In “Apple Cider Vinegar,” a new Netflix series released on Thursday, Kaitlyn Dever plays Belle Gibson, a real Australian woman who spread a scam about overcoming terminal brain cancer through healthy eating. Gibson built a career around her fake cancer diagnosis, gaining a large Instagram following, creating a recipe app called The Whole Pantry, and writing a cookbook with the same title.
“Apple Cider Vinegar” is a semi-fictional version of Gibson’s story. Alycia Debnam-Carey also stars as the fictional influencer Milla, who promotes wellness treatments but actually has a real cancer diagnosis. Aisha Dee plays Chanelle, Milla’s friend who reveals Belle’s scam to the media. Tilda Cobham-Hervey plays Lucy, a cancer patient who follows Belle, and Mark Coles Smith is Lucy’s husband and a journalist who investigates the fake cancer claims.
The real Gibson, an active blogger, lied in 2009 about only having four months to live after a brain cancer diagnosis. She said that after trying chemotherapy, she decided to heal through wellness treatments. By 2013, Gibson’s influence was growing. Her Instagram following reached over 200,000 at the height of her popularity.
Gibson launched The Whole Pantry app in 2014, which was highlighted as Apple’s best food and drink app. Elle Australia published a piece about Gibson with the headline, “The Most Inspiring Woman You’ve Met This Year.” Cosmopolitan gave her its “Fun Fearless Female” award. That same year, Gibson lied again, claiming she had cancer in her uterus, spleen, liver, and blood.
Gibson expanded the success of the app into a cookbook deal with Penguin, but her scam started to fall apart in 2015. Her business came under scrutiny after reporters Beau Donnelly and Nick Toscano reported that Gibson had failed to donate fundraised money to charity as she had promised. Her cancer story soon collapsed.
In May 2015, Gibson confirmed to The Australian Women’s Weekly that she didn’t have cancer: “None of it’s true.” Gibson eventually received a $410,000 fine in 2017 for misleading and deceptive conduct. Her home was raided multiple times after the fines went unpaid.
Donnelly and Toscano further explored Gibson’s con in their 2017 book, “The Woman Who Fooled the World,” which inspired the Netflix show.
