Is Apple Cider Vinegar’s Milla Blake a real person?

Apple Cider Vinegar spoilers ahead.

Have you watched Netflix’s Apple Cider Vinegar yet? It’s quite a ride. The series follows the story of real-life disgraced influencer Belle Gibson (played by Kaitlyn Dever) who lied to the world about having cancer and curing it through alternative, non-medical treatments.

But Belle isn’t the only real-life person that the series features. The character of Milla Blake (played by Alycia Debnam Carey), another Australian woman who also finds prominence and fame through treating her cancer with alternative remedies (and isn’t lying about it) is based on the life of another woman.

Here’s everything we know about the inspiration behind Milla Blake’s character, including whether Belle Gibson had a rival like this IRL.

Is the character Milla Blake on Apple Cider Vinegar based on a real person?

Yes, partially. Jessica Ainscough, an Australian woman who who was diagnosed with epithelioid sarcoma – like Milla – back in 2008 aged 22. Jessica blogged about her “journey” using alternative therapies to fight her cancer on using the name The Wellness Warrior.

Just like Milla in Apple Cider Vinegar, Ainscough was told she needed to amputate an arm but she refused, instead opting for Gerson therapy, which is fictitiously named on the Netflix series as “Hirsch therapy”.

Ainscough shot to fame as a wellness guru, as the therapy – which included lots of coffee enemas and drinking raw juices – seemed to work at first. She began a career as a motivational speaker, gaining a huge amount of followers and even getting a book deal, publishing Make Peace With Your Plate in 2013.

The difference is this. Milla Blake and Belle Gibson are portrayed on Apple Cider Vinegar as rivals, whereas there wasn’t much of an online interaction between the real Belle and Ainscough at all, let alone a rivalry.