Belle Gibson, the shamed influencer who fabricated a brain tumor to promote her profitable health company, had a troubled upbringing, according to her family.
Andrew Dal-Bello, Belle Gibson’s stepfather, and Nick Gibson, her brother, are from Melbourne. In their first interview, they shed light on her troubled past, when she moved out of the house in her early teens to live with a “random man” due to her complicated connection with her mother, Natalie Dal-Bello.
After a long and arduous fight with multiple sclerosis, a debilitating disease that affects the brain and central nervous system, Belle’s mother, Natalie, finally succumbed to the disease in 2017.
Belle, now 32 years old, said that she had healed herself of a malignant brain tumor with the use of alternative medical treatments and an exercise regimen.
But in 2014, the Melbourne-based celebrity said that her illness had spread and reappeared, even though she had adopted a new lifestyle centered on health.
In 2015, her inherent dishonesty and forgery were revealed, bringing her lies to light.
A ‘clean eating’ regimen consisting of fruits and vegetables allegedly saved Belle’s life after doctors gave her only four months to live due to an incurable brain tumor.
Because of the message’s impact on health worldwide, she was able to get a lucrative book contract with Penguin (supposedly for £213,500 ($420,000 AUD) and have her groundbreaking app, The Whole Pantry, pushed by Apple.
The influencer’s tale started to fall apart in April 2015 when she confessed that she had lied.
Not only did the announcement shock many of her followers, but questions began to surface about the legitimacy of her claims to have contributed a portion of her book’s profits to different causes.
Fairfax Media conducted an inquiry and found that none of the organizations that Belle had mentioned had received any funding from her.
The influencer was finally forced to confess to lying in April 2015 when her tale started to fall apart.
Belle was found guilty of misleading and deceptive behavior two years after her admission and fined roughly £215,000 (AUD 410,000).
