On February 6th, 2025, a new Netflix crime show called Apple Cider Vinegar was released, which delves into the true story of Belle Gibson, an Australian influencer who falsely claimed to be suffering from a fatal illness in order to advertise alternative therapies as cures. Despite a decade passing since the truth was revealed, her story still serves as warning for how much a lie can spiral out of control. As investigators revisit her case, they cannot help but wonder: Was there ever any truth to her story? 

In 2009, the 20-year old wellness guru had been supposedly diagnosed  with a malignant brain cancer and was only given six weeks to four months maximum to live. However, she hastily withdrew from chemotherapy treatment and decided to pursue a path “to heal [herself] naturally…through nutrition, patience, determination, and love,” according to BBC News. In fact, her feed was filled with organic meals and juices whose nutrition, according to Gibson, was guaranteed to enhance the healing process. From that point on, her Instagram account had been continuously expanding in followers, gathering at least 200,000 fans who enthusiastically followed her wellness app.

As a result of her booming popularity, she created a best-selling wellness and nutrition app and a cookbook, both called The Whole Pantry. Her app quickly gained fame, even drawing the attention of Apple.  It was not only promoted as an iOS app but also as an application for Apple watches. The app’s success was closely tied to her personal blog, which chronicled her alleged survival story of suffering through a deadly brain tumor when she was younger. According to statistics, there were 300,000 downloads of her iOS app because of her close relationship with Apple. The successful technology company was genuinely astonished by Gibson’s fictitious survival story, which is why she was invited to Cupertino to collaborate with them in releasing an Apple Watch app. Eventually, The Whole Pantry became a default app on the watch and was heavily advertised by Apple’s marketing team worldwide. However, as soon as the tech brand found out the truth about her app, Apple swiftly removed it globally from Apple Watches and from its App store, cutting ties with the influencer and distancing itself from the dishonesty that had initially elevated her platform 

By 2014, Gibson was seen as the ultimate role model as she was inspiring others to follow her steps in, as she said, “empowering myself to save my own life,” according to BBC News. Subsequently, she was given the “Fun, Fearless Female” award by Cosmopolitan, a global female brand. However, in reality, she herself was never the impressive role model; people simply looked up to the facade that she managed to create, and below the surface, there was pure dishonesty. When actual cancer patients began stopping their chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and other medicinal treatments altogether and promoting Gibson’s remedies as the better alternative, that is when it became clear  that Gibson’s lies were dangerous threats to society. 

It was all an expansive web of lies, as Gibson was never diagnosed with a malignant brain cancer, nor did she ever have “cancer in [her] blood, brain, uterus, and liver” which she claimed to be suffering from in a 2014 Instagram post. Ironically, it occurred during the time in which outbursts of her being a fraud began to surface. Finally, in 2015, all the rumbles persuaded her to admit in an interview with Women’s Weekly: “No, none of it’s true,” but she then refused to take on further responsibility by commenting, “I am still jumping between what I think I know and what is reality. I have lived it and I’m not really there yet.” 

As a result, the public was furious and felt betrayed from all of Gibson’s scams, which is why in 2017, the federal court of Australia demanded her to pay a fine of $322,000 (USD) and she was convicted of “misleading and deceptive conduct,” according to Time. 

Why did she lie and what was the point of Gibson’s lies? According to investigative journalist Nick Toscano, who focused on Gibson’s motives for lying, Gibson had been promoting survival stories of medical miracles ever since her youth. As the journalist interviewed many of Gibson’s childhood friends, he heard many reports on how she would constantly lie to others, claiming that she was having heart surgery or that she once died and had to be resuscitated. Since she would often gain sympathy from others by telling them phony stories of medical dramas, it was concluded that she developed an attention-seeking attitude. That is why she was able to get away with this disguise for so long, because she knew how to allure people who were ill and vulnerable and needed a reason to believe in hope. Samantha Strauss, the executive director of Apple Cider Vinegar, also studied all the shaky relationships Gibson had in her career. These strained connections may have contributed to her increasing desperation and eventual decision to fabricate her illness.

How was the truth unleashed? Both investigating journalists, Beau Donnelly and Nick Toscano, received a tip from Gibson’s friend, Chanelle, who reported how in 2014, Gibson had a seizure in the middle of her son’s fourth birthday party. Suspiciously, the guru influencer prohibited everyone from calling an ambulance and she refused to go to the hospital. Additionally, Chanelle had spent two days cooking organic meals for a family that had a son with brain cancer, and yet, Gibson never showed up to deliver them even though  she was in charge to do so; in fact, Chanelle found them stored in her freezer. That caused Chanelle’s suspicions to grow, doubting whether Gibson was truly a cancer patient, and eventually tipping off the journalists.

So was everything a lie? That is for you to decide., However; one thing is certain: Her story will become a cautionary tale that parents will tell their children when teaching the consequences of lying.