Belle Gibson’s old social media posts, in which she claims to have cancer, are mysteriously being deleted from the internet. But this fascinating podcast interview remains…
Social media entrepreneur and wellness blogger Belle Gibson, who built her app and recipe book empire off claims she’d miraculously survived cancer using alternative therapies, admitted this week to The Australian that she may never have had cancer.
Related content: Were these cancer claims false?
Now, many of the social media posts referring to the Whole Pantry founder’s alleged illnesses have been deleted off social media.
The original post in which the Australian blogger announced having cancer in her blood, spleen, brain, uterus, and liver has been deleted. News Corp reports Ms Gibson’s stories of suffering seizures and hospital admissions are also disappearing from her Facebook and Instagram accounts.
The mother-of-one’s claim of having briefly died on the operating table during an operation in 2009 has also been deleted from an online forum she once frequented “at the request of a user”, according to the site.
Read more: Belle Gibson may have fled the country.
But in the below podcast excerpt, Ms Gibson can clearly be heard saying — twice — that she’d been diagnosed with cancer. She also claims in the podcast interview to be “really honest about” her health journey.
“Five years ago I was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer – I’m really honest about my journey with my health,” she told Tech Guide editor Stephen Fenech in the September 2014 interview.
Listen to the segment here- she starts talking about her health at the 4.28 mark. Post continues after audio:
“I also think this is my chosen journey and it works really well for me,” she told Tech Guide in the interview, which was conducted at an Apple Watch launch event in Cupertino, California.
“We just want to go ‘hey maybe eat some more fruit and vegetables, move your body a little more, drink a little bit more water’…”
Related content: The Australian entrepreneur who promised $300,000 to charity — but never donated that amount.
Ms Gibson also referred to being “re-diagnosed with multiple cancers” in the podcast.
“It’s funny that I’m here – all of my friends and family said ‘Belle you can’t go’. Six weeks ago I was re-diagnosed with multiple cancers – but I’m feeling on top of the world,” she said.
“I get out of bed for what we do – I really believe we’re changing people’s lives.”
The social media entrepreneur’s app has been downloaded at least 300,000 times, and she last year claimed that $300,000 of her profits had been given to five charities listed on her app.
But on Monday, Fairfax Media revealed that Ms Gibson’s company never passed on anywhere near that amount to charity as she’d promised.
The Whole Pantry Facebook page on Sunday night refuted claims in Fairfax’s report, and Ms Gibson blamed ‘cash flow’ problems for the delay in donations.
The Herald Sun reports police subsequently visited Ms Gibson’s home in the Melbourne suburb of Elwood, but were told she was not home at the time.
Consumer Affairs Victoria is now probing Ms Gibson’s fundraising activities.
Related content: Celebrities are not doctors. So let’s not listen to them about vaccinations.
Ms Gibson has now reportedly fled to the US — possibly on a business class flight — to avoid confrontation over the veracity of her claims.
Read the Tech Guide report on this interview here.
Top Comments
I'm so sick of hearing the word "journey."
This should be really easy to prove or disprove. If Belle genuinely had a cancer diagnosis, then she could allow her doctors to speak about it or show her pathology/MRI/CAT/Ultrasounds. The problem is our privacy legislation allows fraudulent behaviour to go unchecked.
It really doesn't. Her fraudulent behaviour is being checked. If you're talking about doctor/patient confidentiality, then sure, she doesn't have to tell us anything, and neither does her doctor. But when those lies become fraud, ie. when she founds a company on the basis of her "cancer," or makes money from it, then it does become a criminal issue. I suspect The Whole Pantry, and maybe Penguin, will litigate. And then she would be compelled to produce evidence of her supposed cancer.