Latest news with #TheWomanWhoFooledtheWorld
Yahoo
24-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The Truth About Netflix's ‘Apple Cider Vinegar' Wellness Influencer Drama and the Real-life Story of Australian Scammer Belle Gibson
True crime and scammer stories are rife with shocking details ideal for dramatization. That's no more true than with Netflix's latest limited series, 'Apple Cider Vinegar.' From the same streaming platform that brought the story of con artist Anna Delvey to the small screen, the series is based on the true story of Australian scammer Belle Gibson and further scrutinizes the alternative medicine and wellness industry. The limited series hit Netflix on Feb. 6 and features a leading performance from its Emmy-nominated star, Kaitlyn Dever. Created by Samantha Strauss and based on the book 'The Woman Who Fooled the World' by journalists Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano, the show does take a few liberties with Belle Gibson's real-life story. Ahead, WWD unpacks all the details behind Netflix's 'Apple Cider Vinegar.' More from WWD Ebony Obsidian Discusses Role in 'The Six Triple Eight' and Bringing Forgotten WWII Story to Light Angela Bassett Puts Sultry Spin on Little Black Dress With Lace Detailing for 'Zero Day' Red Carpet Premiere Pomellato Taps Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu As New Global Ambassador 'Apple Cider Vinegar' is an iteration of Belle Gibson's story. Gibson is an Australian woman who, in the early and mid-2010s, lied about her cancer diagnosis. Gibson, whose fame reached its greatest height in 2014, became a wellness guru, using her faux cancer diagnosis as a way to amass a large following on social media and created her own wellness app, The Whole Pantry. The creation of Gibson's app eventually led to an international cookbook deal, which Penguin later canceled. Gibson became famous for her claims that self care remedies and eating habits kept her cancer under control. The scammer earned roughly $500,000 from her app, lucrative deals and more. By 2015, however, the truth about Gibson's story was unearthed — she never had cancer to begin with. In an interview with Women's Weekly, Gibson even admitted she never had cancer, although she later changed the story again during an appearance on '60 Minutes Australia.' 'Apple Cider Vinegar' chronicles Gibson's rise and fall in the wellness space and as a social media influencer. The limited series also takes liberties with the story of Milla Blake, loosely based on the real-life Jessica Ainscough, who was an Australian journalist and wellness advocate known as 'The Wellness Warrior.' Ainscough created an unconventional way of treating cancer that involved a strict organic vegetarian diet, dietary supplements and daily coffee enemas. The title of the show, as illustrated in its last episode, is inspired by the culture of wellness gurus who promote unproven remedies as cure-alls. Kaitlyn Dever, who earned an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for her work in the 2021 limited series 'Dopesick,' stars as Belle Gibson in the Netflix series. Alycia Debnam-Carey also stars in the series as Milla Blake, who is presented as a rival to Belle. The series also stars Aisha Dee of 'The Bold Type' fame, Mark Coles Smith, Tilda Cobham-Hervey, Chai Hansen and more. In 2017, Gibson was fined roughly $410,000 by the Federal Court of Australia, citing her deception that she'd donated income to charitable causes when, in reality, Gibson was spending the money on herself. Gibson has reportedly not yet paid her outstanding fine. The character Milla Blake, based on the real-life Jessica Ainscough, takes liberties with the real story of Ainscough. In the series, Milla and Belle are presented as rivals. In real life, Ainscough and Gibson didn't have much of a relationship. Ainscough was a real woman diagnosed with epithelioid sarcoma when she was 22. Ainscough documented her journey of alternative medicinal methods through her personal blog. She died in 2015 at the age of 29. Best of WWD Marilyn Monroe's 'The Seven Year Itch' White Dress — Everything to Know About Her Iconic Costume and Where It Is Today Stores Closing in the U.S. in 2025: Joann, Neiman Marcus, Macy's and More Companies Facing Financial Challenges 'SNL' Fashion Skits and Style Moments Through the Years: Maya Rudolph as Donatella Versace, Nicole Kidman's 'Risky Business' Look and More
Yahoo
08-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Apple Cider Vinegar' Creator Unpacks That ‘Tragic' Ending, Juggling Truth and Fiction Adapting Belle Gibson's Story
