10 Details From Netflix's "True-ish" Apple Cider Vinegar Show That Actually Happened In Real Life

Warning: this article contains SPOILERS for Apple Cider Vinegar.Netflix's new miniseries Apple Cider Vinegar claims to be the "true-ish" story of the Australian influencer Belle Gibson. While Belle Gibson is a real person who gained media attention in the early 2010s, many parts of the story are fictionalized or changed to protect the lives of those involved in the true story. Apple Cider Vinegar has received positive reviews, which are more than fitting given the great performances by Kaitlyn Dever as Gibson and Alycia Debnam-Carey as fellow influencer Milla Blake, along with the great supporting cast.

Apple Cider Vinegar takes a creative approach to its portrayal of the true story that shocked the wellness community. The added characters help to fill in the gaps in the real story, and the antics of Gibson keep the series entertaining. Unsurprisingly, Apple Cider Vinegar has garnered an impressive Rotten Tomatoes Score, and it has even continued to rise since the series' debut on February 6, 2025. While the show certainly does include some fake elements to keep the story moving quickly, a shocking amount is accurate to the real story, and sometimes the truth is even more dramatic.

10 Yes, Belle Gibson Really Did Fake Having Cancer

She Even Claimed To Have Multiple Different Cancers

While some of the characters in Apple Cider Vinegar are made up for the series, the main premise of the show, Belle Gibson's cancer being fake, is completely true. Though it is somewhat difficult to fully create a timeline of Gibson's real life lies due to the contradictions in her story, the series does accurately highlight the biggest points. Gibson first claimed to have brain cancer in 2009 following previous claims that she had had heart surgery and had died briefly during the operation (via The Australian).

At the time and in later years, Gibson refused to name her doctor or substantiate her cancer claims in any other way. As Apple Cider Vinegar outlines, Gibson first began the claims after she became a mother, but amped them up following her social media success with The Whole Pantry. In 2014, Gibson made claims that, beyond the brain tumor, she had also been diagnosed with kidney, spleen, liver, uterine, and blood cancer. Similar to her claims of brain cancer, she never provided evidence or diagnoses for any of these.

9 Her Friend Chanelle McAuliffe Was The One To Blow The Whistle On Her

She Tried To Report Belle To Multiple People Before Ending Up At The Age

Aisha Dee as Chanelle looking upset while talking to Justin in Apple Cider Vinegar

Apple Cider Vinegar shows Belle Gibson's manager Chanelle as being the person to ultimately bring her down, and this is largely true. In real life, Chanelle McAuliffe was a friend, though not manager, of Belle Gibson, and after discovering that Gibson was lying about her health claims, McAuliffe endeavored to out her former friend. In the series, Chanelle has a close relationship with the character Milla, but in real life, there is no evidence that she was involved in the wellness influencer sphere beyond Belle.

In both real life and the Netflix series, Chanelle was able to do the right thing and finally expose Belle Gibson's lies.

While Chanelle was ultimately able to find several journalists, Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano, who were willing to listen to what she had to say, multiple other outlets rejected her first. In real life, Gibson's friend even attempted to call the police and a lawyer to expose Belle, but this did not work. In both real life and the Netflix series, Chanelle was able to do the right thing and finally expose Belle Gibson's lies. In turn, Donelly and Toscano went on to write a book about the ordeal titled The Woman Who Fooled the World.

8 The Hirsch Institute Has A Real Counterpart

The Story Presented About It Is Mostly True, Just With A Different Name

Alycia Debnam-Carey in Apple Cider Vinegar

Apple Cider Vinegar does a great job at exposing some of the dark sides of the wellness industry, and nothing is more representative of that than the Hirsch Institute that Milla Blake attends with her mother. The pair spend thousands of dollars and travel across the world for treatment that is essentially a juice cleanse and coffee enemas. While this may seem fake and overly dramatized for the show, the Hirsch Institute has a real-life counterpart called the Gerson Institute. The two are very similar, even down to the founder's story.

