What do you think?
Rate this book
The Woman Who Fooled The World: Belle Gibson’s Cancer Con, and the Darkness at the Heart of the Wellness Industry
Belle Gibson convinced the world she had healed herself of terminal brain cancer by eating a healthy diet. She built a global business based on her story. There was just one problem: she never had cancer in the first place.
In 2015, journalists uncovered the truth behind Gibson’s lies. This hero of the wellness world, with more than 200,000 followers, international book deals, and a best-selling mobile app, was a fraud. She had lied about having cancer--to her family and friends, to her business partners and publishers, and to the hundreds of thousands of people who were inspired by her, including real cancer survivors.
Written by the two journalists who uncovered the details of Gibson’s deception, The Woman Who Fooled the World tracks the 23-year-old's rise to fame and fall from grace. Told through interviews with the people who know her best, it explores the lure of alternative cancer treatments, exposes the darkness at the heart of the wellness and "clean eating" movements, and reveals just how easy it is to manipulate people on social media.
With the idea of clean eating now routinely debunked by dietary experts, and growing skepticism about the authenticity of what we read online, The Woman Who Fooled the World is a timely and important book that answers not just how, but why, Gibson was able to fool so many.
In 2015, journalists uncovered the truth behind Gibson’s lies. This hero of the wellness world, with more than 200,000 followers, international book deals, and a best-selling mobile app, was a fraud. She had lied about having cancer--to her family and friends, to her business partners and publishers, and to the hundreds of thousands of people who were inspired by her, including real cancer survivors.
Written by the two journalists who uncovered the details of Gibson’s deception, The Woman Who Fooled the World tracks the 23-year-old's rise to fame and fall from grace. Told through interviews with the people who know her best, it explores the lure of alternative cancer treatments, exposes the darkness at the heart of the wellness and "clean eating" movements, and reveals just how easy it is to manipulate people on social media.
With the idea of clean eating now routinely debunked by dietary experts, and growing skepticism about the authenticity of what we read online, The Woman Who Fooled the World is a timely and important book that answers not just how, but why, Gibson was able to fool so many.
324 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2017
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 196 reviews
September 16, 2023
Belle Gibson, a beautiful blonde 23-year-old woman from Melbourne, Australia. Just starting out in life after her schooling years, she was a young mum, having given birth at the age of 19. Mysterious pains, twitches, dizziness, lack of sleep, and headaches led her to a doctor for tests. The test results were devastating. Annabelle Natalie Gibson had brain cancer. The prognosis - best case scenario had her living a further four months.
Immediately she started a drastic course of chemotherapy, not to save her life but to prolong the time she had left with her son Oli. The sickening chemotherapy initially helped but soon all was sliding downhill and Belle gave up. Not on herself, not on life but on traditional medicine. She researched online for a better way and soon she started on a natural course to recovery.
Passing her four-month deadline and feeling fine, Belle began to blog on social media about the benefits of natural remedies, coffee colonics, juice diets, and a myriad of other cures that the doctors could not supply.
In a whirlwind 18 months Belle gained 200,000+ followers on Instagram, she toured the country with motivational speeches and gathered a large group of close friends who would do anything for her. She began a business based on an app that she helped develop called The Whole Pantry. This app was basically a history of her illness, her daily battles and then outlines of all of the natural remedies she found and used to fight the brain cancer.
Our friends at Penguin Books got so involved with Belle's story that they published a book named after the app. In the book Belle again describes her struggles, gives mention of those close to her, and an overview of her history since diagnosis. The book primarily is a cookbook of healthy foods and recipes to help cancer sufferers beat the disease.
When Apple first brought out their smartwatch there were to be a token number of apps pre-installed on it. At this stage, Belle and The Whole Pantry was internationally acclaimed and the app was chosen as one by Apple to install on its new device. Belle was over the moon, the more money she made the more she could hand out to the charities she supported via her business.
NOW THE FACTS!! Belle Gibson was and is a complete fraud, a liar, and someone with no remorse. Never was she diagnosed with cancer, and never did it spread to other parts of her body because simply, she never had cancer. The charities she supported never saw a cent of money from The Whole Pantry, the Doctor's she names don't exist, she read up on brain cancer and discussed it with other charlatan doctors, without degrees.
She brought in a large group of friends and lied to them about everything - none of them want anything to do with her anymore. She lied to both Penguin and Apple about her illness, taking money from both and then causing them to embarrassingly backflip later. But worst of all, the countless people who were sucked into her deceitful web. Not the embarrassment factor, we are talking about life or death. How many people became besotted with Belle and The Whole Pantry and gave up traditional cancer-fighting medicine to follow her lies? How many died or had less time with loved ones because of this woman?
If not disgusting enough when everything was revealed she couldn't even apologize. Instead, she invented more lies and tried to become a victim of a bad childhood and now, a media witch hunt. This woman is a disgrace!
The Woman Who Fooled the World is the story of Belle and her fraud. My words don't scratch the surface, there is so much more to learn here. I will plead with you to NOT feel sorry for Belle. Perhaps it is a mental health issue but regardless it is a horrible scam.
Immediately she started a drastic course of chemotherapy, not to save her life but to prolong the time she had left with her son Oli. The sickening chemotherapy initially helped but soon all was sliding downhill and Belle gave up. Not on herself, not on life but on traditional medicine. She researched online for a better way and soon she started on a natural course to recovery.
Passing her four-month deadline and feeling fine, Belle began to blog on social media about the benefits of natural remedies, coffee colonics, juice diets, and a myriad of other cures that the doctors could not supply.
In a whirlwind 18 months Belle gained 200,000+ followers on Instagram, she toured the country with motivational speeches and gathered a large group of close friends who would do anything for her. She began a business based on an app that she helped develop called The Whole Pantry. This app was basically a history of her illness, her daily battles and then outlines of all of the natural remedies she found and used to fight the brain cancer.
Our friends at Penguin Books got so involved with Belle's story that they published a book named after the app. In the book Belle again describes her struggles, gives mention of those close to her, and an overview of her history since diagnosis. The book primarily is a cookbook of healthy foods and recipes to help cancer sufferers beat the disease.
When Apple first brought out their smartwatch there were to be a token number of apps pre-installed on it. At this stage, Belle and The Whole Pantry was internationally acclaimed and the app was chosen as one by Apple to install on its new device. Belle was over the moon, the more money she made the more she could hand out to the charities she supported via her business.
