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How was Belle Gibson’s scam uncovered?
In 2015, journalists Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano began to dig into Gibson’s claims, revealing that not only was she not donating proceeds from her app to charity, as she had claimed, she also had never had cancer. She was later fined $410,000 AUD for misleading or deceptive conduct and unconscionable conduct.
Gibson was, effectively, disgraced: the publisher of Gibson’s cookbook, Penguin Australia, dropped her book, which Apple removed her app from its ads.
Gibson was forced to own up to her lie. “None of it’s true,” she told Australian Women’s Weekly in 2015.
“I don’t want forgiveness,” she said. “I just think [speaking out] was the responsible thing to do. Above anything, I would like people to say, ‘Okay, she’s human. She’s obviously had a big life.’”
Where is Belle Gibson now?
So, what happened to Gibson after her lie was uncovered? Well, for one thing, Gibson has been at the centre of an on-going legal battle.
As ABC reported, Gibson appeared in court in May 2019 and claimed she could not pay the $410,000 AUD fine. ABC later reported that she made a second court appearance in June of the same year with the same claims.
In January 2020, Gibson was later subjected to a “search and sale” raid in which her home was searched for assets to repay the fine, per ABC. A similar raid was conducted in May 2021, per The Guardian.
Gibson claims that she has been “adopted” by the Ethiopian Oromo community in Melbourne. According to ABC, Gibson has changed her name to Sabontu and learned to speak Oromo and introduced herself as Sabontu. She reportedly said she was “blessed to be adopted” by the community.
What part did the real Belle Gibson’s mum play in the scandal?
Essie Davis plays Belle Gibson’s mother Natalie Dal-Bello in Apple Cider Vinegar, and we see that the pair have a strained mother-daughter relationship. She successfully gets out of going to Belle’s baby shower, for example. Belle also skips Natalie’s wedding after a rather uncomfortable visit, during which she confides in her partner Clive that her mother let her sleep in dirty sheets when she was younger.