Who is Belle Gibson? Story of ‘Instagram’s worst con artist’ being retold in new ITV documentary

Belle Gibson, the so-called wellness blogger whose scam was first brought to light back in 2015, is now being featured in a new ITV documentary titled Instagram's Worst Con Artist.

Gibson, who was born and brought up in Launceston, Tasmania, first rose to fame in 2013 as a self-made food and health blogger on Instagram, claiming to have beaten terminal cancer with a "plant-based diet free from gluten and dairy," Metro UK reported.

Belle Gibson even reportedly monetized her falsely amassed fame by launching an app called The Whole Pantry, accompanied by a cookbook that promoted her claims. According to Metro UK, both Gibson's book and app quickly became bestsellers, earning the con artist £213,500.

The 2-part ITV documentary, which shows never-before-seen interviews with her family and friends, is scheduled to air on ITV on consecutive Thursdays, April 25 and May 2.

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Belle Gibson claimed to beat terminal brain cancer with a plant-based diet

Belle Gibson was born in Tasmania, Australia, and lived on the outskirts of Brisbane. Gibson portrayed herself as a single mother allegedly recovering from terminal brain cancer on Instagram in 2013. Then a 21-year-old, Belle Gibson claimed on social media how she had reportedly been told by a doctor, "You're dying, you have six weeks, four months tops," in 2009.

When chemotherapy and radiotherapy allegedly didn't work for Belle Gibson, the blogger resorted to a plant-based diet, free of dairy and gluten, which she claimed did the trick for her. She also vouched for colonics and oxygen therapy as alternative medicines that helped her beat cancer.

Millions of Instagram users, believing Belle Gibson's victory over cancer to be real, started following her and were happy to pay for her recipes and guidance on her app. When the influencer made significant profits from her app, she also told her followers how she had donated most of it to charity.

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Belle Gibson's true story started unraveling before the public in 2015

In 2014, Belle Gibson shared that her cancer had allegedly returned, spreading to her blood, uterus, spleen, brain, and liver. However, when her following on Instagram started to go down as more people grew suspicious of her claims, the blogger finally confessed the truth on Women's Weekly in April 2015, saying:

"None of it is true."

Belle Gibson's lies also extended to her family, claiming she had to care for her mother and autistic brother, which the Cosmopolitan later reported to be false. Natalie Dal-Bello, Belle's mother, spoke up about her daughter's lies, saying:

"What a lot for rubbish. Belle never cared for me, her brother is not autistic, and she's barely done a minute's housework in her life. I've practically worked myself into an early grave to give that girl everything she wanted in life."

The statement of Belle Gibson's mother in the Cosmopolitan drove her followers furious, with many of them demanding a refund of their payment for her book and apps.

Following these demands, all of Gibson's social media accounts disappeared overnight. Apple also withdrew her app from its store.

Soon, Belle Gibson's initial claims of donating most of the profit she made from her book to charity were also proven false, following which she was fined £240,000 by an Australian court in 2017. Belle Gibson had reportedly not paid the fine by 2019.

According to ABC, the blogger had also been fined £47,000 for not paying her son's school fees.

In 2021, Gibson allegedly joined an Ethiopian community in Melbourne and claimed to have been adopted by them. When the president of the community grew suspicious of her claims of "raising large amounts of money for them," the con artist was booted out of the community as well.

In recent years, there had been no reports of Belle Gibson or her whereabouts, until ITV announced the release of a documentary featuring her.