Netflix’s Apple Cider Vinegar tells the shocking story of influencer Belle Gibson, who faked having cancer to gain a social media following and make money – we look at what happened to Belle in the aftermath of events and where she is now.
In 2013 when Instagram took off and began to spawn the rise of influencers, a remarkable story broke from the social media platform – a poplar blogger with a large following had cured herself of cancer. Four years prior to the popularity of Instagram growing, one if its early influencers, Australian blogger Belle Gibson, claimed to have been diagnosed with brain cancer. She used the platform to document a journey that saw her withdraw from chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and heal herself naturally through nutrition.
Belle’s ‘miraculous’ ability to cure her own cancer saw her follower count rise, and the launch of her wellness and nutrition app and a cookbook named The Whole Pantry. Others wanting to heal their own life-threatening conditions through nutrition rushed to buy what Belle was selling, until an even more shocking broke – she had been lying the entire time and never did have cancer. With her story dramatised in the six-part Netflix series, Apple Cider Vinegar, viewers are intrigued to know what happened to the real Belle Gibson in the aftermath of events, and where she is now.
Where is Belle Gibson now?
Unsurprisingly, Belle Gibson has kept a very low profile since news broke that she’d faked having cancer. She was accosted by a journalist at a petrol station this month, who found she was living in Melbourne’s Northern suburbs – a video of the exchange was shared to the A Current Affair YouTube channel.
As Belle is yet to pay a penny of her fines for her criminal activity, the journalist and a camera crew approach her to ask why she was yet to pay any of it. She responds with, “Don’t put that camera up at me. Have some humanity – I haven’t paid things because I can’t afford to. You know I can’t get into the workplace.”
She later tells the journalist she’d meet with him privately and they exchange details – she said she didn’t want to chat at the petrol station because her son was present. However, the camera crew zoom in on her car to find it empty. The video also reveals Belle is yet to respond to requests to meet with the journalist to discuss her unpaid fines.
The last time she spoke publicly about her lies was in 2019 when she spoke to reporters while attending court. According to Australian Women’s Weekly, she’d previously failed to attend any court appearances scheduled in relation to her crimes.
However, by 2019, she was ordered to attend court or be imprisoned. This time she turned up, allegedly enraging the public by wearing expensive designer clothes and sunglasses, while suggesting she was broke. While at court she stopped to tell reporters she thought it was “sad” they were still reporting on her story.
(Image credit: Netflix)
She was next seen in 2020, when she’d once again reinvented herself and become an adopted member of Melbourne’s Ethiopian Oromo community. Belle asked to be called Sabontu once she’d joined the community, and footage of her talking with group members emerged and was shared to Facebook
The Australian Women’s Weekly suggests the footage sees Belle refer to Ethiopia as “back home,” before she says, “My heart is deeply embedded in the Oromo people. I feel blessed to be adopted by you.”
Recognised in the video footage by some Oromo community members, the head of the community, Dr Tarekegn Chimdi, was alerted. Once told the truth about her identity, he asked Belle to leave the group, stating, “She is exploiting the good heart of the people in our community. People are not questioning when people are approaching them [whether] this is a good person. They did not know what evil she was carrying.”
(Image credit: Netflix)
Apple Cider Vinegar also looks at the relationship between Belle and a man named Clive Rothwell. In the series, Clive is portrayed as Belle’s life partner and stepfather to her son, Oliver.
While Belle really does have a son, born in 2010, she’s never publicly revealed the true identity of his father. It’s unclear whether her relationship with Clive was real and how long they remained together when news of her deceptions broke if they were ever really a couple at all.
There were once rumours circulating that the pair were engaged, but during Belle’s 2019 court appearance, she swore under oath that she knew little about Clive, including where he worked – she also denied they’d ever been romantically involved let alone engaged.
She appeared to imply Clive was simply a housemate, suggesting he paid $600 per week towards the rent of the house they shared. It was widely reported the pair were still living together in 2023, until multiple pictures of Clive with another woman and moving into a home on the opposite side of town to the house he shared with Belle, emerged.
Like Belle’s precise current whereabouts, the exact nature of her relationship with Clive remains a mystery.