NOW THE FACTS!! Belle Gibson was and is a complete fraud, a liar, and someone with no remorse. Never was she diagnosed with cancer, and never did it spread to other parts of her body because simply, she never had cancer. The charities she supported never saw a cent of money from The Whole Pantry, the Doctor's she names don't exist, she read up on brain cancer and discussed it with other charlatan doctors, without degrees.
She brought in a large group of friends and lied to them about everything - none of them want anything to do with her anymore. She lied to both Penguin and Apple about her illness, taking money from both and then causing them to embarrassingly backflip later. But worst of all, the countless people who were sucked into her deceitful web. Not the embarrassment factor, we are talking about life or death. How many people became besotted with Belle and The Whole Pantry and gave up traditional cancer-fighting medicine to follow her lies? How many died or had less time with loved ones because of this woman?
If not disgusting enough when everything was revealed she couldn't even apologize. Instead, she invented more lies and tried to become a victim of a bad childhood and now, a media witch hunt. This woman is a disgrace!
The Woman Who Fooled the World is the story of Belle and her fraud. My words don't scratch the surface, there is so much more to learn here. I will plead with you to NOT feel sorry for Belle. Perhaps it is a mental health issue but regardless it is a horrible scam.
December 8, 2017
What kind of person goes to the funeral of someone they barely know, hijacks the whole affair and makes a huge show of how grief-stricken they are?
What kind of person fakes forty minutes worth of seizures at their own son's birthday party?
What kind of person builds a wellness brand on claiming to have terminal brain cancer when they don't?
What kind of person holds fundraising events for the family of a child who actually has brain cancer, and doesn't even tell them about it, much less hand over the money?
Belle Gibson.
Belle Gibson, the thoroughly disgraced woo-peddling, compulsive liar behind Australia's Whole Pantry iPad/iPhone app and accompanying cookbook spent years on social media detailing her incredible, inspiring story of holding back an aggressive four-months-to-live brain cancer for five years simply by eating 'naturally'.
Of course, once her lies started to unravel in 2015, she tried (cack-handedly) to scrub all evidence of them from the internet but, helpfully, Donnelly and Toscano, the two journalists who worked so hard to expose her, have written this account - a staggering piece of long-form journalism - of her grubby deceit, the reality of brain cancer for people who actually have it, the doctors and dietitians who have to undo the nonsense and the sheer emptiness of a 'wellness' industry littered with frauds, charlatans and outright scumbags who, like Gibson deserve a long stint in jail but, like Gibson won't get one.
Understandably, many of Gibson's fellow-travellers and hangers-on, her enablers and her easy marks are reluctant to talk but still, Donnelly and Toscano found former business partners (like the poor sods who actually built the Whole Pantry app only for her to take credit for it), former friends who confronted Gibson about her lies, aggrieved former fans of hers and even her bizarre parents and her grandmother, to try and throw some light on who Gibson really is and why she did such appalling things.
It's a difficult task - given Gibson's long track record of lying about her health issues (non-existent heart operations for one) but they piece together a reasonable timeline of her rise from obscurity to Instagram fame to media vilification and back to obscurity again. Along the way, the story they tell is bitterly amusing, heartbreakingly sad (not for Gibson - she deserves no sympathy - but for those people profiled who actually have cancer) and rage-inducing.
Explaining how difficult it is for real scientists, doctors and dietitians to conduct rigorous experiments on the effect foods actually have on people due to the ethical red lines crossed by, say force-feeding humans an exceptionally high fat diet for years on end, Donnelly and Toscano note the rise of shiny, bright-eyed young women (and men) "the new wave of so-called wellness bloggers who ply their miracle cures online..." who step into that space of uncertainty and, in their pursuit of likes, fame, adulation and money, spread lies, distortions and untruths that, when believed by desperate people (such as those dying of cancer) con people into pursuing 'alternative' treatments that, in the end, do nothing but rob them and their families of weeks, months, even years of life.
Yes, this book, at times made me fucking furious.
Donnelly and Toscano look at the history of the wellness industry, how it's gone so wildly astray, and at other parasitical frauds (like Milan Brych and Hellfried Sartori) who've preyed on cancer patients, to ruinous, deadly effect. They also look at the slapdash way publishing giants Penguin went about 'checking' ("Penguin failed to check Gibson's age, diagnosis, prognosis, treatments, and fundraising activities...") on the claims Gibson was making in her cookbook and how high ranking Apple executives adopted and promoted Gibson to an almost creepy degree.
Neither company comes out of this story well but of course, the real villain is Gibson.
A monumental hypocrite (she was slyly shovelling in fast food as well as lying about how diagnosis), and a stunningly arrogant woman who seemed to think that a couple of media appearances featuring non-apologies, some ludicrous explanations for her original brain cancer 'diagnosis' and snivelling about her difficult relationship with truth/reality would make everything OK. Oh, and of course, dishonest enough, and immoral enough to pull off this scam in the first place.
I'll leave this review of an excellent, essential book with the words of Australian writer Julia Watson, quoted at length by Donnelly and Toscano:
"I can't forgive Belle Gibson. She would like us to see her as a victim - that a difficult childhood robbed her of her relationship with the truth, and indeed reality. I like to think of myself as a compassionate person, and I can feel a little bit for her there. Yep, she f*cked up all right - but not for a few days, a few weeks, even a few months. Nope. For years she raked in the cash through her wellness 'business', she raked in the cash by defrauding people and charities that didn't know she was collecting on their behalf, and they didn't see a cent."
Julia Watson, a mother of four children, died of bowel cancer in 2016.
Belle Gibson was convicted of fraud and fined A$410,000 in 2017.
What kind of person fakes forty minutes worth of seizures at their own son's birthday party?
What kind of person builds a wellness brand on claiming to have terminal brain cancer when they don't?
What kind of person holds fundraising events for the family of a child who actually has brain cancer, and doesn't even tell them about it, much less hand over the money?
Belle Gibson.
Belle Gibson, the thoroughly disgraced woo-peddling, compulsive liar behind Australia's Whole Pantry iPad/iPhone app and accompanying cookbook spent years on social media detailing her incredible, inspiring story of holding back an aggressive four-months-to-live brain cancer for five years simply by eating 'naturally'.
Of course, once her lies started to unravel in 2015, she tried (cack-handedly) to scrub all evidence of them from the internet but, helpfully, Donnelly and Toscano, the two journalists who worked so hard to expose her, have written this account - a staggering piece of long-form journalism - of her grubby deceit, the reality of brain cancer for people who actually have it, the doctors and dietitians who have to undo the nonsense and the sheer emptiness of a 'wellness' industry littered with frauds, charlatans and outright scumbags who, like Gibson deserve a long stint in jail but, like Gibson won't get one.
