Netflix’s Apple Cider Vinegar is based on the story of Belle Gibson, an Australian influencer who claimed a healthy diet cured her cancer – and viewers are wondering about the real tale behind the drama.
During the early rise of Instagram as a popular platform to share stories and make money, a woman named Belle Gibson decided to use the benefits of the platform in a horrific way – by faking her own cancer. During 2014 Belle documented an entirely made up journey to her rapidly rising number of followers, that saw her ‘cure’ malignant brain cancer through nutrition.
Through her success, she launched a lucrative wellness app and cook book. In the midst of winning awards for being such an inspiration, Belle’s web of lies began to unravel, and by 2015 she was forced to admit she’d made the whole story up. Her story has now been played out in a six-part high profile Netflix drama, that comes with a few caveats. With Netflix stating, “This is a true-ish story based on a lie,” viewers are wondering what is the truth and what isn’t – we take a look.
Is Apple Cider Vinegar a true story?
Apple Cider Vinegar is a fictionalised version of the real Belle Gibson’s story, based on the book The Woman Who Fooled the World, by investigative journalists Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano.
It was Donelly and Toascano who exposed Gibson’s false claims about having cancer. She’d also made many claims about donating proceeds from her wellness app to charity, and the pair found these claims were also entirely unfounded.
Some characters in the series are inspired by real people, and others are combinations of those who found themselves involved in Belle’s story at the time. Some characters were created for the show purely for dramatic purposes and take no basis from any one person.
(Image credit: Netflix)
In the show, Milla Blake (Alycia Debnam-Carey) is based on the real life Jessica Ainscough. In real life, Jessica really was diagnosed with epithelioid sarcoma at the age of 22, and also worked as a journalist. She shared details of her journey on Instagram, and promoted controversial healing methods in the same way as Belle, through her website, Wellness Warrior.
Jessica’s mother, Sharyn was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2011 while her daughter was going through her own cancer struggle, and decided to follow her daughter into the same unconventional healing methods with no evidence base.
Sharyn died in 2013 and Jessica died in 2015 at the age of 29 – she’d turned to conventional medicine in the last weeks of her life, but sadly, this was too late for any such methods to treat her illness.
(Image credit: Netflix)
In Apple Cider Vinegar, Belle’s manager Chanelle (Aisha Dee), is based on her real life former friend, Chanelle McAuliffe. Chanelle met Belle when when she was assigned to interview her during a writing internship.
While a close friendship formed, it wasn’t long before Chanelle began to suspect Belle wasn’t telling the truth. She noticed that Belle had no qualms about using sunbeds, something the natural, organic lifestyle she presented to the world should have forbidden.
Belle would also drink shots on nights out the pair had, something else that seemingly didn’t align with her clean living online ethos. It was Chanelle who made calls to journalists to begin an investigation into Belle, when the influencer was unable to provide any medical documents proving her diagnosis when Chanelle asked to see them.
The character Lucy (Tilda Cobham-Hervey), has been created just for the show and is entirely fictional. She represents an unknown number of Belle’s followers who might’ve shunned evidence-based medicine, inspired by her ‘healing’ herself through clean living alone and wanting to emulate her success with dire consequences.
What did Belle Gibson really do?
Belle Gibson claimed that in 2009, she’d been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer and had fewer than six months to live. During the 2013 rise of Instagram as a popular platform, Belle created an account – with her first post telling the public she’d spent the previous four years curing her own cancer with whole foods, determination and love.
She later claimed the cancer had spread to her blood, spleen, uterus, liver, and kidneys. However, she inconsistently claimed sometimes to have had no further cancer spread, while simultaneously telling different media outlets her cancer had metastasised to different parts of her body.
Belle also claimed to have undergone heart surgery and alleged that she had momentarily died on the operating table, while also suggesting she’d suffered a stroke. She struggled to substantiate her claims or name doctors who made the diagnosis and treated her.
While making her various claims about which cancers she had, Belle maintained she was healing herself with clean eating, and controversial methods such as Gerson therapy, drinking non-pasteurised raw milk, and often speaking out against routine vaccinations.
In 2015, at the height of her popularity, her Whole Pantry recipe app had been purchased more than 300,000 times and voted Apple’s best food and drink app of the year. Simultaneously, her web of lies were unravelling and also in 2015, it transpired she’d never given anywhere near the amount of money to charity she claimed to have donated.
After investigative journalists Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano broke the story that everything Belle had ever posted online was a lie, she was forced to reveal infamously to The Australian Women’s Weekly, that, “None of this is true.”
“I don’t want forgiveness,” she told the publication, adding, “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. She’s respectfully come to the table and said what she’s needed to say, and now it’s time for her to grow and heal.'”
Belle was eventually found guilty of five breaches of consumer law, and ordered by the federal court in Melbourne to repay A$410,000 (£205,000) for false charity promises. When she didn’t pay the money, her house was raided and her fines now stand at over $500,000 (£250,000). It is widely reported that Belle has still not paid any of her outstanding fines.
