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Netflix's 'Apple Cider Vinegar' is based on a 'true-ish story.' Here's what's fact and what's fiction in the hit show.

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Kaitlyn Dever as Belle Gibson in "Apple Cider Vinegar."
  • "Apple Cider Vinegar" tells the story of an Australian influencer who faked having terminal cancer.
  • The Netflix series looks at the dramatic rise and fall of Belle Gibson and her wellness empire.
  • While a large part of the series is true, the creators took some creative license with the story.

Netflix's "Apple Cider Vinegar" makes a few things clear from the very beginning.

First, Belle Gibson — the Australian fraudster portrayed by Kaitlyn Dever in the series — is not profiting from the show's use of her name and likeness.

Second, the story is "true-ish." While large parts of the series do reflect real events, the makers took creative license with certain parts, with some characters and events having been fictionalized.

Below, we separate fact from fiction in the new hit show.

Gibson admitted to lying about having cancer.
Kaitlyn Dever as Belle Gibson in "Apple Cider Vinegar."

Gibson crafted her wellness empire on the premise that she had cured what she claimed was her terminal brain cancer through healthy eating and alternative remedies.

But the show depicts how her story began to unravel in 2015 when journalists from Australia's The Age newspaper began an investigation into her business and charity work.

Gibson would confess to Australian Women's Weekly later that year that she had falsified her cancer diagnosis.

The Age wasn't the only publication looking into Gibson.
Aisha Dee as Chanelle, Mark Coles Smith as Justin in "Apple Cider Vinegar."

The show is based on reporters Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano's 2017 book, "The Woman Who Fooled The World," and focuses on their investigation into Gibson for The Age newspaper.

However, they weren't the only ones digging into the former influencer. Richard Guilliatt, a reporter at The Australian, also had suspicions about her story.

After Donelly and Toscano published their piece about Gibson not donating money raised for charities in March 2015, Guilliatt rushed to get his exposé of Gibson, which cast doubt on her cancer claims, live.

Speaking in the 2021 documentary "Bad Influencer: The Great Insta Con," Guilliatt said that he was spurred into looking into Gibson's claims as his wife had been diagnosed with breast cancer years earlier.

Gibson's history of lying about her health began in online skateboarding forums.
Kaitlyn Dever as Belle in "Apple Cider Vinegar."

As a teenager, Gibson really was involved in the skateboarding community and used online chat forums to share bogus health claims, including that she had "died" for several minutes on an operating table.

Milla Blake isn't a real person. However, her story bears similarities to that of Jessica Ainscough.
Alycia Debnam-Carey as Milla Blake in "Apple Cider Vinegar."

In "Apple Cider Vinegar," Gibson's rise as a wellness influencer plays out against the story of Milla Blake (Alycia Debnam-Carey).

While Milla isn't real, her story seemingly draws from the life of Jess Ainscough, an Australian magazine editor turned influencer.

In 2008, Ainscough was diagnosed with a type of sarcoma and refused her doctor's recommendation to amputate her arm, opting instead for a type of chemotherapy, before eventually turning to alternative methods.

Ainscough, who went by the self-coined nickname "The Wellness Warrior," published the book "Make Peace With Your Plate" in 2013.

Ainscough died at age 30 in 2015.

Gibson really tried to clear her name in a now infamous "60 Minutes Australia" interview.
Kaitlyn Dever as Belle in "Apple Cider Vinegar."

Gibson was confronted about her claims in a 2015 interview with journalist Tara Brown on "60 Minutes Australia."

It marked the first time Gibson had spoken out about her controversy since admitting that she did not have, nor had ever had, cancer in an April 2015 interview with Australian Women's Weekly.

In the "60 Minutes" interview, Gibson — who was reportedly paid A$75,000 (around $49,000) for the appearance — failed to give a straight answer about her real age and claimed that she had been duped into believing she was dying through misdiagnoses.

The interview was widely derided at the time of its airing.

The Hirsch Institute appears to based on Gerson therapy
Alycia Debnam-Carey as Milla Blake in "Apple Cider Vinegar."

The Hirsch Institute — where Milla gets her treatment plan from in the show — isn't real. But it appears to have been based on Gerson therapy, a pseudoscientific treatment named after its creator, the German doctor Max Gerson.

As BI previously reported, the therapy involves drinking 13 glasses of juice a day alongside coffee enemas to "clean" the liver and colon.

Cancer institutes around the world say there is no scientific evidence to support the use of Gerson therapy.

Gibson's mother really did speak out against her.
Essie Davis as Natalie Gibson in. "Apple Cider Vinegar."

As depicted in "Apple Cider Vinegar," Gibson's mother, Natalie Dal-Bello, gave a tell-all interview about her daughter.

Speaking to Women's Weekly in 2015, Dal-Bello said of her daughter: "I can't tell you how embarrassed we are about what she has done."

"We sincerely wish to apologize to anyone who was deceived by Belle. For what small part we played in her life, 
we would like to say sorry," she continued. "She's got to look inside her 
own soul. The only way she is going to get forgiveness is to stop playing the victim card and spend the next few years doing nothing but charity work for cancer victims."

Read the original article on Business Insider