Horrifying moment woman realised her best friend was actually ‘Instagram’s worst con artist’
In hindsight, the writing was on the wall all along that Belle Gibson was a wolf in sheep's clothing.
Reflecting on her journey from being a so-called cancer sufferer to a wellness guru with an international audience of hundreds of thousands, her nearest and dearest can't believe they didn't clock onto her deceit sooner.
The Australian scammer's online fame soon turned into global infamy after her web of lies surrounding her health, 'curing' her illnesses with natural remedies and nutrition, as well as fabrications about charity donations were exposed.
If you think it sounds like the ideal plot for a gritty new Netflix drama, you'd be spot on - as there is one in the pipeline, titled Apple Cider Vinegar, which is currently being filmed in Melbourne.
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But if you can't wait for that to come out, you can get an unprecedented insight into the bizarre case by tuning into ITV's two-part documentary series Instagram’s Worst Con Artist. Take a look at this:
Gibson's family and friends have spoken out about how they started to poke holes in the social media influencer's strange stories which she span regarding her alleged conditions.
Rise to fame
The woman, from Launceston, Tasmania, began to grow her online presence and gained thousands of followers after discussing her feigned illnesses on the internet.
The then-21-year-old informed people that she had suffered two cardiac arrests and a stroke, before claiming she had been diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Gibson alleged that she had undergone three heart surgeries - during which she had died on the operating table twice - before medics supposedly told her she had an inoperable brain tumour and six months to live.
The mum-of-one, who was in fact fit and healthy, then continued to bend the truth for the benefit of her bank balance by claiming she had shunned traditional treatments and had managed to cure her stage four cancer.
Unstoppable success
She alleged that Ayurvedic medicine, oxygen therapy along with a gluten and refined sugar-free diet had healed her body, while encouraging thousands of people who were actually suffering from the disease to do the same.
With more than 300,000 Instagram followers following Gibson's journey, she decided to capitalise on their vulnerability further by launching an app and a cookbook, which were both named The Whole Pantry, to push her popularity further.
A whopping 200,000 people reportedly downloaded the app within the first month of its August 2013 release, before it went on to get voted as Apple's 'Best Food and Drink App' that year.
Endorsement deals were rolling in and Gibson's success showed no signs of slowing down, as she had become Australia's sweetheart after promising to deliver her share of the profits to several charities...although she never did.
Chanelle McAuliffe, a former friend of the convicted con artist, explained she first met Gibson in October 2014 through mutual friends.
The pair quickly became thick as thieves, but it didn't take long before the young mum's mask started to slip.
'Red flags'
Chanelle explained she started to think that something fishy was going on after Gibson suddenly collapsed on the floor and began to have a seizure.
Within the few seconds which were filled with her panicking and screaming for someone to call an ambulance, her pal had suddenly miraculously recovered, wiped the saliva from her mouth and insisted she was completely fine.
"I felt really sick in my stomach for what I had just seen," Chanelle said. "This is the point where red flags really started to pop up for me."
Coupled with her bewilderment that her supposedly terminally ill friend has the strength to run a 'business empire', Chanelle started to smell a rat - and realised something really was amiss when she saw Gibson's new Instagram post.
The scammer had announced that her cancer had spread, news which the journalist couldn't believe she was finding out about via social media.
Speaking to The Sun, Chanelle said: "I started to question everything, to go over it all in my mind.
"She always looked so well, she never looked sick. I started to think about times where she had gone on tanning beds and another time when we went to a nightclub and she was ordering shots and drinks.
"I said to Belle, ‘This is not good’. But she said, ‘I’m going to die soon anyway. Why not have some fun?’
"Those weren’t things she was sharing with her online community. Things just didn’t add up for me."
A shocking confession
Chanelle confided her suspicions in a close friend, who revealed they'd been having their own doubts about Gibson too.
The duo decided to confront her at her home and demanded to see 'any type of medical evidence' to corroborate her elaborate story, which she claimed she did not keep in her house because it had 'negative energy'.
"I asked her which hospital she went to get diagnosed at and she said she hadn’t been, that a doctor came to her house," Chanelle continued. "She was defensive. But the more she spoke, the more it became clear it was all a lie.
"She was profiting from a web of lies she was spinning by targeting vulnerable people and it just made my blood boil. She was misleading people on such a major level. They were choosing to eat fruit and veg over medical treatment.
"I asked her if she was ready to come forward and she got really aggressive and told me to ‘f**k off’."
This made her 'hell-bent' on putting a stop to Gibson's web of deceit, seeing her call on the police, journalists and lawyers to help expose Gibson.
Thankfully, the fraudster's lies finally unravelled in early 2015 when a charity revealed they had never received the money Gibson claimed she had donated - as she'd splashed it on a flash car, a townhouse, designer clothes and cosmetic dental procedures instead.
"No, none of it is true"
An investigation into her life with a fine tooth comb ensued, which revealed that nothing was authentic about Gibson.
In a bombshell interview in April of that year, she admitted her health woes were made up, confessing: "No, none of it is true," before she was fined £240,000 in 2017 by the Federal Court for The Whole Pantry scam.
She later said she was unable to pay the fine, and is believed to still owe over £257,000 in fines, penalties and interest.
Instagram’s Worst Con Artist airs tonight (25 April) and 2 May at 9.00pm on ITV.
Topics: Australia, Cancer, Health, Crime, True Crime, World News, ITV
Olivia Burke