Understandably, many of Gibson's fellow-travellers and hangers-on, her enablers and her easy marks are reluctant to talk but still, Donnelly and Toscano found former business partners (like the poor sods who actually built the Whole Pantry app only for her to take credit for it), former friends who confronted Gibson about her lies, aggrieved former fans of hers and even her bizarre parents and her grandmother, to try and throw some light on who Gibson really is and why she did such appalling things.
It's a difficult task - given Gibson's long track record of lying about her health issues (non-existent heart operations for one) but they piece together a reasonable timeline of her rise from obscurity to Instagram fame to media vilification and back to obscurity again. Along the way, the story they tell is bitterly amusing, heartbreakingly sad (not for Gibson - she deserves no sympathy - but for those people profiled who actually have cancer) and rage-inducing.
Explaining how difficult it is for real scientists, doctors and dietitians to conduct rigorous experiments on the effect foods actually have on people due to the ethical red lines crossed by, say force-feeding humans an exceptionally high fat diet for years on end, Donnelly and Toscano note the rise of shiny, bright-eyed young women (and men) "the new wave of so-called wellness bloggers who ply their miracle cures online..." who step into that space of uncertainty and, in their pursuit of likes, fame, adulation and money, spread lies, distortions and untruths that, when believed by desperate people (such as those dying of cancer) con people into pursuing 'alternative' treatments that, in the end, do nothing but rob them and their families of weeks, months, even years of life.
Yes, this book, at times made me fucking furious.
Donnelly and Toscano look at the history of the wellness industry, how it's gone so wildly astray, and at other parasitical frauds (like Milan Brych and Hellfried Sartori) who've preyed on cancer patients, to ruinous, deadly effect. They also look at the slapdash way publishing giants Penguin went about 'checking' ("Penguin failed to check Gibson's age, diagnosis, prognosis, treatments, and fundraising activities...") on the claims Gibson was making in her cookbook and how high ranking Apple executives adopted and promoted Gibson to an almost creepy degree.
Neither company comes out of this story well but of course, the real villain is Gibson.
A monumental hypocrite (she was slyly shovelling in fast food as well as lying about how diagnosis), and a stunningly arrogant woman who seemed to think that a couple of media appearances featuring non-apologies, some ludicrous explanations for her original brain cancer 'diagnosis' and snivelling about her difficult relationship with truth/reality would make everything OK. Oh, and of course, dishonest enough, and immoral enough to pull off this scam in the first place.
I'll leave this review of an excellent, essential book with the words of Australian writer Julia Watson, quoted at length by Donnelly and Toscano:
"I can't forgive Belle Gibson. She would like us to see her as a victim - that a difficult childhood robbed her of her relationship with the truth, and indeed reality. I like to think of myself as a compassionate person, and I can feel a little bit for her there. Yep, she f*cked up all right - but not for a few days, a few weeks, even a few months. Nope. For years she raked in the cash through her wellness 'business', she raked in the cash by defrauding people and charities that didn't know she was collecting on their behalf, and they didn't see a cent."
Julia Watson, a mother of four children, died of bowel cancer in 2016.
Belle Gibson was convicted of fraud and fined A$410,000 in 2017.
November 27, 2017
‘The Woman Who Fooled The World: Belle Gibson's Cancer Con’ is an Australian non-fiction book by journalists Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano, who broke the story of Belle Gibson’s multilayered fraud back in 2015 for The Age newspaper.
I didn’t know who Belle Gibson was when her “cancer con” story broke a couple years ago. I don’t follow any wellness bloggers and I can’t cook – so I was entirely remote from her Instagram/App/Cookbook world. But when she was exposed to be a fraud on multiple counts – chief amongst them that she lied about having brain cancer, and donating her followers’ money to various charities – I, like many others, became fascinated by the story. I bought the Women’s Weekly edition featuring her explosive interview where she finally admitted that she didn’t have cancer. This was where I got a lot more background information about who Belle Gibson actually *was* and what she had been peddling. And my overwhelming thought was; how did anyone believe her in the first place?!
My disbelief about Belle (and the entire wellness world she had sprung up from) was best summarized by this piece by Richard Cooke for The Monthly when he wrote; “It is weird that this startlingly transparent load of horseshit was carried as far as it was…”
‘The Woman Who Fooled The World’ is an attempt by the two journalists who first broke the story to wade through all the horseshit – and what they’ve come up with is a deeply fascinating and infuriating examination of not just one woman’s deception, but a confluence of users and abusers who have a lot to answer for. They examine rising social media alongside misinformation and – yes – “fake news”. They dig deep but still find little information on the woman herself, who remains a bit of an enigma for the journalists throughout … what saves the book from being a frustrating half-take though, is their spreading the blame (/horseshit) around and laying it at the feet of an industry that has conflated “health” and “beauty”, the rise of Insta-celebrities as snake oil salesmen, and profit over common sense. They also lay a hefty load of blame at their own door – on a new landscape of journalism that’s more interested in getting clicks than checking facts, and being first instead of being right.
I owe thanks to Carly Findlay for raving about, and recommending this book. I was a little wary of reading something that was just about Belle Gibson – we have all been touched by cancer in some way, and I just didn’t think I had the strength to read 319-pages of the authors deconstructing her hurtful lies. But I trusted Carly’s enjoyment of the book, so gave it a go myself and I am so glad I did.
It is particularly pertinent and important that Donelly and Toscano link Belle Gibson’s deception to wider consumerism and industry failings. Like the billion-dollar Swisse Vitamins business which has been proven to be nothing but a long-con (yet they still have celebrity endorsement – Nicole Kidman!). There’s a subtle link between a rise of access to information, the spread of misinformation and a general distrust of science, doctors and “Big Pharma” as a result (in this I would have liked an entire chapter devoted to the anti-vaxx movement that I see being intricately linked to “wellnesss”). Belle Gibson thrived in this environment, and we let her.
The authors repeatedly point out that the likes of Belle, Gwyneth Paltrow, Lola Berry, Jordan Younger, and the late Jessica Ainscough all have several startlingly obvious features in common;
For the most part, this new breed of wellness gurus is white and female, young and attractive, engaging, and media-savvy. Some are yoga teachers, or personal trainers, or martial-arts instructors, but scant few have any qualifications that equip them to give health advice. What they do have is an Instagram account.
