If you haven’t been watching Netflix’s Apple Cider Vinegar, and Kaitlyn Dever’s magnetic performance as true-life scammer Belle Gibson, where have you been?
The series is based on a true story of the Australian influencer turned health guru, who built a wellness empire on false claims that she had cured her own brain cancer through alternative therapies and healthy eating. It charts her meteoric rise and shameful fall as a whistleblower and two journalists expose her.
While it has been met with certain criticisms for fictionalising elements of what is already a true and shocking story, as well as lifting real-life stories of cancer patients who used these alternative therapies (a fictional character named Milla, played by Alycia Debnam Carey, was adapted from wellness infleuncer Jessica Ainscough’s life and cancer journey), the show’s popularity is a keen reminder of of our obsession with scammer stories.
So many of us love to delve into the world of women like Inventing Anna‘s Anna Delvey and Amanda Riley (of Scamanda podcast and docuseries fame), who similarly lied for years about having cancer, defrauding her donors and living a lie online – much like Belle Gibson did.
Kaitlyn tells GLAMOUR that she felt a “duty” to take on Belle and this story, due to her own experience with the online “cancer thriver” and wellness space. Her mum, Kathy, passed away from breast cancer last year after a 14-year fight, and during her journey Kaitlyn herself delved into the world of the same therapies featured in the TV series, including coffee enemas and juices, which promised to cure the cancer holistically. She poured her knowledge and “obsession” with this darker side of the wellness world into her rendition of Belle.
She is no stranger to complex female-led roles that are true-to-life, and insists we need “more of it” for women on screen. Alongside her legendary performance in coming-of-age movie Booksmart with Beanie Feldstein, Kaitlyn’s role in the incredible 2019 Netflix series Unbelievable saw her play a teen girl who recants her report of rape, highlighting the very real obstacles victims of sexual assault face when reporting these crimes.
She sat down with GLAMOUR to talk about tackling these complicated female-led stories, stepping into Belle Gibson’s story and whether she thinks a Netflix TV series about her crimes glamourises them.
How did you research the role, did you speak to Belle?
No, I actually didn’t. I did a little bit of my own research first, then I got the scripts and fell in love with the story, and with the idea of of of playing this kind of person. In my first meeting with [the show’s creator] Sam Strauss [she said] she really wanted to focus on this being our version of Belle Gibson. Because at the end of the day, I don’t even really think we’ll ever know who the real Belle Gibson is anyway.