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Blogger Belle Gibson, 23, is accused of faking her terminal brain cancer

May 13, 2015 Leave a Comment

Healingbelle

Belle Gibson’s publisher has pulled her book from Australian shelves following accusations she faked her terminal brain cancer.

Penguin Books – who publishes Ms Gibson’s The Whole Pantry recipe book – shared the news with Daily Mail Australia via an email statement on Monday.

The book was written in conjunction with her hugely successful app of the same name, which focuses on health, wellness and lifestyle.

‘Despite our best endeavours, Penguin Books has not received sufficient explanation from Ms Gibson, author of The Whole Pantry recipe book, in response to recent allegations,’ the publisher said.

‘As such, we have been left with no other option but to stop supplying the book in Australia.’

‘We remain hopeful that we will receive the formal assurances we have requested in the coming days.’

This follows Ms Gibson hitting back at the friends who have spoken publicly about her as old photos emerged of her enjoying alcohol.

In a long Facebook post, the Australian blogger told those who have spoken out about her to ‘make yourself invisible to me, and my life.’

The health fanatic shot to social media fame after claiming she had managed to ward off a terminal brain cancer diagnosis simply through eating well and using a natural and holistic approach to life.

Friends, fans shocked by Whole Pantry ‘sham’

March 12, 2015 Leave a Comment

Friends, colleagues and fans of a former Brisbane schoolgirl who claimed to have survived cancer due to a healthy lifestyle are shocked and outraged by accusations she fabricated her story.

Belle Gibson, 23, founded an app called The Whole Pantry, which is marketed as the world’s first health, wellness and lifestyle app community.

Friends of the 23-year-old have cast doubt over her claims, and former colleagues at a Brisbane catering company have described her as a “lost soul”.

“She was a bit disturbed and would come out with some really vivid stories,” a former colleague told The Courier-Mail.

Jayme Smith, a mother of two who claims to be a close friend of Ms Gibson’s, told The Daily Mail the reports of Ms Gibson’s misdiagnosis were “shocking”.

“I am just so shocked and I feel betrayed, that we all fell so hard for the illusion that she created,” Ms Smith said.

“It has hit all of us, who I know, (who) also know Belle, like a tonne of bricks.”

Belle Gibson supporters demand refunds for app, recipe book

March 12, 2015 Leave a Comment

Angry customers who purchased Belle Gibson’s healthy lifestyle food app and recipe book are demanding #refunds amid claims she may have fabricated her cancer survival story to help develop a business.

Ms Gibson, who founded The Whole Pantry app, which is marketed as the world’s first health, wellness and lifestyle app and has been downloaded hundreds of thousands of times, is also facing claims she failed to deliver on promised donations to several charities.

The 26-year-old built her wellness empire on the basis of having survived brain cancer for five years and and other life-threatening cancers, shunning traditional medicine in favour of wholefood and natural remedies.

In 2013, she launched an Instagram blog, introducing herself as a young mother who had moved from Perth to Melbourne in mid-2009 to seek medical treatment for a ‘malignant, terminal form of brain cancer’.

She quickly developed a global band of followers as she documented her cancer journey, and repeatedly claimed a natural and holistic approach had cured her of the insidious disease.

Ms Gibson went onto develop the app, The Whole Pantry, which promotes natural therapies, healthy eating and a wholesome lifestyle, and has reportedly been downloaded 300,000 times at $3.79.

Embattled Whole Pantry developer Belle Gibson told Tech Guide she was diagnosed with cancer twice

March 12, 2015 Leave a Comment

Belle Gibson, the Whole Pantry app founder who is under fire for allegedly fabricating her cancer survival story – was featured in a recent Tech Guide podcast where she admits to being diagnosed with cancer – twice.

At the time of the recorded interview Ms Gibson was in Cupertino after she was handpicked by #apple to become the first Australian to develop for the upcoming Apple Watch.

You can hear that entire interview here.

The award-winning Whole Pantry app, and the business behind it, was created on the back of her response to overcome terminal brain cancer with natural and nutritious foods.

Belle Gibson, Apple Watch Consultant And Wellness Blogger, Accused Of Faking Cancer Claims

March 12, 2015 Leave a Comment

At first glance, the story of Belle Gibson is miraculous. A 26-year-old single mother in Melbourne, Australia, Gibson was diagnosed with malignant brain cancer six years ago.

She spurned conventional cancer treatment and self-treated her disease with healing foods, building a media empire based on her experience. Her Instagram account @Healing_Belle, has 197,000 followers.

She wrote a popular cookbook (The Whole Pantry), and developed an app (The Whole Pantry App) that #apple has displayed on iPhones and iPads in Apple stores and planned to launch on its new Apple Watch.

She’s told fans that she donates 25 percent of profits to local charities, and she’s become something of a champion for cancer patients worldwide.

The thing is, she might not actually have cancer.

Nor has she donated the money she’s promised to charity, Australia’s Fairfax Media reports.

Last year, Gibson wrote that she had given $300,000 Australian (about $227,000 U.S.) to various charities. She now says that the money was never donated, as sales of The Whole Pantry app weren’t as high as she had expected.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports, “Ms. Gibson has run two campaigns purporting to raise money for five charities, but Fairfax Media has confirmed that none has a record of receiving a donation.

Four of the organizations, including Melbourne’s Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, had no knowledge fundraising drives had taken place.”