Confronting Belle Gibson - the health advocate who faked cancer | 60 Minutes Australia

A beautiful young woman receives the terrible news that she has inoperable brain

cancer

and only has four months to live. Brave Bill Gibson tries chemotherapy and radiotherapy, but has no luck, so he turns to alternative medicine to combat the disease. Fortunately, he seems to work, as he tells the world. Through social media it is a truly inspiring story, hundreds of thousands of supportive followers and fellow sufferers live every step of her journey and celebrate her success as she becomes the poster girl for the alternative wellness industry. There is an award-winning app and a cookbook that Belle Gibson has written.

She did it except it's all a lie, a big lie, she doesn't have

cancer

, she never did it to this day. Ella Belle claims that unscrupulous natural therapists tricked her into believing she was dying, but tonight we have proof that this is also a lie. Bill Gibson is not. a victim she is a bill of fraud are you prepared to tell the truth today the whole truth is not absolutely true it is not any hot air i have not been very transparent despite all her sweetness and light

belle

gibson

is not what she seems i guess You could say it's I'm here to explain his complicated past, but one problem remains.

I've tried every time she talks, there's a good chance she's lying, so just to clarify, are you prepared to sign a legal declaration to say that everything you're telling me today is the truth? Absolutely nothing left. lose and if that requires a stat deck then I'm comfortable with that. I guess why a stat deck is required is because you don't have a good track record of telling the truth, right? But as you will see tonight, not even this. It was true, that's a lot of bad luck for a young woman, right? I don't remember any of that, how can we believe everything you say now?

Tara, I've lost everything. Belle Gibson was a surprisingly supportive and inspiring figure to her legion of followers when she began posting her story on Instagram in 2013. She said she was a sick young woman. mom who found her salvation in

health

y foods and natural therapies when conventional medicine failed her a woman who defied doctors who told her in 2009 that she had an inoperable malignant brain tumor and had only four months to live and four years after that her followers lived in full

health

and What's Wrong with Her and Her Fellow Cancer Sufferers had no reason to hope.

I have been curing severe and malignant brain cancer for the past few years with natural medicine, Gerson therapy and food. It's working for me. Do you accept the level of damage you have caused? to people's trust, I do it and they feel disrespected, they feel hurt, they feel betrayed and your whole business was with these poor people that you inspired them that they felt sorry for you that you showed them a way I mean you benefited from that You gained reputation and income with that. I didn't change my story or other people's lives. Yes you changed your history bill.

It's all here. It's all here. You know, you came on Instagram in 2013. I have been curing severe and malignant brain cancer for the last few years with natural medicine, Gerson therapy and food, it is working for me, and if you didn't have brain cancer, no, I didn't, but when I was writing that, I thought so and I felt good, yes, but even then you twisted what you thought was your truth, which was a big lie anyway. I am so sorry and it hurts and I punish myself every day for how I have hurt myself. those who mean a lot to me for all their apologies when you start to unravel Belle's story you discover a life of deception and invention, the whole deception started with the whole pantry, a wellness movement campaign adopted and promoted with the launch of her first healthy lifestyle in the world. app and companion cookbook from the first page you are moved by bill's fight to survive i had a stroke at work i will never forget being alone in the doctor's office three weeks later waiting for my test results he called me and told me you have cancer brain cancer bell you are dying you are six weeks four months at most I remember a feeling of suffocation and suffocation and then not much else, but there was no real doctor, no doctor's office or conventional test results like most people would expect and demand, is highly questionable, but This is Bell's revised story now, she says that in 2009 she met a man named Mark Johns who told her he was an immunologist and neurologist, although no record of him exists.

He had come to my house and had undergone a series of tests and this was called integrative. medicine, so he comes to your house and does some tests on you, he does how to do what kind of tests it was a box, a machine with lights on the front and that machine was apparently German technology, there are two pads, two metal pads, one that goes under the chair and one that goes behind your back and then measures what I think or remember are frequencies and what the results were. He told me that he had a stage four brain tumor and that I had about four months to live.

