Milla Blake in 'Apple Cider Vinegar' isn't a real person, but her story seemingly draws from an Australian wellness influencer's life

Yahoo

08-02-2025

Netflix's "Apple Cider Vinegar" was inspired by Belle Gibson, who lied about having brain cancer.
It features fictional characters that appear to be based on real people in Gibson's life.
Milla, a character in the show, is reminiscent of real-life wellness influencer Jess Ainscough.
Netflix's "Apple Cider Vinegar" is a "true-ish" (in the streamer's words) story about a woman who built a wellness empire on the lie that she had cancer.
Belle Gibson, whose full name is Annabelle Natalie Gibson, claimed that she had been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer in 2009 and given a weekslong prognosis. In 2014, she launched her own nutrition app, The Whole Pantry. In 2015, reports emerged that she hadn't followed through on donations to charity — and then, she admitted that she had never had cancer.
The television series presents a fictionalized version of Gibson's story (she's played by Kaitlyn Dever). It juxtaposes her narrative against that of another wellness influencer: Milla Blake (Alycia Debnam-Carey), a young woman who forgoes chemotherapy and treats her cancer using alternative methods.
Unlike Gibson, there isn't a real Milla. However, her story on the show is reminiscent of the life of Jess Ainscough, a real Australian wellness influencer who died in 2015.
"Apple Cider Vinegar" introduces Camilla "Milla" Blake as a young woman with a vibrant social life and journalism career in Sydney. Her diagnosis — undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma — throws her life into disarray. Milla refuses her doctor's recommendation to amputate, and instead opts for an experimental form of chemotherapy.
Unfortunately, Milla's cancer returns. However, she forgoes the recommendation to amputate again and tries to treat her cancer through natural methods. She also seeks treatment at the fictional Hirsch Institute, which promotes methods including coffee enemas and a specific diet and is reminiscent of real-life Gerson therapy.
Milla begins to blog about her treatment, eventually attracting a following that includes the show's fictionalized version of Belle Gibson. She publishes a book titled "From Hell to Well" and hosts events under her personal brand, Green Stone Healing. With the help of her friend-turned-manager Chanelle, she also nets brand deals and attempts to launch her own juice line.
Milla's cancer worsens over the years, and she turns to black salve, a dangerous, corrosive compound that is banned for sale in the United States by the FDA and is not a cancer cure. Her mother also contracts cancer and dies en route to the Hirsch Institute in Mexico, where she intended to pursue the same treatment as her daughter.
After a video of Milla goes viral and reveals to the public that the cancer has returned to her arm, she returns to her prior doctor. He informs her that the cancer has metastasized and is too far progressed to treat.
"If it was an option, I'd be returning to conventional medicine," Milla writes to her followers following the news. "But it's not. When I was diagnosed with cancer, I believed it was my fault. It wasn't. I believed it was up to me to cure myself. It wasn't. I thought I could become whole through diet, and by listening to my own instincts. But I was wrong."
Milla dies. The fictional Belle Gibson attends her funeral, crying loudly during the service. At the wake, she searches Milla's bedroom and attempts to console Milla's fiancé Arlo until he orders her to leave.
Jess Ainscough was a wellness influencer who died in February 2015 at age 30, seven years after she was diagnosed with epithelioid sarcoma. Ainscough's doctors recommended amputation, but she pursued chemotherapy. She later turned to alternative medicine, including Gerson Therapy, which has not been approved by the United States FDA as a treatment for cancer.
Before her diagnosis, Ainscough worked at the teen magazine Dolly. After she chose not to pursue conventional treatment, Ainscough began posting on her blog, The Wellness Warrior. She published a book titled "Make Peace with Your Plate: Change Your Life One Meal at a Time," and hosted speaking engagements.
Ainscough's mother Sharyn was diagnosed with breast cancer and died in October 2013. The Guardian reported that Sharyn also supported Gerson Therapy.
Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano, the reporters who broke the story in 2015 that Gibson had not followed through on promised charitable donations, reported for the Sydney Morning Herald that Gibson attended Ainscough's funeral in March 2015, and was seen crying loudly during the service. Gibson and Ainscough had met two years prior and interacted on social media, the pair reported, but Ainscough's manager said that the two women were not friends.
Prior to her death, Ainscough was engaged to Tallon Pamenter.
"Apple Cider Vinegar" is streaming on Netflix.
Read the original article on Business Insider