If you haven't been watching Netflix's Apple Cider Vinegar, and Kaitlyn Dever's magnetic performance as true-life scammer Belle Gibson, where have you been?
The series is based on a true story of the Australian influencer turned health guru, who built a wellness empire on false claims that she had cured her own brain cancer through alternative therapies and healthy eating. It charts her meteoric rise and shameful fall as a whistleblower and two journalists expose her.
While it has been met with certain criticisms for fictionalising elements of what is already a true and shocking story, as well as lifting real-life stories of cancer patients who used these alternative therapies (a fictional character named Milla, played by Alycia Debnam Carey, was adapted from wellness infleuncer Jessica Ainscough's life and cancer journey), the show's popularity is a keen reminder of of our obsession with scammer stories.
Apple Cider Vinegar obsessives, this one's for you.
So many of us love to delve into the world of women like Inventing Anna's Anna Delvey and Amanda Riley (of Scamanda podcast and docuseries fame), who similarly lied for years about having cancer, defrauding her donors and living a lie online – much like Belle Gibson did.
Kaitlyn tells GLAMOUR that she felt a “duty” to take on Belle and this story, due to her own experience with the online “cancer thriver” and wellness space. Her mum, Kathy, passed away from breast cancer last year after a 14-year fight, and during her journey Kaitlyn herself delved into the world of the same therapies featured in the TV series, including coffee enemas and juices, which promised to cure the cancer holistically. She poured her knowledge and “obsession” with this darker side of the wellness world into her rendition of Belle.
She is no stranger to complex female-led roles that are true-to-life, and insists we need “more of it” for women on screen. Alongside her legendary performance in coming-of-age movie Booksmart with Beanie Feldstein, Kaitlyn's role in the incredible 2019 Netflix series Unbelievable saw her play a teen girl who recants her report of rape, highlighting the very real obstacles victims of sexual assault face when reporting these crimes.
She sat down with GLAMOUR to talk about tackling these complicated female-led stories, stepping into Belle Gibson's story and whether she thinks a Netflix TV series about her crimes glamourises them.
How did you research the role, did you speak to Belle?
No, I actually didn't. I did a little bit of my own research first, then I got the scripts and fell in love with the story, and with the idea of of of playing this kind of person. In my first meeting with [the show's creator] Sam Strauss [she said] she really wanted to focus on this being our version of Belle Gibson. Because at the end of the day, I don't even really think we'll ever know who the real Belle Gibson is anyway.
Of course, I did look at the 60 Minutes interview, because that's a very famous interview, and that's really the only video I had of her. I guess in approaching the role I wanted to pull from the essence of her in that video. But then, aside from that, I was really creating a character with Sam Strauss, and I was really excited to be able to do that. It gave me a lot of freedom to play with the arc of this character in the show and where she has to go emotionally and how much of an actress she really is in so many ways.
Aside from that, I knew a lot about the wellness industry and that world. I was quite obsessed with it. Keeping track of where Belle was emotionally was, and the accent as well – I had to create a full on spreadsheet for just day to day – it was a lot to take on. She's a lot.
How do you feel about Belle, having lived under her skin making the show? Why do you think she did what she did?
If we're completely separating this character from the real person, if I'm just to look at the girl we created, we definitely do explore, what she really was craving in her life and what she was lacking in her childhood and and I think that that allows for empathy in many ways. That was also helpful for me, taking on the character. Obviously she did this terrible, horrible, unforgivable thing, but I think she also is a person. This whole thing was a cry for help in many ways. And she definitely was someone that needed help. She just is someone that really was craving love and community and friends and was going to do anything she could to get that.
Your mum was really into the Belle Gibson story before she sadly passed away. How did this impact your feelings around the story?