Because? You write in the beginning of your book that you got this information at your doctor's office because I think that being open and telling people the way it happened would not be understood and people would be confused. disappointed or angry for me, you know you're not following what the right way to do this is, so you lied because you were afraid you wouldn't be believed, it's just that what you're saying, um, isn't what I'm saying, well, can you be? ? More clear on what you're saying, I mean, you were absolutely misleading, didn't you say that a doctor gave you this terrible prognosis in his office?

Now you just admitted that you didn't say it was at your house and that it wasn't with a real doctor because you thought I thought I was disappointed in you. No, I thought he was a real doctor. Did you lie so they would believe you? Is the question. I didn't see him at his doctor's office in Perth. You did not see it. him in his doctor's office ever because he doesn't have an office, he doesn't have any rights? You also stated in your book that he underwent chemotherapy and radiotherapy for two months true or false at that time true or false true because at that time I believed that he was receiving radiotherapy.

It was so fake that I thought he was receiving radiation therapy when he gave me medication. They told me it was oral chemotherapy and I believed it. It turns out now, if you believe Bill, Mark Johns' treatments were alternative, but in her book she describes them. As conventional, I came out of chemotherapy and radiotherapy and I am proud to leave them because of the side effects that scared my doctors to cure herself. She embraces alternative therapies and eventually a new career and new-age celebrity is born. She was empowering me to save. my own life through nutrition, patience, determination and love, but today she has yet another reason why she stopped cancer medications, very shortly after I started this treatment here in Melbourne, I felt pregnant and that was a big catalyst for me in that because I thought well, if I'm going to have chemo then I don't want that to affect my pregnancy, so you stop chemo because you're pregnant.

I stopped chemotherapy for several reasons, I didn't know the truth, the truth, tara. I'm trying to take advantage of information no, no, don't resort to information just be honest, I'm being honest with you. I'm trying to be open to what you're saying, but you were just muddying the waters with every answer you gave. a guy who is a charlatan, you say that now like a conventional doctor who gives you conventional treatment that doesn't help your brain tumors, so you leave him, that's what you stated in your book, right, you didn't write it like you just said. say. for me you didn't write it who this man was you didn't write it that he came to you in your house you didn't write it that chemotherapy and radiotherapy they say they have is not what most people would have done you didn't write it write it like this I wrote you I rewrote the story I wrote five introductions to my book okay, whose fault is it now it's no one's fault, right, but that's a very brief version of my story and my life, you had three heart operations you suffered two cardiac arrests you died twice on the operating table the year of Belle's illness you had a stroke and were diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor correct but the new evidence that proves their fraud that's not melodramatic it's straight up lies extraordinary lies that's next on 60

minutes

the woman who He pretended to have cancer and to this day still doesn't tell the truth that he knew he didn't have it.

Her fight against terminal brain cancer earned her the sympathy of hundreds of thousands of social media followers here and abroad, which she then leveraged to create a good student, a wellness app, a cookbook, and celebrity appearances. , but long before she became famous, Belle established a habit of inventing astonishing things involving countless serious medical conditions, seemingly designed to gain maximum sympathy. You won't believe the illnesses she has had. I mean, 2009 was really bad. year for you, right? you had three heart surgeries you suffered two cardiac arrests you died twice on the operating table you had a stroke and you were diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor and you were given four months to live right and I don't I still have the heart condition and I was supposed to be operate that's why you were supposed to operate on me and I didn't and why did you tell people that you had three surgeries at that time?

I think going back, I was a teenager and I was going through a lot of emotional trauma and a lot of abuse at the time, what kind of abuse? someone who was very prominent during my childhood was harassing me at that time. Belle lived in Perth and frequently contributed to an online skate forum, but instead. From chatting about skateboarding, Belle was telling her friends an elaborate fairy tale supposedly from her hospital bed during not one but three admissions for life-saving heart surgery. Were you in the hospital at the time you posted this? No, I mean, you go into extraordinary detail.

