The soft cell light illuminated Belle Gibson’s face while she shared with Thousands of followers on Instagram How cerebral cancer had defeated.
With a tone that gave security, he described his daily routine that included The consumption of green juices and the practice of meditation and alternative therapies.
The story was perfect, so inspiring that few dared to question her. “Conventional medicine gave me months of life,” he used to say. “But My body cured thanks to nature.”
She had found A path to health that looked like a miraclebut the most amazing was the number of people who believed in their word.
Devouts, They bought their products And they continued their advice with fanaticism.
Through a mobile application and a book, Gibson built an extraordinary business based on the promise of natural healing. In 2013, his app was an absolute successto the point that it became downloaded more than 200,000 times only in the first month.
But behind the perfect photos, green shakes and healthy recipes, There was a dark secret: Nothing of what Belle said was true.
There was no cancer, there was no miraculous cure. Only A young woman with a special talent to tell lies.
What nobody suspected at the time was that influencer that gave inspiring talks and He appeared as a victorious warrior against cancerIt was actually one of the most notorious scammers in the world of good living.
And even less than his deception would become one of the greatest scandals on public health in Australia.
Annabelle Natalie Gibson was born on October 8, 1991 in Launston, Tasmania. Since childhood, His life was marked by the desire to escape his surroundings. According to subsequent stories, Belle claimed to have had a childhood of helplessness.
His child’s days were those of an adult, in charge of the care tasks of his mother and brother. However, some relatives denied those versions, revealing that Belle had had a relatively normal childhood, although she had made clear signs of your fantasy drive and the obvious inclination to exaggerate reality.
With 12 years he left the family home in Brisbane and went through several houses, between friends and family. Left school in tenth grade, showing since then A remarkable ability to reinvent yourself.
From 17, he participated in social networks with a diversity of identities: from rebel skater to holistic welfare defender. However, just A few years later he found his true “vocation” When trying as a content creator.
With 21 years, Belle launched The Whole Pantryan application of healthy recipes and well -being tips. What did different from its product was the powerful story behind its creation.
According to her, it was the result of her own fight against terminal cancer diagnosed in 2009, when she was 20 years old.
He said having rejected chemotherapy and radiation, opting for a gluten -free diet, meditation and alternative therapies that had miraculously healed it.
Thousands of people were attracted to this History of overcoming and hope that also questioned conventional medicine treatments.
Billing machine
The application was an instant success. His face appeared on journal covers and television programs, in which He counted how a diet had stopped the growth of malignant cells In his brain.
Large companies like Apple They bet on her. He signed a contract with the powerful editorial Penguin To publish a book, also called The Whole Pantrywhich quickly became best-seller in Australia. Belle looked like a model to follow.
But under this impeccable facade, cracks began. Belle claimed that much of his income went to beneficial organizations, but in 2015, Australian journalists began investigating and discovered that none of those donations had been done. It was the beginning of the end.
What disease?
The questions about their health also multiplied. Where were the medical reports, the biopsies, the scars of the alleged surgeries he said to have had? Where were the diagnostic tests of terminal cancer?
The media pressure was such that Belle finally admitted, in an interview with The Weeklythat everything had been a hoax. “None of this is true,” he confessed, although Without showing remorse. He had no cancer, he never had it.
The woman who had given hope to thousands of people, who He had earned hundreds of thousands of dollars exploiting the pain and despair industry of othersIt was a cruel fake.
Belle claimed that much of his income went to beneficial organizations, but a journalistic investigation discovered that none of those donations had been made.
During the interview, Belle was confused, exalted and evasive. His confession revealed A deeply disturbed mind who struggled to distinguish between reality and its own fantasies.
Although many accused her of being an unscrupulous manipulator, Belle argued, in tears, that I was still “trying to understand what is reality and what is fiction” In his life.
But beyond deception, what impacted most was his inability to show empathy for those who had followed their advice and had abandoned their medical treatments.
Experts suggested that, although their acts were condemnable, they also showed a possibly ill person.
The confession generated a storm of criticism. The scandal also exposed the lack of responsibility of companies such as Apple y Penguinthat they had sponsored their history without verifying it.
In 2016, Consumer Affairs Victoria (CAV), the government agency responsible for protecting consumers’ rightsbegan legal actions against Belle, accusing her of deceiving the public.
The Federal Court of Australia declared her guilty a year later, imposing a fine of $ 410,000. The judge described her actions as “deceptive” and “exploiters”Although he accepted that Belle could have acted more from a “delusional self -deception” than with premeditated malice.
Despite the sentence, the fine was never paid. Despite legal pressuresBelle alleged bankruptcy and continued to live outside the public radar.
In the following years, Belle tried to stay withdrawn, but occasionally news about Your new reinvention attemptsincluding a brief appearance in Melbourne Ethiopian communities.
She claimed that it had been spiritually adopted by those groupswho soon rejected and denounced her publicly.
Its history became emblematic example of The dangers of pseudosciences and highlighted the impact of blind faith on the content that circulates through social networks.
This year, Netflix premiered the miniseries Apple vinegarstarring Kaitlyn Dever, who told The meteoric ascent of the influencer and its subsequent fall.
The story of this woman is the definitive warning about how despair and dazzling can be exploited in the digital age.