It is key that majority of the people the authors mention in the book are indeed young, female, thin, and moneyed. It takes money to live healthy. A lot of it. This is why socioeconomics and obesity are often intricately linked – it’s also how the likes of Belle Gibson and Jessica Ainscough were able to peddle “alternative treatments” – because they looked good doing it. It made the story that much sexier, and easier to sell. No matter how much it stunk.
Speaking of Jessica Ainscough – the “wellness warrior” who rejected medical cancer treatment in lieu of things like juice cleanses and coffee enemas and subsequently died at the age of 30 (after briefly trying a return to traditional medicine in her last months, to no avail) – is almost a secondary story in ‘The Woman Who Fooled the World’. Her story and Belle’s are similar – save for the fact that Ainscough really did have cancer – but both women peddled alternative, cancer-curing treatments to hundreds of thousands of followers (some themselves in vulnerable positions due to their own health) that were nothing more than dangerous quackery. The authors are almost careful not to be too critical of Ainscough though – since her story had a truly tragic ending, that included her mother dying of cancer two years before she did, and all because upon diagnosis she likewise refused medical treatment and chose her daughter’s holistic path. A great commentary piece by the late Sam de Brito is highlighted in the book though, and well worth a read.
‘The Woman Who Fooled the World’ at times reads like a long gossip column – particularly for the Melbourne socialite and pseudo-science set who Gibson surrounded herself with. There’s also an extensive look at the roles Penguin and Apple played in legitimizing Belle’s fame and unscrupulously perpetuating her holistic lies. In this – Apple has the most to answer for (though they never will); they were very quick to capitalize on Belle’s rise, common-sense be damned. To an extent, Apple vouched for Belle so that Penguin felt more secure in signing her … but to that I say; you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make them drink.
The last half of the book gets pretty wild – when Belle’s lies get international attention and her world unravels … and her mother steps into the picture. Here is offered a brief but important insight into the sort of childhood Belle probably grew up with – and the one part of her convoluted narrative that might ring true. The authors themselves talk to Belle’s mother, and they get impressions from two more journalists who interviewed her and her husband (Belle’s step-father). This family unit is like a cross between ‘Struggle Street’ and ‘Shameless’, and suddenly it’s easy to see where Belle learnt to tell lies with such ease …
And finally, Donnelly and Toscano examine the media’s role in letting Belle’s horseshit waft. They unflinchingly look at a new newsroom culture where there’s half the people doing twice the work with paper-thin deadlines. But it’s no excuse – and the number of media outlets who happily let the likes of Belle Gibson and Jessica Ainscough peddle their snake-oil sales is atrocious and part of the toxic culture that let them thrive.
Overwhelming I was reminded of Harry Houdini, while reading this book. I’m a bit fascinated by the magician and stunt-performer, particularly his later-life devotion to debunking spiritualists. In 1913 Houdini’s beloved mother died, then throughout the 1920’s a post-WWI rise of spiritualism sprung up around grieving families desperate to reunite with their loved ones. Psychics and mediums suddenly become a booming business around the world. Houdini was just as desperate as so many others to communicate with his departed loved one, and so attended séances and meeting with psychics. But here he was –the world’s greatest illusionist and stunt-performer and he easily saw through the deception – and then devoted the latter half of his life to proving these people to be scam-artists, preying on the desperate and grieving. That’s what Donelly and Toscano (a couple of modern-day Houdini's!) are trying to do with ‘The Woman Who Fooled the World’ – highlighting the noxious false hope of wellness bloggers, when they peddle alternative medicine that’s not complimentary to traditional treatments, but replacing it. Much like spiritualism – the deception comes at the intersection of death and hope, and that’s why people are so vulnerable.
It’s a fascinating book and I do highly-recommend reading it not just for the way Belle Gibson’s infuriating story unfolds, but for the bigger industry discussion around “health and beauty” and distribution of information.
I didn’t know who Belle Gibson was when her “cancer con” story broke a couple years ago. I don’t follow any wellness bloggers and I can’t cook – so I was entirely remote from her Instagram/App/Cookbook world. But when she was exposed to be a fraud on multiple counts – chief amongst them that she lied about having brain cancer, and donating her followers’ money to various charities – I, like many others, became fascinated by the story. I bought the Women’s Weekly edition featuring her explosive interview where she finally admitted that she didn’t have cancer. This was where I got a lot more background information about who Belle Gibson actually *was* and what she had been peddling. And my overwhelming thought was; how did anyone believe her in the first place?!
My disbelief about Belle (and the entire wellness world she had sprung up from) was best summarized by this piece by Richard Cooke for The Monthly when he wrote; “It is weird that this startlingly transparent load of horseshit was carried as far as it was…”
‘The Woman Who Fooled The World’ is an attempt by the two journalists who first broke the story to wade through all the horseshit – and what they’ve come up with is a deeply fascinating and infuriating examination of not just one woman’s deception, but a confluence of users and abusers who have a lot to answer for. They examine rising social media alongside misinformation and – yes – “fake news”. They dig deep but still find little information on the woman herself, who remains a bit of an enigma for the journalists throughout … what saves the book from being a frustrating half-take though, is their spreading the blame (/horseshit) around and laying it at the feet of an industry that has conflated “health” and “beauty”, the rise of Insta-celebrities as snake oil salesmen, and profit over common sense. They also lay a hefty load of blame at their own door – on a new landscape of journalism that’s more interested in getting clicks than checking facts, and being first instead of being right.
I owe thanks to Carly Findlay for raving about, and recommending this book. I was a little wary of reading something that was just about Belle Gibson – we have all been touched by cancer in some way, and I just didn’t think I had the strength to read 319-pages of the authors deconstructing her hurtful lies. But I trusted Carly’s enjoyment of the book, so gave it a go myself and I am so glad I did.
It is particularly pertinent and important that Donelly and Toscano link Belle Gibson’s deception to wider consumerism and industry failings. Like the billion-dollar Swisse Vitamins business which has been proven to be nothing but a long-con (yet they still have celebrity endorsement – Nicole Kidman!). There’s a subtle link between a rise of access to information, the spread of misinformation and a general distrust of science, doctors and “Big Pharma” as a result (in this I would have liked an entire chapter devoted to the anti-vaxx movement that I see being intricately linked to “wellnesss”). Belle Gibson thrived in this environment, and we let her.