Note: The following story contains spoilers from 'Apple Cider Vinegar.' While Belle Gibson's rise to wellness fame in 'Apple Cider Vinegar' was full of organic recipes and posh galas, the latter half of Netflix series sees the dangerous and 'tragic' impact of the infamous scammer and her wellness-loving counterparts come crashing down on those closest to them. While Belle (Kaitlyn Dever) built her wellness empire on a fake cancer diagnosis after being inspired by Milla (Alycia Debnam-Carey) — a real cancer patient who advocates for a juice diet and coffee enemas to cure her cancer — Milla is the one who ultimately suffers from the wellness industry's lies. First, after pursuing the Hirsch Institute treatment for her cancer, Milla's mom, Tamara, dies in an ending creator Samantha Strauss calls 'tragic.' 'I think my mom would probably do that if I had chosen to go Hirsch,' Strauss told TheWrap, echoing Tamara's words that if she'd let her daughter do it and not force her to go through traditional cancer treatment methods, she would have to do the same. Tamara's death, however, gives Milla the wake-up call she needed to go to the doctor and pursue cancer treatment. 'How do you walk back from what has become your whole identity … which is, 'I am this wellness guru influencer, and I have cured myself from cancer,'' Strauss said. 'What's the line between positive thinking and reality? She wants that to be true so much, and she has to realize and recognize, 'No, I got it wrong, and I wish I hadn't have done it.'' Ultimately, it ends up being too late for Milla, and the Netflix series, which is based on the book 'The Woman Who Fooled the World,' sees her pass away as well by the finale. Despite this fatal turn — paired with several articles outlining Belle's fraudulences — Belle sticks to her guns, showing up to Milla's funeral to the dismay of Chanelle (Aisha Dee) and Milla's husband Justin (Mark Coles Smith), later doubling down on her cancer diagnosis to her followers. 'Our Belle wanted to be sick so much — It would make her unimpeachable. It would make her a victim, but also a hero at the same time and it was such a shortcut to love,' Strauss said. 'I hope the viewers are left with sort of a fragile sense of hope for her at the end that she wants to be well, which is a big step.' Strauss makes the distinction between the Belle depicted in the series and the real-life Belle Gibson, whom she revealed she has never contacted, nor has Gibson contacted Strauss or her team. She added that despite 'Apple Cider Vinegar' filming in Gibson's neighborhood, the real-life scammer never showed up to set. 'Real life gave us some facts to work from, but this is very much our true-ish story,' Strauss said. 'We did a lot of inventing in the writers' room. I have no idea what Belle would have talked about in her private time … to people close to her.' Below, Strauss unpacks adapting Gibson's story of lies into the Netflix series with its own truths and fictions, discusses Lucy's ending and reveals if she knows where Gibson is now. TheWrap: Was there any hesitancy in keeping Belle's name for the series? Strauss: Legally, there wasn't. When you're writing someone, you have to develop a lot of empathy for them. You have to put yourself in their shoes all the time, and think, 'Why would they do this?' So you get attached to them, but in this case, it was so clear that that what she did had could have had horrific consequences, and so ethically, I felt okay about using her real name. Were most of the characters and stories pulled from real life? Milla is an amalgamation of lots of people, but also someone we created in the writers room and she's her own person. We thought it was really interesting to juxtapose Belle's story — she's lying to her, to everybody — whereas Milla is lying to herself. To see these two women pitted against each other, but behaving in ways that were sometimes similar, was was really interesting. The journalists were kind enough to let us fictionalize their lives as well — Beau [Donelly] and Nick [Toscano] are different to the people in the show. We didn't change Clive's name, who was Belle's partner and and there's also Julie, who was Belle's publisher. What about Lucy? Was she real? It felt really important that this story didn't only center Belle. It was an interesting thing in empathy and forgiveness that you want to understand what makes her tick, but you don't ever want to glorify what she's done. Every time we would start to feel a lot of empathy for her, it was important to us to remember people like Lucy, a real-life person … someone that we know … that is at the coalface of medicine and … could have fallen victim to Belle's lies. She wasn't married to our journalists in