I had surgery about seven hours ago, the doctor came and told me the drain failed and I went into cardiac arrest and died for just under three

minutes

. I had the most intense bruising from the paddles when I was electrocuted back to consciousness without the wires and Constant vomiting of blood anyway, the procedure failed and I died. Look, I haven't reread all that, but I also think that when you're young and you've been through the situation I just went through, you're melodramatic. you have melodramatic now I mean those are pure lies you were not in the hospital you are claiming that they told you that you died twice you did not do it you claimed that you had two cardiac arrests you did not do it that is not melodramatic that is straight up a lie These are extraordinary lies and if you lie about that and you do everything you can to create the story around that lie, how can we believe anything you say now?

Tara, I've lost everything and I'm not here to get it back, but when you hit the rock. Deep down there is only one opportunity to be honest and heal and apologize and I am here to do that. There is no reason to lie and it is not something I want to do either. You can only wonder if Belle was seduced by the sympathy her heart surgery hoax earned her, but whatever the reason, her next claim of terminal brain cancer came a month later in 2009, while today Bell accepts she has no a brain tumor and kept it until earlier this year, she thought she did have it because her so-called doctor, Mark Johns, tricked her into believing it, so why she would do it or if it even exists remains a mystery.

I know the question is why didn't I initially go and get a brain scan exactly, but interestingly at this point in the interview Belle does. A surprising admission that she says that as early as 2010 she had her own doubts about her tumor, so she didn't know if she was getting worse. She didn't know if she was getting better. She didn't know if it was the same. I thought it was important to go and get a scan and be confident in my position. I don't want to be rude about it, but it was also the fact that even though they gave you a four-month deadline you were still alive, yeah.

That's like an indicator to you that you didn't have brain cancer. It was not an indicator. I went to the Alfred hospital and contacted Mark and told him I'm not sure where things are so I want to go and get a brain scan, he had me sign the paperwork that signed him up as my medical professional, where would the brain scan be? alfred, but then passed it on to him so we could check it out too, so what did the brain scan he brought show? He showed a brain tumor, but that wasn't my scan because more recently I went back to Alfred and I got my entire portfolio from them and I had that brain scan, but there's no brain tumor there, okay?

So what date was that invoice? When did you go to Alfred? I will be able to give you this information. Well, we have already requestedbackground information. We have requested all of your medical records and medical history. You haven't given us any dates. you haven't given us any brain scans you haven't given us any MRIs you haven't given us any tissue tests you haven't given us anything they didn't explicitly ask me for any of that but I've got it right really of course I do the The producers I've been with been working are aware of my health situation.

It wasn't Bell Bell. Please, I mean, either you are interested in getting to the bottom of this and presenting the facts as they are, or you are not. Well, it was in 2010 that I initially went to see Alfred. Do you know who he saw? So no, I don't know, but again I have that information after our interview campaign finally handed over some medical records, but you have to wonder why, because this one is damning, it shows that he did visit the Alfred hospital in Melbourne and yes, he had a brain scan, but it wasn't because he thought he had brain cancer, and interestingly, he didn't.

She didn't even mention that she had brain cancer, it was because she was now convinced she had multiple sclerosis. The scan revealed that he did not have MS, but more importantly it also showed that there were no signs of a brain tumour. Actually, it was 2011 and a neurologist in a 40-minute face-to-face consultation tells Bill that his brain scans are normal. We've also checked with medical professionals who say that even if Bell was complaining of MS symptoms, the MRI alone would have revealed any tumor in her brain. That 40 minute consultation. with the neurologist proves that even if Bell thought at one point he had a brain tumor, he definitely knew in 2011 that he didn't - that was two years before he sold his sad story to the world, before he got on Instagram, before developing the entire pantry. app and before writing the book claiming she was curing herself naturally of a malignant tumor, Belle Gibson was never a cancer survivor, what she is is a fraud and she believes she is mentally ill?

No, it has been suggested that I may have Munchausen syndrome or a factitious disorder. You accept that perhaps you do accept it. I don't accept it because I don't feel that I do and with munch cases it is a disorder where you create these syndromes and you do it. you believe and you cause physical pain for it to be believed and I'm not doing that and I didn't do that Bell profile and the business boomed starting in 2013 all thanks to his terrible lies. Belle Gibson is a mother, a business woman and she also lives with a brain cancer that she knew she had.

