Finally. Belle Gibson has given an interview — and it’s nothing short of explosive.
Embattled Australian entrepreneur Belle Gibson has given her first interview since admitting her miraculous cancer survival story may have been based on a ‘misdiagnosis.’
Speaking exclusively to the Australian Women’s Weekly over two interview, Ms Gibson admitted she’d lied about curing the illness with a wholefood diet.
Asked outright if has ever had cancer, the 23-year-old social media ‘wellness guru’ admitted: “No. None of it’s true… I am still jumping between what I think I know and what is reality. I have lived it and I’m not really there yet.”
Gibson — who was not paid for the interview — failed to explain in detail why she lied about her condition, but told the magazine: “If I don’t have an answer, then I will sort of theorise it myself and come up with one. I think that’s an easy thing to often revert to if you don’t know what the answer is.
“I just think [speaking out] was the responsible thing to do. Above anything, I would like people to say, ‘Okay, she’s human.'”
“It’s just very scary to be honest,” she told the magazine.
“Because you start to doubt the crux of things that make up who you are. You know, I’m blonde and I’m tall, I’ve got hazel eyes and I’ve got cancer. And all of a sudden you take away some of those high-level things and it’s really daunting.”
According to The Weekly, Ms Gibson’s strange narrative involves being “preyed upon” by two men who told her she had cancer and continued to “treat” her for the disease.
In 2009, a man by the name of Dr Mark Johns allegedly diagnosed Belle using “a machine like an old-fashioned hard-drive with lights and metal sheets that you sat on.” However, there is no evidence that this man existed. In 2012, Ms Gibson claims, she visited another “practitioner” known as Phil, who told her she had cancer in her blood, spleen, uterus and liver. The Australian Women’s Weekly saw invoices provided by Phil.
Corporate advisory firm Bespoke Approach is managing Ms Gibson’s affairs free-of-charge. The organisation has arranged for her to see a psychologist.
Related content: Belle Gibson will not be charged over her controversial cancer claims.
Following revelations earlier this year that her company failed to make promised donation to a range of charities, the 23-year-old mother of one admitted that her cancer survival story may have involved a ‘misdiagnosis’.
Following those revelations, her app was dropped by tech giant Apple, which was due to feature it on its Apple Watch. Gibson’s The Whole Pantry cookbook was also pulled from shelves by publisher Penguin Australia.
Accountants are currently winding up Ms Gibson’s business, according to the Australian Women’s Weekly.
The full interview appears exclusively in The Australian Women’s Weekly — on sale today, Thursday April 23.