The authors repeatedly point out that the likes of Belle, Gwyneth Paltrow, Lola Berry, Jordan Younger, and the late Jessica Ainscough all have several startlingly obvious features in common;
For the most part, this new breed of wellness gurus is white and female, young and attractive, engaging, and media-savvy. Some are yoga teachers, or personal trainers, or martial-arts instructors, but scant few have any qualifications that equip them to give health advice. What they do have is an Instagram account.
It is key that majority of the people the authors mention in the book are indeed young, female, thin, and moneyed. It takes money to live healthy. A lot of it. This is why socioeconomics and obesity are often intricately linked – it’s also how the likes of Belle Gibson and Jessica Ainscough were able to peddle “alternative treatments” – because they looked good doing it. It made the story that much sexier, and easier to sell. No matter how much it stunk.
Speaking of Jessica Ainscough – the “wellness warrior” who rejected medical cancer treatment in lieu of things like juice cleanses and coffee enemas and subsequently died at the age of 30 (after briefly trying a return to traditional medicine in her last months, to no avail) – is almost a secondary story in ‘The Woman Who Fooled the World’. Her story and Belle’s are similar – save for the fact that Ainscough really did have cancer – but both women peddled alternative, cancer-curing treatments to hundreds of thousands of followers (some themselves in vulnerable positions due to their own health) that were nothing more than dangerous quackery. The authors are almost careful not to be too critical of Ainscough though – since her story had a truly tragic ending, that included her mother dying of cancer two years before she did, and all because upon diagnosis she likewise refused medical treatment and chose her daughter’s holistic path. A great commentary piece by the late Sam de Brito is highlighted in the book though, and well worth a read.
‘The Woman Who Fooled the World’ at times reads like a long gossip column – particularly for the Melbourne socialite and pseudo-science set who Gibson surrounded herself with. There’s also an extensive look at the roles Penguin and Apple played in legitimizing Belle’s fame and unscrupulously perpetuating her holistic lies. In this – Apple has the most to answer for (though they never will); they were very quick to capitalize on Belle’s rise, common-sense be damned. To an extent, Apple vouched for Belle so that Penguin felt more secure in signing her … but to that I say; you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make them drink.
The last half of the book gets pretty wild – when Belle’s lies get international attention and her world unravels … and her mother steps into the picture. Here is offered a brief but important insight into the sort of childhood Belle probably grew up with – and the one part of her convoluted narrative that might ring true. The authors themselves talk to Belle’s mother, and they get impressions from two more journalists who interviewed her and her husband (Belle’s step-father). This family unit is like a cross between ‘Struggle Street’ and ‘Shameless’, and suddenly it’s easy to see where Belle learnt to tell lies with such ease …
And finally, Donnelly and Toscano examine the media’s role in letting Belle’s horseshit waft. They unflinchingly look at a new newsroom culture where there’s half the people doing twice the work with paper-thin deadlines. But it’s no excuse – and the number of media outlets who happily let the likes of Belle Gibson and Jessica Ainscough peddle their snake-oil sales is atrocious and part of the toxic culture that let them thrive.
Overwhelming I was reminded of Harry Houdini, while reading this book. I’m a bit fascinated by the magician and stunt-performer, particularly his later-life devotion to debunking spiritualists. In 1913 Houdini’s beloved mother died, then throughout the 1920’s a post-WWI rise of spiritualism sprung up around grieving families desperate to reunite with their loved ones. Psychics and mediums suddenly become a booming business around the world. Houdini was just as desperate as so many others to communicate with his departed loved one, and so attended séances and meeting with psychics. But here he was –the world’s greatest illusionist and stunt-performer and he easily saw through the deception – and then devoted the latter half of his life to proving these people to be scam-artists, preying on the desperate and grieving. That’s what Donelly and Toscano (a couple of modern-day Houdini's!) are trying to do with ‘The Woman Who Fooled the World’ – highlighting the noxious false hope of wellness bloggers, when they peddle alternative medicine that’s not complimentary to traditional treatments, but replacing it. Much like spiritualism – the deception comes at the intersection of death and hope, and that’s why people are so vulnerable.
It’s a fascinating book and I do highly-recommend reading it not just for the way Belle Gibson’s infuriating story unfolds, but for the bigger industry discussion around “health and beauty” and distribution of information.
November 13, 2017
Absorbing insight into Belle Gibson & the ‘wellness’ industry. The authors are SCATHING in their assessment of her & all the knob jockeys she surrounded herself with *cough* Lola Berry *cough* Frank Body* etc. I came away from reading the book not so angry at Gibson (she’s clearly a fruit loop) but more so disgusted at the people who were complicit in her rise, particularly her relationships with Penguin books & Apple and their complete lack of checks and balances. The sickly sweet correspondence between Gibson and Penguin books was quite hard to swallow too.
September 22, 2023
I had recently listened to the 'Scamanda' podcast about the American, Amanda Riley, who faked cancer and scammed friends, family and followers out of money and gifts. Around the same time that she was perpetrating this fraud, Belle Gibson in Australia was doing the exact same thing, except she took it another level, roping in Apple with her smartphone app and Penguin Publishing with her cookbook concept.
Beau Donelly does a great job in this tell-all. He breaks down Belle's journey from delusional & deceptive teenager to manipulative and criminal adult. At the same time he exposes the culture of rampant misinformation that pervades the wellness industry and the role that social media has in perpetuating this kind of fraud.
People, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is!!!
Well worth a listen. The narrator was great.
Beau Donelly does a great job in this tell-all. He breaks down Belle's journey from delusional & deceptive teenager to manipulative and criminal adult. At the same time he exposes the culture of rampant misinformation that pervades the wellness industry and the role that social media has in perpetuating this kind of fraud.
People, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is!!!
Well worth a listen. The narrator was great.
January 31, 2023
3.5*
Belle Gibson, jauna vientuļā māte no Austrālijas, soctīklos paziņo briesmīgu vēsti, viņai konstatēts ļaundabīgs smadzeņu audzējs, ārsti paredz, ka viņai atlicis dzīvot mazāk par 4mēn. Tomēr notiek brīnums, Belle atsakās no tradicionālās medicīnas un sāk ārstēt slimību ar Gersona terapiju, dabas produktiem utt. Un tavu brīnumu, viņai izdodas slimību apturēt. Par savu pieredzi viņa stāsta soctīklos, veido aplikāciju, izdod grāmatu. Viņa kļūst par wellness slavenību. Tomēr ar laiku cilvēki kļūst aizdomīgi, un ne bez iemesla...
