What happened to ‘Instagram’s Worst Con Artist’ Belle Gibson after her downfall?

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Belle Gibson made a big deal of money and gained a huge following on social media by deceiving her supporters into thinking that she had beaten cancer by following a nutritious and healthy lifestyle.

A new documentary titled "Instagram's Worst Con Artist" was broadcasted on Thursday, April 25th, revealing the disturbing story of an Australian influencer who was 21 at the time and committed fraud.

The two-part documentary series discusses how Gibson's triumph and online recognition fell apart when an investigation disclosed that she was never diagnosed with brain cancer.

According to Gibson, she was told by medical professionals that she only had six weeks left to live after discovering a harmful brain tumour in 2009. Due to feeling ill from chemotherapy, she explored alternative techniques for healing.

The person who has a lot of social media followers created an application called The Whole Pantry in 2013 and also wrote a book with the same title through Penguin publishing company. She made series of claims stating that she had been able to treat her cancer by following a healthy lifestyle devoid of gluten and sugar. As a result, the application was promptly downloaded 200,000 times in just the first month of its release.

She additionally stated that she underwent heart procedures numerous times, had a brief period of clinical death during one of the surgeries, and experienced a stroke. In subsequent updates to her followers, she informed them that her cancer had metastasized to her bloodstream, spleen, womb, and liver.

ITV just released a documentary where Chanelle McAuliffe, who is one of Gibson's dearest pals, has expressed her doubts regarding Belle's supposed sickness. Apparently, Chanelle began to get suspicious when Belle suddenly had a seizure and immediately recovered when someone mentioned calling for medical assistance.

The journalist Richard Guillatt, who became aware of his wife's cancer diagnosis, made a series of phone calls to experts to explore the validity of claims made about Gibson's illness. Through his investigations, he detected some aspects that seemed questionable.

"I came to the understanding that if it's a fraudulent activity, then it's an enormous one," he communicated to the documentary. "She had a vast number of supporters from various parts of the globe."

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During the interview with Gibson, Guillatt was informed that she had been diagnosed with brain cancer by her doctor but then disappeared. Gibson later shared her realization of possibly not having cancer at all.

During a meeting that was recorded and later shared with ITV, Guillatt expressed surprise and disbelief upon hearing that Belle Gibson did not actually have cancer. He used the phrase "Christ almighty" to convey his shock and remarked that it was the last thing he expected. He went on to mention that Belle Gibson recanted her previous claims of having cancer and admitted that she cannot provide evidence to support these claims.

Gibson's childhood was spent in Launceston, Tasmania after which she shifted to Manly, Queensland for pursuing her studies. Later on, she moved to Perth in Western Australia and Melbourne in 2009. At the age of 18, she became a parent.

Gibson created The Whole Pantry app back in 2013, but a few years later, Consumer Affairs Victoria started investigating her for allegedly deceiving and misleading people about donating profits to charity. This resulted in a penalty of $410,000 (Aus) (£214,000) by the authorities in September of 2017.

After being fined, Gibson stated that she owed $170,000 (Aus) (£88,200) and only had $5,000 (Aus) (£2,600) in her possession. The Sheriff's Office of Victoria conducted raids on Gibson's residence in 2020 and 2021 to recover the outstanding fines, which have now accumulated to over $500,000 due to interest.

Following the search of the residence, a video surfaced where Gibson alleged that she resided with an Ethiopian group in Melbourne. However, Tarekegn Chimdia, the head of the Australian Oromo Community Association in Victoria, disapproved of her claim.

He expressed his unease about an individual who is falsely claiming association with the community. According to him, the said person is not a part of the community and has not contributed towards any fundraising activities. Additionally, he mentioned that he has not had any contact with her since the incident.

It is thought that Gibson is still residing in Melbourne. She has refrained from using any social media channels.