real life, but it felt like it was really important to us to have her voice across the series — that we're not glorifying that word, we're showing the consequences as well. Clive stays pretty loyal to Belle throughout the whole thing. Why do you think he stayed? Some of that is true to life, and it's in the book, but that was something we discussed endlessly in the writers' room. I kind of know relationships like that become co-dependent and and I do think, in our case, we decided that he was staying a lot, because he loves her child so much. In Belle's core is someone who doesn't feel like she has enough love and much probably has a quite a fragile self esteem. And perhaps that speaks to who Clive in our series is as well. I've never met the real Clive or had anything to do with them, but that's the dynamic we imagined for them. The show ends with that damning '60 Minutes' interview, and gives some hope for Lucy despite Milla's tragic ending. Why did you want to end the story here? Belle is, by that point, like 'I've had enough.' [Her] world has crumbled, but that who matters are the people who listen to Belle. In the end, Lucy's doing meditation and she's doing yoga, and she's having ice baths … and she's drinking apple cider vinegar, but she's also doing chemo and she's showing up for that. Even though we don't know if she'll live or die, there's hope. And for Justin, I think it's really frightening for him that he is watching someone, throughout the series, go off down the road of of alternative therapies that he and wanting to turn away from Western medicine, and how frightening that would be as partner, but you can't control somebody else's choices in that respect. We've all kind of lived that with the pandemic. For him to just show up, even though the worst thing could be that she dies, you know, and how hard that will be, is an act of love. We did want to end the series with love — that it matters so much. One of the great things about life is love and and that's what Belle craved so much. I hope she got it, in our creation of Belle after the series ends. Do you have any idea where Belle is now? No, she never showed up the set. We did wonder if she would, but she never did, and she hasn't reached out. I have no idea. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 'Apple Cider Vinegar' is now streaming on Netflix. The post 'Apple Cider Vinegar' Creator Unpacks That 'Tragic' Ending, Juggling Truth and Fiction Adapting Belle Gibson's Story appeared first on TheWrap.
The National
07-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The National
New movies, shows and music to stream, from a show about scamster Belle Gibson to The Weeknd's final album
Netflix found a winning formula with its 2022 series Inventing Anna, a mostly true account of the life of Anna Sorokin, a fraudster who claimed to be a wealthy heiress. It's latest offering, Apple Cider Vinegar, centres around another scamster who became rich and famous by inventing a back story, but was eventually exposed. Meanwhile, two films available to stream this week will mark the directorial debut of two actors, one from Bollywood and one from Hollywood. Here are some of the latest films, shows and music to stream this week. Sometime in 2015, Australian influencer and author Belle Gibson made an admission that grabbed headlines around the world. The single mother, who claimed to have healed herself from terminal brain cancer through health and wellness, revealed that she had made her illness up. Before the revelation, Gibson had built a successful business through her app, The Whole Pantry, which was also turned into a bestselling book. Gibson's story has now been turned into a limited series with Kaitlyn Dever playing her. Based on the 2017 book, The Woman Who Fooled the World, by journalists Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano, Apple Cider Vinegar looks at the early days of Instagram, the rise and fall of a wellness empire, the culture that built it up and the people who tore it down. While the series is based on a real-life person, Netflix calls it "a true-ish story based on a lie". "Like most works based on true events, Apple Cider Vinegar is not a biopic and many characters are fictionalised," the streamer warns. Maddie (JoAnna Garcia Swisher), Helen (Heather Headley) and Dana Sue (Brooke Elliott) are back. The show, based on the book series of the same name, first debuted in 2020 and follows lifelong friends as they juggle relationships, family and careers in their charming South Carolina hometown. In season four, the women once again negotiate the twists and turns of their romantic lives, as well as the return of old