For sure, my mum was actually able to read all of the scripts, all of the episodes, and she loved it. She was obsessed with the role and and this show as a whole, she loved it. I think because of all of the research I had started to do in the last three years of her life on holistic care and non-conventional therapies in addition to the conventional therapies that she was doing, it felt like really crazy timing when this story came into my life. I feel like this is such a specific part of the world of cancer that no one really talks about. Even the Milla storyline with her mother, that storyline, really, really speaks to me in so many ways.
I felt a certain duty to take on this story because I did know so much about it. I honestly had researched coffee enemas and juicing and all of that. It definitely felt like this fell into my lap for a reason, and I don't really know why. It was an incredibly hard time in my life, it was honestly a really hard thing to do, to have to leave my family at such a critical time in my mum's journey.
I felt like my mom was so excited for me… I think she was really proud of me and what an exciting opportunity to be able to take on such a difficult role. So I was doing her proud.
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How do you feel about the way the series was adapted, and criticisms that it has in any way glamourised what Belle did?
It's definitely something that we thought about, and I certainly thought about and talked about it with Sam Strauss and our director, Jeff Walker, and it was certainly something we were mindful of. But I thought that the way that Sam carefully wrote the story was done in a way that, in my opinion, doesn't glamourise it. Of course, it's awful what she did, but I think what Sam does so beautifully is humanise all of these people in this story. I think the way that she wrote everybody's storyline was very grounded to me.
I'm someone that lost someone to cancer and and I follow a lot of “cancer stage four thrivers” on Instagram. I looked towards these people for hope, and it did give me a lot of hope. I obviously know how horrible [what Belle did] is, and it's just an awful, awful thing to do. But I think that with the way that Sam did the show, I think she did it in a way that that you're able to understand why Belle did what she did, and telling that through the other storylines as well, I think, is helpful.
When it comes to the notoriety of female “scammers” like Belle Gibson and Amanda Riley through the Scamanda podcast, why do you think we are drawn to these stories?
I think the fascination with it is the fact that she got away with it for for so long. We look to social media as this all-knowing thing. I feel like we're fed a ton of information every day, and we take it as truth. I think what this show taught me – and even through my own separate journey with my mum – you really do have to be your own advocate. You have to look out for yourself and your health, and not take everything you see online as truth.
With this role and your performance in Unbelievable, what appeals to you about telling complicated female-led stories?
I think we need more and more of it. There's so much in both of these stories [Apple Cider Vinegar and Unbelievable] that are so nuanced. I have such a passion for telling stories about real and raw women. Ever since I did Unbelievable specifically, seeing what that did for so many other women, coming up to me and sharing their stories, after seeing it and and being so grateful that kind of show exists out there – that we're talking about that and bringing awareness to it. I think that really was the first time I'd ever done that kind of show, and from that moment, moving forward, I really wanted to seek out those kinds of stories. It's important to talk about the things that we don't talk about enough.
So much of Apple Cider Vinegar is about social media and branding – how do you feel about those things for yourself in your own life?
Our Belle certainly does create her own persona. It definitely is a brand, but it feels like she's really taking on a different role through her social media. That was also when Instagram first started, she was really one of the first people to create that image on social media. So it's very fascinating that she was able to do that.
For me, it's complicated. I think I'm right down the middle, I benefit so much from having an Instagram and have friends I've made through getting to know other people struggling – like women, specifically, struggling with stage four cancer. It really helped me get through such a terrible time in my life. I became friends with a lot of these women, there's a real support that I think can come from social media.
I don't love to share a lot of my personal life on Instagram. But I think it's useful for promoting shows I'm doing and connecting with people in that way. It's tricky – one day I want to delete it, and then another day I'm on it all day.
What makes you feel empowered?
There's something about being around my sisters that makes me feel like I'm on top of the world. Knowing them, learning from them, getting to be their big sister. We just had a sleepover last night, and I am constantly reminded of how grateful I am to have them in my life. I could actually start crying about it. That's what makes me feel empowered as a lady, and having all those ladies around me all the time.
This interview was edited and condensed for clarity.
Apple Cider Vinegar is available to watch on Netflix now.
