The Influencer Who Inspired Apple Cider Vinegar Hasn’t Been Seen in Years—So Where Is Belle Gibson Now?
The Netflix series Apple Cider Vinegar has just premiered on Netflix. The show, which stars Kaitlyn Dever, Alycia Debnam-Carey and Aisha Dee, follows a wellness guru who pretends to have cancer to gain a following, is based on the story of Australian wellness entrepreneur Belle Gibson. Gibson, who marketed herself as a “Gamechanger with brain cancer + food obsession” claimed that healthy eating had helped cure her inoperable brain cancer and that she recovered after being told she only had four months to live.
On the basis of that lie, Gibson built a wellness empire, including a successful app called The Whole Pantry and a cookbook. In her book, she claimed that healthy living was the reason she was now “stable for two years with no growth of cancer,” explaining that “I was empowering myself to save my own life through nutrition, patience, determination, and love.”
Related: Who was the Zodiac Killer? Netflix has a documentary about it.
An investigation into the influencer later revealed her deception, and the whole story is now the basis of Apple Cider Vinegar. But what happened to Belle Gibson since her lies were discovered? Where is Bell Gibson from Apple Cider Vinegar now?
Where’s Belle Gibson Now From Apple Cider Vinegar?
Very little is known about Gibson’s current whereabouts, but what happened to her after the truth of her lies came out can be traced by looking at the consequences of her actions. In 2015, Gibson admitted to The Australian Women’s Weekly that “none of it [was] true.” She would go on to face legal action from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and was found guilty of misleading the public into believing natural remedies could cure terminal cancer in 2017 and of making false claims about her charitable donations.
She was fined more than $1 million dollars, though the court did conclude that she could have suffered from “a series of delusions about her health condition.” Her fine was reduced to $410,000 Australian dollars (or a little over 250,000). In 2017, the last time Gibson spoke about her case in public, she reportedly expressed how “sad” it was that journalists were interested in her case.
Two years after the fine, however, Gibson was ordered to face trial and go to jail because she still hadn’t paid. Reports indicated that her home was raided twice in 2021 in an attempt by the government to settle her fine. However, there’s no indication she has paid this fine as of yet.
Belle Gibson’s story gets even more strange. In 2020, ABC News Australia reported that Gibson had joined the Ethipia’s Oromo community in Melbourne, with reports indicating she wanted to be known as “Sabontu.”
However, Dr Tarekegn Chimdi, the head of Melbourne’s Ethiopian community, reportedly asked her to leave the group after learning of her past. “It was concerning when someone is using the community’s name who is not a member of that community. She was coming across as more Oromo than Oromo people,” he said.
The whereabouts of Gibson as of today are unknown, though she’s believed to still be in Australia. She’s not currently on any social media under her own name.
