens at the end of Netflix’s buzzy new drama? Read on.
Is Chanelle from Apple Cider Vinegar a real person?
Short answer: kind of.
Chanelle McAuliffe is a real woman who did alert journalists to Gibson's story.
McAuliffe spoke to Stylist about what really happened between her and Belle.
“We met in 2014 when I was interning at a publishing house that wanted me to do a piece on her for one of their magazines,” she said. “At the time, Belle was a viral influencer who claimed to be beating her terminal diagnosis by eating healthy foods and whose recipe app, Whole Pantry, had been snapped up by Apple. She invited me to one of her events and we later ended up going for brunch, which turned into a series of brunches, and we became friends.”
She recalled having lots of fun with Belle — and always being aware of her cancer diagnosis. However, soon, she began to doubt her story.
“Just over a year into our friendship, I realised Belle’s cancer – and the story that her career was built on – was all a lie,” she said. “My first sign was how weirdly difficult it was to get information out of Belle.”
Apparently, Belle kept a lot of things secret. The other sign? She was “thriving."
“It made me feel increasingly angry and frustrated, but also a little like I was going mad,” she said. “Sometimes I would feel like a horrible person for questioning my friend who had cancer. Other times, I would feel sick to my stomach when my gut instinct told me it was all a lie.”
After McAuliffe confronted Gibson, she was convinced her story was a lie and she decided to give a tip to a journalist at The Age who was working on a story about Gibson's charity work.
McAuliffe concluded, “Looking back, the experience has made me realise that my gut instinct is pretty good. I sometimes wonder why she let me in. What did she get from me? So much of what she told me was a lie. I still have no idea if our friendship was just another one.”
A few days ago, McAuliffe shared a video on Instagram about her thoughts on the show.
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“I had nothing to do with the Netflix show and I don't entirely feel comfortable around some of the ethics of this type of storytelling and how the truth has been distorted in the show and I do really hope that the core of the important messages about this story isn't lost through the glamorisation of this show,” she said. “And just to remember that there's been really vulnerable people in real life that have been impacted by this.”
In a follow-up video, McAuliffe highlighted some of the ways she felt the show was exploitative.
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“The show is about how bad it is that someone deceived and financially misled people with cancer and the show itself is profiting from the harm caused to those people,” she wrote over clips from the show.
She then claimed that Milla was inspired by Jess Ainscough, a real woman who did have cancer. “The show has unjustly villainised her,” she wrote.
According to LinkedIn, McAuliffe is currently working as an Advisor at First Australians Capital.
Here's everything we know about the inspiration behind Milla's character.
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