Šis ir viens no pirmajiem pētījumiem par visu Gibsones afēru, tādēļ iztrūkst daudzu faktu, kas nāca gaismā vēlāk, turklāt sajūta, ka viss rakstīts lielā steigā. Daudz random info, kam nav sakara ar lietu.
Belle Gibson, jauna vientuļā māte no Austrālijas, soctīklos paziņo briesmīgu vēsti, viņai konstatēts ļaundabīgs smadzeņu audzējs, ārsti paredz, ka viņai atlicis dzīvot mazāk par 4mēn. Tomēr notiek brīnums, Belle atsakās no tradicionālās medicīnas un sāk ārstēt slimību ar Gersona terapiju, dabas produktiem utt. Un tavu brīnumu, viņai izdodas slimību apturēt. Par savu pieredzi viņa stāsta soctīklos, veido aplikāciju, izdod grāmatu. Viņa kļūst par wellness slavenību. Tomēr ar laiku cilvēki kļūst aizdomīgi, un ne bez iemesla...
Šis ir viens no pirmajiem pētījumiem par visu Gibsones afēru, tādēļ iztrūkst daudzu faktu, kas nāca gaismā vēlāk, turklāt sajūta, ka viss rakstīts lielā steigā. Daudz random info, kam nav sakara ar lietu.
August 7, 2021
Lordy lordy, this book was savage.
As it should be, since Belle [Expletive] [Expletive] [Expletive] Gibson and others like her are sabotaging peoples' health and safety with their "wellness" fantasies- especially when they KNOW it's a fantasy and promote it anyway, because I guess screw the innocent people who believe them in a time of stress and fear and end up screwing themselves out of an effective cancer treatment.
I've seen this type on the internet before, the "wellness warriors" who talk out of their asses about things they aren't even CLOSE to being qualified to talk about, acting high-and-mighty about their enlightened status and preaching to the ignorant masses about cancer and health and I need to stop before I punch my keyboard, I goddamn hate these sanctimonious asshats and the snake-oil they peddle so badly.
I deeply appreciate this book going the extra mile and not JUST calling out Gibson, but also the concepts she and others like her endorse, like the diluted concept of "wellness" and "superfoods" that don't exist; I also love how they name-dropped popular internet celebrities like the Food Babe (and Gwenyth Paltrow, because jfc GOOP is a nightmare of ridiculous crap) who talk about health and dietary needs when they have no business giving out advice at all. ALSO love how they talked about longterm randomized studies vs. observational ones, and how that influences sensationalized headlines about meat and sugar and fats and other foods we're told will LITERALLY POISON US (when ultimately the research is sketchy at best and 'everything in moderation' is the best policy).
Ugh. Such a good book.
HIGHLY recommend for anyone who enjoyed The Woman Who Wasn't There. Similar theme, both excellent books.
----
01/02/2020
Ah, just as beautiful and brutal as it was the first time. Love it.
Also, a note on the Public Shaming chapter: I'd argue that the primary difference between the examples listed (the woman who made the AIDS joke, the guy who faked the Bob Dylan quotes, the moron that flipped the bird at that sign) is that those were either A) stupid things said/done in the moment, examples of things one ought not to say in mixed company (i.e. the internet), or B) a lie that was stupid and silly, whose consequences were not far-reaching.
There's (...ideally, though I can't say that places like Tumblr and Twitter operate on nuance) a difference between getting called out on the internet ("Hey, making up fake quotes and attributing them to Bob Dylan is lying, and lying is wrong") and being publicly shamed. The internet and most websites on it are public forums, and these forums invite criticism; it's a double-edged sword, but you do have to think carefully before you type, just as you would when you speak.
This, of course, is nowhere in the realm of relative to Belle Gibson, who is a lying piece of trash who promoted pseudoscience that could literally kill cancer sufferers who buy into her bullshit instead of conventional therapies. It's not exaggerating to say that she used her influence to promote pseudoscience that literally endangers the lives of vulnerable people who are begging for something other than chemo or radiation. She took good-hearted donations and spent the money herself. She lied, continues to lie, and has shown zero remorse for anyone she's hurt.
So, frankly, she deserves to be shamed for it.
And if that sounds cold and callous, then I don't much care: It comes from having buried three extended family members from cancer over the course of a year- an aunt from stomach cancer, an uncle from prostate cancer, and another uncle- oh yeah- from brain cancer.
Fuck Belle Gibson. Fuck her.
As it should be, since Belle [Expletive] [Expletive] [Expletive] Gibson and others like her are sabotaging peoples' health and safety with their "wellness" fantasies- especially when they KNOW it's a fantasy and promote it anyway, because I guess screw the innocent people who believe them in a time of stress and fear and end up screwing themselves out of an effective cancer treatment.
I've seen this type on the internet before, the "wellness warriors" who talk out of their asses about things they aren't even CLOSE to being qualified to talk about, acting high-and-mighty about their enlightened status and preaching to the ignorant masses about cancer and health and I need to stop before I punch my keyboard, I goddamn hate these sanctimonious asshats and the snake-oil they peddle so badly.
I deeply appreciate this book going the extra mile and not JUST calling out Gibson, but also the concepts she and others like her endorse, like the diluted concept of "wellness" and "superfoods" that don't exist; I also love how they name-dropped popular internet celebrities like the Food Babe (and Gwenyth Paltrow, because jfc GOOP is a nightmare of ridiculous crap) who talk about health and dietary needs when they have no business giving out advice at all. ALSO love how they talked about longterm randomized studies vs. observational ones, and how that influences sensationalized headlines about meat and sugar and fats and other foods we're told will LITERALLY POISON US (when ultimately the research is sketchy at best and 'everything in moderation' is the best policy).
Ugh. Such a good book.
HIGHLY recommend for anyone who enjoyed The Woman Who Wasn't There. Similar theme, both excellent books.
----
01/02/2020
Ah, just as beautiful and brutal as it was the first time. Love it.
Also, a note on the Public Shaming chapter: I'd argue that the primary difference between the examples listed (the woman who made the AIDS joke, the guy who faked the Bob Dylan quotes, the moron that flipped the bird at that sign) is that those were either A) stupid things said/done in the moment, examples of things one ought not to say in mixed company (i.e. the internet), or B) a lie that was stupid and silly, whose consequences were not far-reaching.
