Belle, you had one chance to say sorry to the vulnerable people you exploited. And you blew it.

Belle Gibson had an opportunity to start to right a wrong last night. That opportunity was wasted.

There was a moment, last night, when a woman who caused unimaginable pain to so many had a chance to try to make it right.

There was a moment, last night, when a woman who exploited the vulnerable and dying could have made amends.

There was a moment, last night, when the woman who defrauded businesses and individuals of hundreds of thousands of dollars, could have pledged to put it right.

But that moment passed, unanswered. The wrongs will go unrighted, the pain will only grow, and the money remains in the wrong hands.

For what Belle said on 60 Minutes:  The 14 most revealing moments
from Belle Gibson’s 60 Minutes interview.

There are few people in Australia who don’t know the name, Belle Gibson.

She’s the woman who said that she had terminal brain cancer and then cured herself with healthy living. She’s the woman who built a massive social media following, built a “wellness” app and wrote a book about her miraculous recover.

She’s the woman who lied about it all. She lied, she cheated and she defrauded.

Last night was Belle Gibson’s opportunity to begin to put things right.

In going on 60 Minutes, she had a forum to admit that she lied. It was her chance to beg forgiveness of the hundreds of thousands of people who supported her financially and emotionally. She had her chance to take responsibility for the false hope she gave vulnerable cancer sufferers that they could cure themselves without medical treatment.

It was Belle Gibson’s moment. And she blew it.

When asked to be completely truthful, she rambled about her reality, saying “I’ve not been intentionally untruthful…my reality just doesn’t match your normal or your reality”.

When she was asked about why she asked her followers to send her flowers and prayers after she told them that her cancer had spread, she said, “I don’t recall any of that”.

When she was asked why she lied about the circumstances of her cancer diagnosis she said, “I thought being open…would not be understood. And that people would be disappointed and angry for me.”

When she was asked why she had lied previously about having three heart surgeries and dying on the operating table, she explained her actions by saying, “I think that when you’re young…you are melodramatic”.

Most damningly, when she was asked whether she takes any responsibility for the people who may have swapped their medical treatment for vegetable juice and colonics, she said, “I’m not an expert in other people’s health…I never intended [to drive people away from conventional medicine]. I accept that might have happened.”

Dammit, Belle. That was it. That right there was your moment. That was your opportunity to say: I am sorry. I am sorry for the pain. I’m sorry that I led you to believe you could survive without medicine.

Belle made her “healthy” lifestyle look so attractive, and all the time she was living a lie. Post continues after gallery.

Anyone who has had cancer will tell you: sometimes cancer treatment makes you want to die. If there was any other option – if some vibrant blonde young woman is on the TV tells you that you don’t have to feel like this – you desperately want to grab onto it. You are so vulnerable. And Belle Gibson not only took advantage of that, she profited from it.

Belle Gibson is a crook, no doubt. But she had a chance to explain. She had a chance to apologise. This was her window. All she needed to do was jump through it.

Instead she talked about her “grief” at finding out she didn’t have cancer. She implied that she had been a victim, that was hurting because she had been duped – even though all evidence points to the fact that she was aware many years ago that she did not have cancer and never did.

Perhaps the most ridiculous thing is that Belle knew this was her chance. She said to Tara Brown, “I have lost everything. I’m not here to regain it. When you hit rock bottom there is only an opportunity to be honest and heal and apologise. I’m here to do that.”

But even in that, she lied.

And a moment was lost.

Did you watch Belle Gibson on 60 Minutes? Do you think that she explained her actions? 

For more on Belle Gibson…

The 14 most revealing moments from Belle Gibson’s 60 Minutes interview.

Munchausen by Internet and Belle Gibson: the rise of faking it online.

Belle Gibson says she lost everything. But she’s not the victim here.

“What a load of rubbish.” Belle Gibson’s mother speaks for the first time.

Why Belle Gibson can’t blame cancer for her lies.

“Dear Belle Gibson, I’d like my $3.49 back.”

“Belle Gibson, you said you cured yourself. I thought I could, too.”