The Gerson Institute promotes many of the same things seen in the show, and the real story is arguably even darker. Along with the treatments seen in Apple Cider Vinegar, the Gerson Institute's diet plan included eating raw calf's liver, which resulted in several patients developing a rare bacterial infection, before being stopped in the 1980s. The treatment is widely seen as dangerous and unscientific, but Milla Blake's inspiration really did follow Gerson therapy and Belle Gibson recommended it to her followers as well (via The Guardian).

7 Belle Gibson Did Have A Deal With Apple

The Whole Pantry App Was Slated To Be Pre-Installed On The Apple Watch

During the early 2010s, Belle Gibson was incredibly successful at what she did, and in real life she truly did have a deal with Apple. Apple Cider Vinegar shows Belle and her coders working on the app, which was released in 2013. Shortly following its launch, Bell Gibson's app, The Whole Pantry, found success with hundreds of thousands of users. One of the biggest business deals that Gibson made was with Apple, who planned to include The Whole Pantry as a pre-installed feature of the 2015 Apple Watch.

Fortunately, Gibson was exposed before the Apple Watch was released, but the situation did raise questions about Apple's practices of background checking app developers they worked with.

According to The Age, Apple was very excited about their work with Gibson, but when her lies were exposed, they quickly tried to cut ties and distance themselves from her. The Whole Pantry Apple Watch app would have been a massive deal for Gibson that paid extremely well. Fortunately, Gibson was exposed before the Apple Watch was released, but the situation did raise questions about Apple's practices of background-checking app developers they worked with.

6 Gibson Did Fake Her Age And History

She Was Several Years Younger Than She Claimed To Be

One detail that seems smaller given the massive implications of Belle Gibson's lies in Apple Cider Vinegar is that of her age, but even in this detail the show is accurate. A few times throughout the miniseries, other characters ask Belle how old she is or comment that she looks quite young for her age, and this is by design. Belle Gibson also lied about her age. In reality, she is three years younger than she claimed to be, adding even more confusion to her story.

Belle Gibson being three years younger than she said she was means that she actually moved to Melbourne at 17 and gave birth at just 18 years old. She then started The Whole Pantry at 21. This fact on its own is pretty impressive, but her success is torn down by all her lies. While the lie about her age does not necessarily have a tangible impact on the other lies, it does set the precedent for what kind of person she is, making it an interesting addition to the show that is true to the real life story.

5 She Never Raised Money For Charity

Apple Cider Vinegar Correctly States That This Is What Allowed The Age To Report Her

As the Netflix series progresses, more attention is paid to Belle's claims of raising money for charity, especially after she meets Fiona and her son, who has brain cancer. Likewise, the show highlights how Belle had stated she was working with numerous other charities for various causes, but none of those charities ever received money from the influencer. While this aspect of the show seems very extreme and cruel on Belle's part, the lies being real makes them even more shocking.

When Belle was exposed as a fraud, a family whose young son had cancer did, in fact, come forward to say that they had no idea Belle had claimed to raise money for their son's treatment, and that they suspected she had befriended them to solidify her own claims of having cancer (via The Herald Sun). During her The Whole Pantry fame, Gibson claimed that she had donated $300,000 to charity, but only $7,000 of those donations could be verified. Additionally, as seen in Apple Cider Vinegar, some of that money was donated after she learned of the investigation.

4 Gibson's Story Raised Massive Questions About Fact Checking In Publishing

People Wondered How She Had Not Been Caught Before

In the later episodes of Apple Cider Vinegar, Gibson's cookbook publisher, Jules, can be seen rushing around to meetings with her investors and other executives at Penguin to try to salvage Belle's book. However, this does not work out, and The Whole Pantry cookbook is ultimately scrapped at the end of the series, as was the case in real life. One of the biggest issues presented during these meetings was Jules' bosses asking why no one bothered to fact-check Belle Gibson's cancer claims before agreeing to work with her, and this question was asked in real life as well.

