Belle Gibson

Some Lesser Known Facts About Belle Gibson

• Belle Gibson grew up in a modest suburb of Brisbane with her mother and elder brother.

• In her cookbook The Whole Pantry, Gibson described her childhood as difficult, saying that she was raised in a dysfunctional home and never knew who her father was. She also mentioned that her mother had multiple sclerosis and her brother was autistic.

• Since her mother was unwell, Gibson had to take up the responsibilities of the primary caregiver at the age of five. She used to handle all the household chores and grocery shopping.

• When Gibson was 12 years old, she left her Brisbane family home and went to live with a classmate. Later, she moved to live with a family friend.

• She dropped out of school when she was in class 10. However, later she claimed that she was homeschooled.

• She then worked as a trainee at PFD Food Services, a catering supply company in Lytton for some time.

• In 2008, Gibson relocated to Perth, Western Australia, in 2009.

• There, she got involved in the skateboarding culture and was an active member of its online community.

• In July 2009, she moved from Perth to Melbourne.

• In Melbourne, Gibson worked at a private health insurance company, where she handled medical claims.

• After a while, Belle, who was then a teenager, started telling people that she was ill. She claimed that she was suffering from terminal brain cancer.

• In one of her social media posts, she even claimed that she suffered a cardiac arrest and died for three minutes. She said, “I just woke up out of a coma type thing. The doctor comes in and tells me the draining failed and I went into cardiac arrest and died for just under three minutes.”

• In 2012, at the age of 20, Belle set up her Instagram account, @healing_belle. In her Insta bio, she claimed to be a game changer with brain cancer + a food obsession.

• On her page, she began sharing posts depicting her battle with cancer and her journey of self-healing through diet and alternative treatments. Her posts and uplifting messages resonated deeply with many and helped her gain around 3 lakh followers, who eagerly waited for her updates.

• After gaining massive followers on the platform, she thought of launching a business. In April 2013, Gibson registered a company named The Whole Pantry.

• Soon, she launched an app with the same name. The app offered 50 gluten-free, plant-based vegan recipes, along with a shopping list feature and a conversion tool. It became an instant hit, with a large number of people downloading it.

• The app was named Apple’s “Best Food and Drink” app of 2013.

• As she gained fame, her wealth grew and Gibson soon moved into a million-dollar beachside home, leased a luxury car (BMW), maintained fancy office space, underwent cosmetic dental work, bought designer clothes, and travelled abroad.

• In 2014, Gibson claimed that her cancer had spread to her blood, spleen, uterus, and liver.

• She further expanded her business by releasing a 250-page glossy cookbook titled The Whole Pantry through Penguin Publishing House.

• She also narrated her battle with cancer on a blog with the name The Whole Pantry.

• In 2015, Gibson’s company generated a revenue of over $1 million. Gibson claimed that the majority of her revenue went to charity. She even claimed that up to 95 per cent of her app’s proceeds were being given away to charity.

• In February 2015, Gibson’s close friend, Chanelle McAuliffe, confronted her about suspicions regarding her cancer claims and the possibility of a scam. She urged Gibson to tell her the truth, but Gibson refused.

• As McAuliffe was concerned about the harm that Gibson was causing to cancer patients, she reported the matter to police, a lawyer, and an investigative journalist. However, they showed no interest in taking the case.

• Later, journalists at The Age and The Australian decided to look into the matter and began their investigation.

• In March 2015, doubts about her claim surfaced after she failed to deliver a donation of $300,000 to a charity.

• Further, the investigation also revealed that Gibson had fabricated her entire cancer story. She also lied about her age, personal life, and history.

• In April 2015, in an interview with The Australian Women’s Weekly Belle admitted that she had lied about her cancer diagnosis. However, instead of apologizing, she remained defiant. She said,
  

  I don’t want forgiveness. I just think [speaking out] was the responsible thing to do. Above anything, I would like people to say, OK, she’s human.”

• Within a few weeks, her app was pulled from the market, her American book launch was cancelled, and both Penguin and Apple ended their association with her.

• On 6 May 2016, Consumer Affairs Victoria announced legal action against Gibson and her company, Inkerman Road Nominees Pty Ltd (formerly Belle Gibson Pty Ltd), for making false claims about her terminal brain cancer diagnosis, rejecting conventional treatments in favour of natural remedies, and falsely claiming to donate proceeds to charity.

• She was fined $410,000 AUD for misleading conduct regarding her health and charitable donations by a Melbourne federal court.

•  On 15 March 2017, the Federal Court of Australia upheld most of the allegations, concluding that “Ms. Gibson had no reasonable basis to believe she had cancer.”

• In 2025, a web series based titled ‘Apple Cider Vinegar’ based on the life of Belle Gibson was released on Netflix. Her character in the series was portrayed by the American actress Kaitlyn Dever.