foes, the loss of some loved ones and, for the first time, a major discord between them. Acclaimed Indian actor Boman Irani makes his directorial debut in this heartfelt film about a father and son who, at odds with each other, are forced to spend 48 hours together. It explores their tumultuous relationship as old wounds resurface and each men grapple with their relevance in each other's lives. Irani, who has already won awards for his acting in the festival circuit, shares writing credits with Alexander Dinelaris Jr, who won an Oscar for co-writing the 2014 film Birdman. Another directorial debut, this time of actress Zoe Kravitz, this psychological thriller was a critical and commercial success when it was released last year. It centres around a waitress Frida (Naomi Ackie) who, one night, gets invited by tech billionaire Slater King (Channing Tatum) to join him and his friends on a dream vacation on his private island. Once there, Frida and the rest of the guests are treated lavishly. But she soon realises she's experiencing memory lapses, and begins to piece together sinister occurrences that soon turn deadly. A commentary on the abuse of power and the importance of sisterhood, Kravitz, who also co-wrote the film, received wide praise for it. Blink Twice also made more than $46 million at the global box office. Pop culture's obsession with American gangsters continues. This new documentary from the History Channel is narrated by The Sopranos star Michael Imperioli and delves into the five mafia families who ruled New York – Genovese, Gambino, Bonnano, Colombo and Lucchese. Based on Selwyn Raab's New York Times bestselling book, Five Families, it tracks their rise and fall, starting with the Prohibition Era in the 1920s to the golden age of the mafia, which extended to the 1960s. The sixth and possibly the final album by the RnB star known as The Weeknd – before he reverts to his birth name Abel Tesfaye – Hurry Up Tomorrow is the final installment in a trilogy that started with 2020's After Hours, followed by 2022's Dawn FM. The 22-track album, which has already received rave reviews from critics, features several collaborators including Travis Scott, Florence and the Machine, Future and Lana Del Rey and singles such as Timeless, Cry for Me and Wake Me Up. A film inspired by the album, starring Tesfaye alongside Jenna Ortega and Barry Keoghan, is scheduled to be released in May.
Express Tribune
07-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
Is Milla Blake in Netflix's Apple Cider Vinegar a real person? The truth behind her character
Apple Cider Vinegar centers around Belle Gibson, but viewers may wonder if Milla Blake, a character played by Alycia Debnam-Carey, is based on a real person. The Netflix series, inspired by Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano's true crime book The Woman Who Fooled the World, reimagines the rise of Gibson, a wellness influencer who lied about having cancer. The show is set in the early 2010s and highlights the role Instagram played in spreading misinformation. The show opens each episode by stating that while the narrative is inspired by truth, "some names have been changed and some characters invented," including Milla Blake, who doesn't exist in real life. Milla Blake is a wellness influencer running a blog called In the series, she becomes an inspiration to Belle, who copies her speeches. Milla believes she cured her cancer with holistic treatments and advocates for others to follow her approach. Though Milla is not based on any actual person from Belle's life, she represents the many wellness influencers who promote hope through alternative medicine. The series suggests that Milla's influence motivated Belle to create her own narrative of cancer survival through holistic methods. Despite her success, Milla's journey is tragic. Diagnosed with pleomorphic sarcoma undifferentiated in 2009, Milla rejects conventional treatments in favor of alternative remedies, including coffee enemas and juicing. She becomes an influencer and even publishes a book, but her cancer worsens. Milla's story becomes more heartbreaking when her mother dies after attempting to follow Milla's advice. Despite claiming to be cured, Milla's illness eventually metastasizes, and she dies from her own decisions. The show illustrates Milla as a victim of misinformation and fear, reflecting the harmful effects of such beliefs. Her story is a cautionary tale about the dangers of turning to unverified medical treatments when facing terminal illness. Alycia Debnam-Carey's portrayal of Milla Blake highlights the internal and external struggles of someone caught between hope and harsh reality.