Penguin, Gibson's publisher, was required to pay $30,000 for not fact-checking the claims in her book.

Following the reveal of Belle Gibson's scam, readers and other media outlets in Australia heavily questioned why none of the businesses that had worked with her, such as Penguin, Elle, Cosmopolitan, and Apple, had done a background check on her. A major criticism in this saga was that by giving Belle Gibson a bigger voice than she had already garnered through her social media profiles, these businesses had unknowingly contributed to spreading medical misinformation, with serious potential consequences for the health of those who listened to her.

3 Her Mother Really Did Give A Scathing Interview Against Her

Gibson's Mother Said She Was Embarrassed By Her Daughter

Belle Gibson interview in Apple Cider Vinegar

When Belle Gibson's web of lies and media empire began to come crashing down, her mother learned of everything that she had done and said about her past, and just as portrayed in Apple Cider Vinegar, she expressed her disgust over her daughter's actions. Gibson's mother, Natalie Dal-Bello, exposed that the majority of Belle's stories about her youth were lies. Where Belle Gibson claimed that she had taken care of her mother and brother from a young age, Dal-Bello stated that Belle had done very little housework and had a normal childhood.

Belle Gibson's mother stated that Belle's story was complete "rubbish" and that she was embarrassed by her daughter.

Though it is true that Gibson's mother has MS, Dal-Bello claimed that her health had not stopped her from taking care of Belle and her brother, who is not mentioned in the Netflix series (via news.com.au). Belle Gibson's mother stated that Belle's story was complete "rubbish" and that she was embarrassed by her daughter. As seen in Apple Cider Vinegar, this interview only raised more questions surrounding Belle and her false claims, and strengthened the divide between Gibson and her mother.

2 Belle Gibson Did Attend The Funeral Of Another Sick Influencer

Camilla Blake Was Inspired By A Real Person

While Milla Blake is not exactly real, her character is very closely based on the life of Jessica Ainscough, another Australian influencer who really did have cancer. Though Apple Cider Vinegar changed her name, the story of Blake and her real-life inspiration are largely the same, including her use of alternative medicine, the death of her mother, and her tragic death at the age of 29. The biggest change to the story is that the relationship between the two was reportedly not close or competitive at all, though Gibson did actually attend her funeral.

Milla's story is definitely the saddest one told through Apple Cider Vinegar because she truly did struggle with rare, invasive cancer and chose not to treat it with conventional medicine. She lived with cancer for several years, and Belle Gibson likely did interact with her online via her blog. Their interaction through Milla's friend Chanelle was created for the show, though, as was their feud. Reportedly, Belle really did cry loudly and draw attention to herself at Ainscough's funeral after being sent questions by the journalists (via The Sydney Morning Herald).

1 An Australian Court Did Find Gibson Guilty

Apple Cider Vinegar Cuts Off The Ending Of The Statement

The final minutes of Apple Cider Vinegar show Belle having an interview where she refuses to confirm or deny whether she really has cancer, and the series ends with text running across the screen stating that Belle Gibson was found guilty of something in 2017. However, before the text finishes and reveals what Gibson was actually found guilty of, Kaitlyn Dever appears onscreen as Belle and encourages viewers to "Google it". This is the perfect ending given the show's tone, and it still holds a hint of truth, just like the rest of the series.

The court could not rule out whether Gibson's mental state was such that she could distinguish between the truth and the story she had concocted and lived in for so long.

In March 2017, an Australian federal court found that Belle Gibson had no discernible reason to believe that she had cancer and had knowingly misled users of The Whole Pantry app as well as employees at both Penguin and Apple (via 9 news). However, the court could not rule out whether Gibson's mental state was such that she could distinguish between the truth and the story she had concocted and lived in for so long. While it seems that Gibson stays out of the spotlight now, Apple Cider Vinegar has renewed interest in the conwoman, and shed light on some truths in the truly bizarre saga.

Source: The Australian, The Guardian, The Age, The Herald Sun, news.com.au, The Sydney Morning Herald, 9 news