Influencer's web of lies exposed after she claimed to have terminal brain cancer

30 October 2023 , 19:00

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Influencer's web of lies exposed after she claimed to have terminal brain cancer

A new documentary tells the extraordinary inside story of Belle Gibson, the Australian social influencer who faked having cancer as a “f****** business strategy”.

Belle attracted over 300,000 followers on social media as she claimed she cured her terminal brain cancer through healthy eating. Her miraculous story brought her fame and money, with a successful app which was heavily promoted by Apple, a Penguin book deal and countless television appearances.

But when journalists investigated in 2015, they discovered something shocking: none of her story was true – she never had cancer. An ITVX two-part series shows how she fooled people and used other people’s comments and descriptions of their own cancer passing them off as her own.

Belle Gibson (centre) fooled people as she passed off other people's stories as her own

Former friend Chanelle McAuliffe eventually realised something wasn’t right and called Belle out on the eve of her book launch. She says they met through mutual friends and admits: “She seemed to be able to find a way to really understand other people’s hardships and connect with people on a deeper level. Belle was living in a million-dollar house on the beach in quite an affluent suburb in Melbourne. She was flying first class on international trips to Silicon Valley, working with Apple.”

But Chanelle also saw Belle doing things she claimed not to do on her social media including drinking alcohol and eating fast food. “Belle was very passionate about wellness…but then there would be times where I noticed her and another friend went to a solarium to go tanning. Another time we went out to a nightclub, and she was ordering shots and lots of drinks and drinking quite excessively. Things just didn’t add up for me.”

Warning as popular food and drink ‘increase risk of cancer death by up to 30%’

She eventually decided to confront her and recalling the moment, Chanelle said: “She maintained that she had cancer. She maintained everything was true. She was profiting from a web of lies that she was spinning by targeting vulnerable people and sick people. And it just made my blood boil. And it all added up at that point. In my opinion, it was a strategy. It’s just a f***ing business strategy.

“I felt she was misleading people on such a serious nature that they were making decisions about life-threatening illnesses to stop seeking chemo or radiation to eat fruit and vegetables. I said to her ‘are you ready to come forward?’ And she basically got really aggressive with me, basically told me to f*** off.”

Her former friend, Chanelle (pictured) called Belle out for her behaviour

Journalist Richard Guilliat was the man who first exposed Belle as a fraud after managing to track her down for an interview. He said: “My wife had been diagnosed with cancer and we had experienced how bewildering and frightening that can be. Once you went onto Google and started researching that stuff, you ended up in this kind of bewildering, conflicting information zone. People were incredibly caught up in the idea that this beautiful, sensitive young woman who had a small child was battling these terrible illnesses, but at the same time was spreading this gospel of wellness. And was telling people that there were these alternatives to cancer, you know, the illness that nearly all of us fear the most.

“Everything I knew about, particularly a malignant brain tumour, told you that this was just, it’s just not possible.” He added: “After I left the interview, I got in my car and I just called my editor straight away and I said, like, you’re not going to believe this.

But like Belle Gibson just recanted on the record. She’s basically saying she can’t back up her cancer claims."There’s a fundamental problem here with her and the truth.” Fast forward to September 2017, and Belle was fined £240,000 by the Australian government for misleading readers about donating money to charity, after she was found guilty of five breaches of consumer law.

Richard Guilliat (pictured) exposed Belle's lies

A judge at the time said Belle may have “genuinely” believed what she was saying, and might have suffered from “delusions” about her health. She has stayed out of the spotlight since. The documentary also features a rare interview with Belle’s older brother Nick. She also lied about him in order to make her family seem more damaged than they were.

Many of her fans feel they wasted lots of money buying her book, using her app and following expensive recipes thinking they were helping to cure themselves of cancer Nick said: “I think Belle should be told to pay the money back to all those families who got damaged by it all. She’s left a big scar on me. Like it’s never going to leave me. She’s never going to be forgiven by me and that’s the truth. You know, I’ll always love her. Why did you do it? Please explain, I’m here, you know, talk to me, I’m here to listen.”

In a statement released in 2015, Penguin said they didn’t seek proof of Belle’s illness because The Whole Pantry was a collection of food recipes, which they had published in good faith. Belle Gibson, Apple and Penguin were approached for comment on the ITVX series. Penguin and Belle did not respond, Apple declined to comment.

* The Search for Instagram's Worst Con Artist is released on ITV X on Nov 2.

Mark Jefferies