Belle Gibson, an Australian blogger admitted Thursday that she never had brain cancer, she was lying about it all the time. Gibson, who found fame after claiming she was conquering brain cancer through natural therapy, launched her successful The Whole Pantry business in 2013 -- billed as the world’s first health, wellness and lifestyle app community -- on the back of healing herself naturally through whole foods and alternative therapies.
She also released The Whole Pantry cookbook in 2014, which publisher Penguin pulled from sale last month when suspicions sparked by the Australian media first arose. It had been due to go on sale soon in the United States and Britain. Her app had also reportedly been hand-picked by tech giant Apple for its new smart watch, which goes on sale Friday.
Mother-of-one Gibson, 23, has now admitted she fabricated the cancer, when quizzed by the Australian Women’s Weekly. "No. None of it is true," she confessed in an interview published Thursday entitled "My lifelong struggle with the truth. I just think (speaking out) was the responsible thing to do. Above anything else, I want people to say ’okay, she’s human’."
Gibson added that after years of lies, confronting the truth was "very scary, to be honest". Reports said she had received hate mail and even death threats since being exposed. She said the backlash had been "beyond horrible". Gibson did not go into detail about her motivations for lying, other than that she had a troubled childhood.
The magazine said accountants were winding up The Whole Pantry business.
Gibson’s lie began unraveling when it emerged last month that she failed to donate Aus$300,000 (US$232,000) in profits from the sales of her book to charity as promised and friends started to question her diagnosis via the media.
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"Businesses are obliged to ensure that any representations related to their products or services do not mislead consumers and all representations are true and accurate," Consumer Affairs Victoria said in a statement.
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Bloggers faking disease and even death to gain attention is not a new phenomenon. Earlier this month, a 27-year-old US woman from New York state was jailed for 20 years after killing her five-year-old son by poisoning him with salt, so she could log on and write about his "illness".
The court heard Lacey Spears suffered from Munchausen syndrome in which a person fakes illness to get attention.
The Australian Women’s Weekly said medical specialists it spoke to suggested Gibson could be suffering from a similar condition.
Source-AFP