There's (...ideally, though I can't say that places like Tumblr and Twitter operate on nuance) a difference between getting called out on the internet ("Hey, making up fake quotes and attributing them to Bob Dylan is lying, and lying is wrong") and being publicly shamed. The internet and most websites on it are public forums, and these forums invite criticism; it's a double-edged sword, but you do have to think carefully before you type, just as you would when you speak.
This, of course, is nowhere in the realm of relative to Belle Gibson, who is a lying piece of trash who promoted pseudoscience that could literally kill cancer sufferers who buy into her bullshit instead of conventional therapies. It's not exaggerating to say that she used her influence to promote pseudoscience that literally endangers the lives of vulnerable people who are begging for something other than chemo or radiation. She took good-hearted donations and spent the money herself. She lied, continues to lie, and has shown zero remorse for anyone she's hurt.
So, frankly, she deserves to be shamed for it.
And if that sounds cold and callous, then I don't much care: It comes from having buried three extended family members from cancer over the course of a year- an aunt from stomach cancer, an uncle from prostate cancer, and another uncle- oh yeah- from brain cancer.
Fuck Belle Gibson. Fuck her.
April 11, 2020
Other reviewers said everything there is to it, I'll just add this book delivers lot more than facts about the main "character", which is kind of a misnomer because she doesn't have one.
It covers range of topics related to main events, from why people lie, why would they lie in these particular circumstances, the cancer "cure" industry, social media madness and general lack of critical awareness, publishing industry, need to believe in possibility of assuming control where you have none, and so on.
It covers range of topics related to main events, from why people lie, why would they lie in these particular circumstances, the cancer "cure" industry, social media madness and general lack of critical awareness, publishing industry, need to believe in possibility of assuming control where you have none, and so on.
March 3, 2018
My partner was loaned this book, and when I first saw it I thought “oh I don’t care about that celebrity stuff”, but then I was lying on the couch and it was the only book within reach... and I was hooked!
It’s about Belle Gibson, but it’s much more than that. It’s a case study in excellent investigative journalism, an exploration of the “wellness” industry and a documentation of the rise of one of Australia’s first social media stars.
The book is so well written, and so intriguing. It broadly follows a linear narrative but zooming in on different angles of this unusual story. Highly recommended and a product of its time. It will date quickly so read it now!
It’s about Belle Gibson, but it’s much more than that. It’s a case study in excellent investigative journalism, an exploration of the “wellness” industry and a documentation of the rise of one of Australia’s first social media stars.
The book is so well written, and so intriguing. It broadly follows a linear narrative but zooming in on different angles of this unusual story. Highly recommended and a product of its time. It will date quickly so read it now!
December 9, 2017
Equal parts disturbing and compelling. I'm not much for any movement that interferes with my relationship with chocolate, so the first I heard of Belle Gibson was when she was outed as a charlatan. The Woman Who Fooled the World asks two key questions: why she lied and how she got away with it for so long, and I think what makes it such a fascinating read is that the answers to both questions are more complex than they first appear and reach far beyond Gibson herself.
January 8, 2018
I’m glad this book was written, a lot of people needed closure on the elusive Gibson saga. A mighty easy read... too easy, in fact. There were a few grammatical errors that irritated me and the writing style wasn’t great. Nevertheless, it was an absorbing story. I can only imagine how incredible it would have been from Helen Garners perspective (one can dream).
December 2, 2022
After yesterday’s review of how social media and influencing could harm someone, I thought it would be interesting to review another book on influencers; this time looking at how influencing can harm others. This book is about Belle Gibson, the wellness influencer who was found to have faked a cancer diagnosis (meaning her story of how she cured herself of cancer was, of course, bullshit).
The Woman Who Fooled the World is the story of Belle, from her meteoric rise (and partnerships with brands as big as Apple) to her inevitable downfall when people realised her story was full of holes. In terms of concept, this book really reminded me of Bad Blood, which chronicled the rise and fall of Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos, the company she founded. However, while Bad Blood was nail-biting and tense, The Woman Who Fooled the World had a much calmer tone and pacing. There were some heart-wrenching sections, especially when we get to hear from people who are actually battling cancer and see how different it is from the picture Belle portrayed, but overall, the tone is more detached and journalistic.
One chapter early on that I liked was on the origins of wellness, and how it has morphed from a concept on taking care of yourself health-wise to something much less scientific. This quote from the chapter does a good job explaining both the appeal and danger of wellness:
Personally, I wish the authors dwelled a bit more on the social media spect of things. It feels as though everything just fell into place for Belle and she quickly made connections with Apple that helped push her, but I wonder how the wellness community in general viewed her. We have hints of things being off from the start, but given that there are blogs and communities dedicated to investigating illnesses (see how the Freckled Fox’s first husband was ripped apart for faking cancer when he actually had it), I feel like things might not be as smooth as the book portrays. It may be that the mainstream media expose was key in turning things around, but I feel like there must be discontent brewing and being discussed online for online sentiment to change overnight.
Overall, this was a fascinating book. Given how dangerous Belle’s influence could be on people who were actually diagnosed with cancer, it feels like her 18-month reign as the Wellness Queen was far too long. It really does look like social media can have harmful effects not just on the influencers themselves (though Belle seemed to absolutely love it), but also on the people consuming the content that is being created. And perhaps more importantly, if influencers can bring about so much harm, why are we so fascinated with them?
If anyone has any recommendations for books that explore this topic further, I’d be very interested in reading it!
This review was first posted at Eustea Reads
The Woman Who Fooled the World is the story of Belle, from her meteoric rise (and partnerships with brands as big as Apple) to her inevitable downfall when people realised her story was full of holes. In terms of concept, this book really reminded me of Bad Blood, which chronicled the rise and fall of Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos, the company she founded. However, while Bad Blood was nail-biting and tense, The Woman Who Fooled the World had a much calmer tone and pacing. There were some heart-wrenching sections, especially when we get to hear from people who are actually battling cancer and see how different it is from the picture Belle portrayed, but overall, the tone is more detached and journalistic.
One chapter early on that I liked was on the origins of wellness, and how it has morphed from a concept on taking care of yourself health-wise to something much less scientific. This quote from the chapter does a good job explaining both the appeal and danger of wellness:
“In our work-obsessed lives, where smartphones and technology ensure we are forever plugged in, wellness encourages to reflect, to reconnect with ourselves and take time to focus on our physical and mental wellbeing. Sounds good, right? But in typical buzzword fashion, Kirkland says, wellness has come to mean ‘different things to different stakeholders.’ And some of those meanings are more unsettling than others.”