The Guardian
06-02-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
World media lambasts Trump's Gaza proposal, but News Corp praises idea as ‘worth a try'
When news broke of new US president Donald Trump's proposal to banish Palestinians from Gaza and turn it into the 'riviera of the Middle East', reactions from the world's newsrooms were noticeably, well, varied. The New York Times called it a 'brazen plan' while Al Jazeera went a little stronger, declaring: 'Trump is a mad man.' The takeover plan 'faces global condemnation', said the Guardian headline, and 'UN chief warns of ethnic cleansing'. The Sydney Morning Herald's splash called it 'outlandish'. The foreign affairs correspondent Matthew Knott said Trump was advocating ethnic cleansing and dressing it up as 'a golden real estate opportunity' and referred to experts saying it would be a crime against humanity. Unusually, News Corp pulled its punches a bit. 'Ultimate Gaza gambit,' The Australian headline read. 'Trump stuns world with plan for ownership of war-torn strip.' Sign up to get Guardian Australia's weekly media diary as a newsletter 'Some method in the madness,' the headline on a piece by the foreign editor, Greg Sheridan, read. Sheridan wrote it was 'the most astounding, outlandish, radical, gobsmackingly strange proposal', but went on to say Trump's view of the world was 'inherently benign'. Political editor Simon Benson called it Trump's 'latest crazy idea', one which prime minister Anthony Albanese should definitely respond to. Further back in the paper, Strategic Analysis Australia's director, Peter Jennings's opinion piece (which said the plan had 'about as much chance as a snowball in Khan Younis', but that a new approach was needed) was headlined: 'Gaza takeover? It's worth a try, nothing else is working.' The Advertiser called it his 'Club Med renovation rescue' while the Daily Telegraph went for 'stars and strip' and 'Trump in a stunning Gaza takeover'. 'Two mate solution,' the Courier Mail ran. 'It's just bananas,' the Cairns Post splashed with, but on closer inspection that was about the floods being responsible for supermarket shelves containing nothing but the yellow fruit. Ten years ago, a tip arrived in the laps of young Nine newspaper reporters Nick Toscano and Beau Donelly, whispering that famed wellness icon Belle Gibson – who claimed to have healed her brain cancer solely through diet – was not telling the truth. That whisper became one story which turned into many more, then a book (The Woman Who Fooled the World), which has now inspired a new Netflix drama, Apple Cider Vinegar, out on 6 February. At first the reporters didn't believe the tip, which came from a friend of Gibson. 'I started that call feeling very critical, almost dismissive of her claims,' Donelly told the Age and SMH's Morning Edition. 'But I came away from it absolutely fascinated by what she was saying.' 'She struck me as someone who was very intelligent, and who was just horrified, really, for the role she had played in supporting Belle Gibson, who she now believed was a cancer faker.' 'So Beau and I then thought: 'Well, if she's lying about this, then what else is she lying about?',' Toscano told Morning Edition. Their first story in 2015 revealed that the Instagram star had raised funds for charity from her followers, but did not donate the money. Gibson's health claims – the foundation of her wellness business, cookbook (The Whole Pantry) and app – then came under increased scrutiny, and began to crumble. But Donelly and Toscano told the Guardian in 2017 that researching their book was like pulling out teeth. 'Her name was poison,' Toscano said at the time. 'I can't think of another story I've covered that's been so difficult to get people to speak to me.' 'We were shut down by dozens and dozens of people,' Donelly added. 