I was diagnosed with cancer at 19 and scammed by Apple Cider Vinegar fraudster Belle Gibson - here are the bizarre things I was convinced to do to 'cure my cancer'

A woman who was scammed by Belle Gibson has revealed how she would fake tan after radiotherapy after comparing herself to the Apple Cider Vinegar fraudster. Bella Johnston, an Australian nanny who now lives in London, was diagnosed with a paraganglioma, a rare endocrine tumour, in 2009 when she was just 19 years old. So, when she came across Gibson, a girl similar in age, sharing her experience with malignant brain cancer on social media, her interest was piqued.

As told in Netflix's latest true crime series, Apple Cider Vinegar, Belle claimed that she was effectively managing the disease through diet, exercise, and alternative medicine therapies. As a result Bella lost faith in traditional medicine and attempted to follow in Gibson's footsteps - including fake tanning after radiotherapy, not understanding why Gibson still looked so healthy despite claiming she had such an advanced form of the disease.

Bella said she and Gibson developed an 'online friendship', though Gibson's specific advice to her was vague and mainly involved telling her to try 'detox smoothies'. Taking to her TikTok account after the release of the Netflix series - described as a 'true-ish story based on a lie' - Bella revealed how Gibson managed to convince her to turn against traditional medicine. She said: 'Of course I believed her. I had cancer and was told I was going to die. Why would I not believe someone who was claiming they could cure it without the risk of everything that comes with chemo and radiotherapy?'.

Cancer survivor Bella Johnston has revealed how she was scammed by fraud Belle Gibson. Pictured recently on her TikTok account. Unbeknownst to her at the time, wellness warrior Gibson, now 33, never had cancer in the first place, and was using the 'miraculous recovery' as a tool to promote her lifestyle brand. Gibson's web of fabrications came to light in 2015 when she was exposed as a bare-faced liar and thief who faked keeping brain cancer at bay with healthy eating.

Bella had been inspired - and desperately tried to incorporate Belle's alternative medicine recommendations into her lifestyle, including green juices, smoothies, organics and super foods. Bella continued: 'I think, for people that judge me for that, you're coming from such a place of privilege where you clearly haven't been desperate to stay alive, and you clearly haven't been desperate to try and keep a family member alive.

'It's a horrific state to live in where you want to believe anything. If the doctors had told my dad that in order to save me he had to chop off his leg with a blunt spoon, my dad would have done it then and there. 'You just cannot comprehend all the things you want to believe because you just don't want to die.'. The fraudster said she was given four months to live with an inoperable brain tumour five years previously, but escaped death through a fruit and veg-based 'clean eating' diet.

The message sparked a global wellness phenomena which led to her The Whole Pantry phone app - the first of its kind in the world - being promoted by Apple, and a lucrative book deal with Penguin. But already many cancer sufferers who were sucked in by Gibson's massive social media profile, hit phone app, and book, including Bella. Bella was diagnosed with a paraganglioma, a rare endocrine tumour, in 2009 when she was just 19 years old. Pictured during treatment.

Wellness warrior Gibson (pictured), now 33, never had cancer in the first place, and was using the 'miraculous recovery' as a tool to promote her lifestyle brand. Kaitlyn Dever plays Belle in Netflix's latest true crime hit, Apple Cider Vinegar. During cancer treatment, Bella (pictured) would exhaust herself with beauty treatments so she could look as healthy as Belle. Bella had watched her Aunt Jen die from bowel cancer - and she tragically died just four days after Bella finished her own treatment.

She explained the pressure she'd felt after seeing Belle looking healthy and travelling the world, while she was feeling tired from chemotherapy. Bella said: 'I can't even begin to explain how insane I felt looking at her feed. Like, why was I so ugly? Why was I so tired? And why was my Auntie Jen - who was the healthiest woman I'd ever met in my entire life - yellow and on dialysis?. 'While Belle Gibson, who had the same cancer apparently, was in Bali on a f***ing holiday. I took that all on personally because I felt that it was because I'd chosen conventional medicine that all these bad things were happening to me.

'At the time I was so desperate to know that there was a cancer cure, and it was only green juice, and that everything was going to be ok if we just ate healthy. 'I was desperate, and my family was desperate. That's what she preyed upon - people's desperation. We just wanted to live.'. Taking to her TikTok account, she said: 'Then I got scammed by a woman who said she could cure it with green juice and now there's a documentary and a tv show about it on Netflix.'.