It's no secret that we all love a good scammer story. If you admit to having an unhealthy fascination with the likes of Caroline Calloway or Anna Delvey, allow us to introduce you to your latest obsession: Apple Cider Vinegar.
The new Netflix show is inspired by the real-life story of Belle Gibson, a woman who built a hugely successful wellness brand on an elaborate lie that she had cancer. The show is based on the book The Woman Who Fooled the World, by Australian journalists Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano who research and reported on Gibson’s story. (Funnily enough, the Netflix show is coming out alongside news of another cancer-scammer adaptation based on the story of Amanda Riley).
Will she or won't she reunite with Tommy?
If Apple Cider Vinegar has left you craving a deep dive into Gibson's bizarre story, here's everything we know about how the one-time influencer scammed thousands and where she is today.
What is Apple Cider Vinegar about?
Apple Cider Vinegar stars Kaitlyn Dever as Gibson. The show takes us back to 2010 when Gibson, who had faked a brain cancer diagnosis, was preaching the power of natural remedies, claiming that they had kept her alive. A rivalry with fellow influencer Milla Blake (Alicia Debnam-Carey) spurs her to make her scam more and more elaborate until, inevitably, the truth finally comes out. In the meantime, we learn about how her complicated past may have led her to this bizarre lie.
What really happened with Belle Gibson?
The Netflix series is largely based on real events.
Gibson was an Australian influencer who claimed to have survived terminal brain cancer using alternative therapies and nutrition. Her success led to the app The Whole Pantry and a cookbook of the same name. At one time, she had over 200,000 followers. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, her Whole Pantry recipe app cost $3.79 AUD and was purchased over 300,000 times — that's over $1 million AUD.
How was Belle Gibson's scam uncovered?
In 2015, journalists Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano began to dig into Gibson’s claims, revealing that not only was she not donating proceeds from her app to charity, as she had claimed, she also had never had cancer. She was later fined $410,000 AUD for misleading or deceptive conduct and unconscionable conduct.
Gibson was, effectively, disgraced: the publisher of Gibson's cookbook, Penguin Australia, dropped her book, which Apple removed her app from its ads.
Gibson was forced to own up to her lie. "None of it's true," she told Australian Women's Weekly in 2015.
"I don't want forgiveness," she said. “I just think [speaking out] was the responsible thing to do. Above anything, I would like people to say, 'Okay, she's human. She's obviously had a big life.'”
Produced one again by Sharon Horgan, we cannot wait for this one to hit screens.
Where is Belle Gibson now?
So, what happened to Gibson after her lie was uncovered? Well, for one thing, Gibson has been at the centre of an on-going legal battle.
As ABC reported, Gibson appeared in court in May 2019 and claimed she could not pay the $410,000 AUD fine. ABC later reported that she made a second court appearance in June of the same year with the same claims.
In January 2020, Gibson was later subjected to a “search and sale” raid in which her home was searched for assets to repay the fine, per ABC. A similar raid was conducted in May 2021, per The Guardian.
Gibson claims that she has been “adopted” by the Ethiopian Oromo community in Melbourne. According to ABC, Gibson has changed her name to Sabontu and learned to speak Oromo and introduced herself as Sabontu. She reportedly said she was "blessed to be adopted" by the community.
What part did the real Belle Gibson's mum play in the scandal?
Essie Davis plays Belle Gibson's mother Natalie Dal-Bello in Apple Cider Vinegar, and we see that the pair have a strained mother-daughter relationship. She successfully gets out of going to Belle's baby shower, for example. Belle also skips Natalie's wedding after a rather uncomfortable visit, during which she confides in her partner Clive that her mother let her sleep in dirty sheets when she was younger.
In the series, Natalie also discusses Belle's lies in an interview, insisting that she was a good mother. "She's [Belle] a silly girl who's always had ideas above her station, living beyond her means and addicted to that computer," Natalie says. “I can't begin to tell you how embarrassed we are by what that girl has done.”
When it comes to Belle and Natalie's relationship IRL, things got really tense after an interview Belle did with Australian Woman's Weekly in 2015. She spoke about having to look after her mother due to her multiple sclerosis (MS), as well as her autistic brother and the difficulties that came with that.
“When I started school, my mum went, ‘my daughter is grown up now',” she told the publication. "All of a sudden, I was walking to school on my own, making school lunches and cleaning the house every day. It was my responsibility to do grocery shopping, do the washing, arrange medical appointments and pick up my brother. I didn’t have toys." She added that she had not spoken to her mother in two years.
Natalie, in turn, completely rejected Belle's version of events."What a lot of rubbish," she said. "Belle never cared for me, her brother is not autistic, and she’s barely done a minute’s housework in her life. I’ve practically worked myself into an early grave to give that girl everything she wanted in life.”
She also apologised for Belle's lies ("For what small part we played in her life, we would like to say sorry"), adding that her brother Nick was very upset about his sister's false claims.
Two months later, though, Natalie described Belle's cancer story as a “white lie”, defending her from the mass of criticisms that had come her way.
"Belle told a white lie, aged 23-and-a-half. So what? Belle is allowed to tell little porky pies. Who the hell doesn’t tell a lie in their life? Nobody complained about Belle when she was helping people and now they want to put her under the microscope," she said.
Natalie passed away in 2017 from MS, and it's not clear whether her and Belle reconciled.
Here's everything we know about the inspiration behind Milla's character.
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