She's not sick for a person living with brain cancer, you look incredibly healthy, so what did she do next? The entire pantry was born through Bill's own battle with brain cancer in 2014, she sought out another healer and guess what she told him, cancer she knew. It had not been spread it was five years ago I was diagnosed with terminal cancer Bell could not wait to share the terrible news with his followers with frustration and pain in my heart it hurts me to find space tonight to let everyone know Love and strength because I have been diagnosed with a third and fourth cancer.

Bell says her new health guru told her the cancer was now in her blood, spleen, brain, uterus and liver, unlike Mark John, this man does exist, but when we spoke to him, he he denied. giving Bell such devastating news because he's not qualified to diagnose cancer, he's saying he never told you that you had cancer all over your body, did he ever tell you that, so he's lying, you're not lying, I'm definitely not lying. . he told me that my brain tumor is still present and that I have new and secondary cancers and how did he test it the same way Mark did similar machines and equipment?

Did you think about going to a doctor? Did you think about going to the hospital, did you think about having this checked? Actually, not initially, I was devastated. It just sounds like you chose to believe you had cancer. No one wants to live in fear of a terminal illness or dying. No, and no one knows this better than the people who actually lived with it and you didn't live with it that's not what you had no it's not, but I lived for years in fear of dying and that's horrible and I'm still Accepting it, I can bear it. off my shoulders you were now living in fear of being discovered not because I wasn't living in a space where I didn't know this wasn't my reality would you accept that you are a pathological liar you don't appear okay This is a really simple question How old are you Bella?

He can't keep up with her own truth. I think I'm 26. How old are you finally? Do you take responsibility for moving people away from conventional medicine? in 60 Minutes perhaps despite all his deceit, his greatest sin is the false hope he gave to the real cancer patients who were inspired by his story and his brilliant health. He also pledged money to charities. Promises he broke, but even more damaging, he broke the trust inherent in us. They place themselves on each other and, despite all her riddles, the one thing Belle can't figure out is the truth. Do you know what the definition of truth is?

Yes, what is your definition of truth? Speaking honestly and with a clear definition of the facts and what your definition of. a lie, obviously the opposite of that, a false statement made with the deliberate intent to deceive an intentional lie a falsehood and I have not been an intentional liar I have been broadcasting and speaking openly about what my reality was and what my reality is today and Will you accept that your reality doesn't really match reality, it doesn't match your normality or your reality, but I also know that Bella's normality suggests a difficult childhood, she says she doesn't know her father, she separated from her mother and her brother and spent much of his youth moving frequently, but that's reason enough for a woman to never have a simple answer, even when it comes to her age, you're 23, actually, how old are you?

I was always raised as if I was 26 years old. years, how old are you? Well, I live knowing, as I always knew, that I would be 26. Okay, Bill, this is a very, very simple question. How old are you? I think I'm 26 and I have two births. certificates and they changed my name four times the identity crisis is big, but that was normal when I was a child, tara, what do you know is the truth now? It's probably a question we'll have to investigate further. because it's something I've never understood nor had answers to so when you needed to present some financial documents how did you choose the date of birth that you gave if you don't know it with my most recent handwriting survey document that has um the youngest ? of age and most recent name, so currently, according to those documents, you are 23.

Right, it would be funny if it wasn't so serious and the really serious side of this is those who were surprised by Bell. The Schwartz family believed and befriended Bell. Unfortunately, her seven-year-old son, Joshua, has terminal brain cancer. What kind of apology would you like to make to the Schwartz family? Your family means a lot to me for the care, love and friendship we had developed over the last year. They believe that you asked them for information about your son's symptoms so you could assume them as your own. That family was one that I had little time with. interaction, that's not how they describe it, they say. you cried with it, they cried with you, you cried with them, they placed your children, I understand that they are suffering, but I also know that I never questioned Joshua or his mother about their symptoms, along with the Schwartz family, there have been several charities.