'We were threatened with lawsuits by others. It was incredibly difficult.' Rupert Murdoch appeared alongside Donald Trump in the White House's Oval Office on Tuesday while the US president praised the Australian-born nonagenarian media tycoon as an 'amazing guy' – though one, he said, that he often disagreed with. The feeling is apparently mutual, with Murdoch reported to have described Trump as 'a fucking idiot' over his immigration policy in 2018. Murdoch also called Trump's actions on January 6 'pretty much a crime', according to court documents, and tried to distance himself before returning to the fold after Trump emerged the clear leader in the Republican primaries. Sign up to Weekly Beast Amanda Meade's weekly diary on the latest in Australian media, free every Friday after newsletter promotion But this time the disagreement was over economic policy. Murdoch's Wall Street Journal called Trump's proposed tariffs against China, Canada and Mexico the 'dumbest trade war in history' in an editorial. Trump didn't take kindly to the characterisation, writing on Truth Social that: 'The 'Tariff Lobby,' headed by the Globalist, and always wrong, Wall Street Journal, is working hard to justify Countries like Canada, Mexico, China, and too many others to name, continue the decades long RIPOFF OF AMERICA.' But it appears the two managed to put their differences aside with Trump pausing the tariffs on Mexico and Canada at the 11th hour. Globalists 1 – Trump 0. Murdoch was ostensibly in the White House along with billionaire Larry Ellison to discuss Trump's plans for a US sovereign wealth fund that he speculated could be used to buy TikTok. If that goes ahead – a big if – then Murdoch would be well placed to advise on (or advise against) any purchase, having previously taken a bath with News Corp's ill-judged acquisition of Myspace for $580m in 2005. The pioneering social media platform was at one point valued at $12bn, but News Corp sold it in 2011 for $35m. Former footy guy Sam Newman, a man not known for shying away from outrage, at first seemed to have no qualms hosting far-right extremists Blair Cottrell and Thomas Sewell on his podcast. Qualms did come later, after an image posted to X showed the trio, triggering a backlash. Newman then insisted he in no way endorsed their views, and turned on Cottrell, calling him an 'interloper', an 'opportunist', a '24-carrot-gold scumbag' and a 'star fucker' in a second podcast, released on Wednesday. Listen to the interview in the first podcast, he insisted, as it shows I'm not on their side. Guardian Australia did listen to the podcast, all 54 minutes of it. In it, Newman conceded he'll 'probably take a kicking' for having them on, but said that's why he's doing it, 'because we speak to people of interest'. 'I probably should stop this interview,' he said, but didn't. We won't repeat the revolting Holocaust denialism, conspiracy theories, antisemitism, and white supremacy that got platformed – we were more interested in hearing Newman coherently rebut the Nazi ideology. 'You speak for as long as you like,' he tells his guests at one point. 'When you're finished, I'll ask you a question because I don't want to interrupt you.' 'Please keep going,' he says at another. 'I'd hate to miss any of this,' he says in a discussion about building a white society. 'I'm not sure I agree with anything you say but you might be surprised I agree with a lot of it,' Newman concludes, somewhat ambiguously. Responding to Newman's attack on him in the wake of fierce criticism, Cottrell said Newman 'naively believed he could interview blacklisted 'Nazis' with impunity'. 'You wanted controversy Sam, and you got it,' he said. Media Watch is back for 2025, as are the Media Watch watchers, whom Guardian Australia occasionally, in turn, watches. 'Not much has changed at the ABC's Media Watch,' read the headline on columnist Chris Kenny's piece about the show's debut with new host Linton Besser. The show will keep targeting News Corp, Kenny lamented, while conceding News gave Besser an easy target. It's all so 'predictable', Kenny said. Heaven forbid predictability. Here's a sample of headlines from Kenny's work last year: 'Chris Kenny slams ABC Media Watch host Paul Barry.' 'Chris Kenny hits out at ABC Media Watch host.' 'Chris Kenny slams Media Watch host.' 'Chris Kenny hits out at ABC … and in particular Media Watch host Paul Barry.'
