Apple Cider Vinegar, now streaming on Netflix, recounts the real-life tale of Australian fraudster Belle Gibson, portrayed by Kaitlyn Dever. She fabricated a brain tumour diagnosis and capitalised on it by launching an app named The Whole Pantry. The brand provided recipes and advice for terminally ill individuals, with Belle leveraging her extensive social media following to advocate alternative treatments over legitimate therapies. She pledged that her brand's profits would go to various charities, but instead, they funded her extravagant lifestyle.
Journalists Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano eventually unmasked Belle, first for her false charity pledges and then for her bogus cancer diagnosis. They penned a book about their investigations, titled The Woman Who Fooled the World. In a 2015 interview, Belle confessed to concocting the entire story, leading to legal repercussions for allegedly violating Australian consumer law. In September 2017, Gibson was slapped with a $410,000 fine for making false claims about her charitable donations.
As of April 2019, Gibson had not paid the fine, prompting authorities to consider charging her with contempt of court. She risked imprisonment if she failed to appear in court in May, reports the Mirror US. By mid-September 2019, Gibson still hadn't paid, and Consumer Affairs Victoria continued to pursue enforcement of the penalty. Back in 2017, Belle Gibson landed herself in hot water and, according to a letter subsequently disclosed by the Federal Court, she was buried under a debt of $170,000, with only $5,000 to her name. Her property became a frequent target for the Sheriff's Office, which carried out raids, including the latest in May 2021, to retrieve items for recovering unpaid fines.
Curious minds have wondered whether Gibson found herself behind bars, but the fact is, she managed to evade imprisonment. As it stands, it's unclear whether Belle has settled the outstanding fines, but jail time has not been part of her punishment. Reports emerged that her partner, Clive Rothwell (played by Ashley Zukerman), chipped in to cover her legal expenses and provided financial backing for some time following the scandal.
The enigmatic case piqued the interest of 'Apple Cider Vinegar' director Samantha Strauss, who commented on Belle's situation saying, "in reality, Belle hasn't paid her fine, you know, never went to jail". She mused over the traditional narrative arcs and concluded that a conventional ending wasn't necessary: "And I was like, 'Yeah, you're right. It feels a bit too traditional'...We don't need to know all that detail, we can all Google it; hopefully [go] off down the rabbit hole.".