He has promised money that has not seen an increase and there are disputed donations of up to three hundred thousand dollars. This was Bill's downfall. She promoted her promise to raise money for various charities, but when the funds failed to materialise, her deception was exposed in March this year. the act was over and she's been trying to lie her way out of this since, I mean, you praised your community for raising five thousand dollars for two charities you nominated, but then when they pressed you because that money never showed up, he said well, in fact, we didn't raise that money despite praising the community for raising that amount of money and you know, a portion of that money is sent to a charity, but only after you were questioned by the media did I take my books. and my finances and my accounting to business managers and accountants and I told them that I am very lost with this.

Could you help me and update this? Eight months later it is still not finished. Don't know. you need to be an accounting expert to know that you don't make promises you're not sure you can keep so I keep keeping those promises you can't have it both ways bill you can't say you know my The community has raised this amount of money. Oh, actually no, they didn't. What did you do? Mr. Speak. Or is it the accountant's fault that he made that statement when it's actually not the truth and I'm keeping those promises? You did not fulfill them and you misrepresented yourself once again.

I'm not misrepresenting myself. To many, she was the welfare warrior. Her good health was the great hope for her followers, especially those fighting cancer. What is really worrying is how many of them have given up. conventional treatment to follow Bell's alternative path again Bell tries to evade responsibility but I wasn't an expert on anyone else's health and I was me, sorry but don't be naive now, I mean you're appealing to an incredibly vulnerable audience , incredibly vulnerable people. You have a responsibility to make sure your story is correct I'm not trying to get my way I'm not trying to sugarcoat anything It's not easy for me to be here It's not easy for me to relive and relive and ease the details What do you think it's like for the people who followed you, whose hearts went out to you when you wrote about how bad you were, how well you were, your progress, your decline, these people who cried for you, have you thought about them, do I know how you feel? here and tell me how you feel, have you thought about how they feel right now?

In the same way, I just said, I put them in my shoes and I know they feel the same way. I feel like some of them love you. going to jail that's how you feel, I know you feel that way, I've seen the emails, I've seen some of the comments, I'm on the receiving end of all that shit and I take responsibility for how this plays out. Do you take responsibility for steering people away from conventional medicine in search of treatment for their cancer? That would be really heartbreaking for me because I never intended to do it.

Do you accept that that is what you could have done? I accept that it could have happened while she admits that she could have caused extraordinary harm to others

belle

maintains that she is the real victim here the lie continues for herself and the rest of us, but I have been going through this flaw since last year , not since the media revealed it, but for months and months before that, so this has been a really private test for me, knowing where I stand, I mean, but shouldn't it have been public? I mean, you were happy the lies were public, what about the truth?

Be public, I'm just wondering Bill, and I don't know if you're at a stage where you'll ever admit it, but if you just didn't know what you were getting into, you probably thought you weren't doing anything. hurt but you thought you could get away with it there was nothing to get away with it tara oh of course there was there was adulation there is sympathy there is a community that loves you there are enormous amounts of things that I love just wondering if you're kind that we were playing in a world of adults not realizing that everything was going to end badly, it wasn't necessary once I started to figure out where I was and what reality really was and I had received the definitive no, you don't. having cancer, so that was something I had to come to terms with, that takes a lot and it was really traumatizing.

I was feeling a huge amount of grief and pain about not having cancer, no, that I had been lied to and, um, that I felt like I had been taken for a ride, it took me a lot to undo that and once I was strong enough, I was ready. to go out and talk to my community about it and I had a definite date and that date was just 10 days before. the media broke it right, thank you, thank you for giving your opinion on tonight's show, you can find us on Facebook coming soon, what if your son was kidnapped by terrorists, oh Jesus, oh Jesus, held hostage for ransom?

It was the beginning of the worst nightmare. Our government pays What does a family do when a child is taken hostage? where to start? If you pay a ransom, you will be prosecuted within the lucrative world of kidnapping anyone with an AK-47 in a Toyota. He's potentially in the kidnapping business next on 60 minutes hi I'm tara brown thanks for watching to stay up to date with the latest news from 60 minutes

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