Personally, I wish the authors dwelled a bit more on the social media spect of things. It feels as though everything just fell into place for Belle and she quickly made connections with Apple that helped push her, but I wonder how the wellness community in general viewed her. We have hints of things being off from the start, but given that there are blogs and communities dedicated to investigating illnesses (see how the Freckled Fox’s first husband was ripped apart for faking cancer when he actually had it), I feel like things might not be as smooth as the book portrays. It may be that the mainstream media expose was key in turning things around, but I feel like there must be discontent brewing and being discussed online for online sentiment to change overnight.
Overall, this was a fascinating book. Given how dangerous Belle’s influence could be on people who were actually diagnosed with cancer, it feels like her 18-month reign as the Wellness Queen was far too long. It really does look like social media can have harmful effects not just on the influencers themselves (though Belle seemed to absolutely love it), but also on the people consuming the content that is being created. And perhaps more importantly, if influencers can bring about so much harm, why are we so fascinated with them?
If anyone has any recommendations for books that explore this topic further, I’d be very interested in reading it!
This review was first posted at Eustea Reads
September 27, 2022
Super good overview of this woman and her scam situation. Who lies about having CANCER for money?! I’d recommend it, but I don’t want my friends to be this angry in their spare time.
May 11, 2019
True stories like this remind me how easy it is to fall for fake news, and get an entire crowd to believe pure lies.
Read
July 15, 2019The Woman Who Fooled the World isn’t just a detonating exposé, but a forensically researched, compulsively readable and frequently staggering behind-the-scenes account of an unravelling on an operative scale. It’ll also restore your faith in journalism’s ability to uncover the truth and expose it to light.
Benjamin Law, author of Gaysia and The Family Law
Meticulously researched and elegantly composed, The Woman Who Fooled The World is a journalistic detective story for the smart-phone age. Donelly and Toscano not only chart con artist Belle Gibson's rise to global acclaim and her crashing fall, they explore and explain modern society's willingness to believe in anyone, or anything, that offers hope of beating what is perhaps our greatest collective fear: cancer. For me, the book reaches its highest point when we hear from genuine cancer sufferers who believed in Gibson. Their honesty about their fears and uncertain futures counter balances the bullshit of Gibson and her profit-minded enablers. Donelly and Toscano give a master class in old-fashioned investigative journalism and a reminder of its potency and importance.
Richard Baker, Investigative Journalist, The Age
It gives me great pleasure that this story has been told in such a compelling and readable way, as this surely means that it will reach the wide audience it deserves to. Not only does The Woman Who Fooled the World detail the sordid story of a young woman lying her way to fame and fortune, it also savagely exposes the wellness industry that enabled her rise. Although Belle Gibson has now been exposed, this brilliant book reveals how many others were complicit and culpable. I hope they are all thoroughly ashamed, and that this book serves as a powerful reminder, helping to ensure that this sort of deception is never allowed to happen again.
Anthony Warner, The Angry Chef
The Woman Who Fooled the World is a balanced and authoritative account of Gibson's career … essential reading for anyone seeking an understanding of how so many people could have fallen for her pernicious lies.
Simon Caterson, Irish Independent
The book’s main lesson is how easy it is, in this age of social-media-driven “fake news”, to dupe the public. It’s also an excoriating attack on the charlatanism of “wellness warriors”.
The Mail on Sunday
The Woman Who Fooled the World bracingly retells a memorable chapter in the history of human folly.
Sunday Business Post
A salutary tale for our social media times.
The Sunday Times
Couldn't recommend it more. It not only forensically dissects the mind and actions of this modern fraud but cuts to the core of the growing unhealthy abuse of lifestyle and wellness by modern media and social media.
Dr Robert O’Connor, Head of Research at the Irish Cancer Society
Where The Woman Who Fooled The World really excels is in a nuanced depiction of a woman more commonly represented in one-note terminology as an evil liar and a fraud.
Broadly
The Woman Who Fooled the World is a fascinating character study that will appeal to true-crime fans.
Booklist
Thoroughly researched, well written, entirely engrossing journalistic account of a badly executed fraud that took advantage of incredibly vulnerable people in a lot of pain, physically and mentally, and how it all came crumbling down, with plenty of relevant and fascinating segues into history and the cults/culture of healing.
Rennie Sweeney
This fascinating and thoroughly reported tale will have readers casting a gimlet eye on both the wellness industry and social media.
Publishers Weekly
Benjamin Law, author of Gaysia and The Family Law
Meticulously researched and elegantly composed, The Woman Who Fooled The World is a journalistic detective story for the smart-phone age. Donelly and Toscano not only chart con artist Belle Gibson's rise to global acclaim and her crashing fall, they explore and explain modern society's willingness to believe in anyone, or anything, that offers hope of beating what is perhaps our greatest collective fear: cancer. For me, the book reaches its highest point when we hear from genuine cancer sufferers who believed in Gibson. Their honesty about their fears and uncertain futures counter balances the bullshit of Gibson and her profit-minded enablers. Donelly and Toscano give a master class in old-fashioned investigative journalism and a reminder of its potency and importance.
Richard Baker, Investigative Journalist, The Age
It gives me great pleasure that this story has been told in such a compelling and readable way, as this surely means that it will reach the wide audience it deserves to. Not only does The Woman Who Fooled the World detail the sordid story of a young woman lying her way to fame and fortune, it also savagely exposes the wellness industry that enabled her rise. Although Belle Gibson has now been exposed, this brilliant book reveals how many others were complicit and culpable. I hope they are all thoroughly ashamed, and that this book serves as a powerful reminder, helping to ensure that this sort of deception is never allowed to happen again.
Anthony Warner, The Angry Chef
The Woman Who Fooled the World is a balanced and authoritative account of Gibson's career … essential reading for anyone seeking an understanding of how so many people could have fallen for her pernicious lies.
Simon Caterson, Irish Independent
The book’s main lesson is how easy it is, in this age of social-media-driven “fake news”, to dupe the public. It’s also an excoriating attack on the charlatanism of “wellness warriors”.
The Mail on Sunday
The Woman Who Fooled the World bracingly retells a memorable chapter in the history of human folly.
Sunday Business Post
A salutary tale for our social media times.
The Sunday Times
Couldn't recommend it more. It not only forensically dissects the mind and actions of this modern fraud but cuts to the core of the growing unhealthy abuse of lifestyle and wellness by modern media and social media.
Dr Robert O’Connor, Head of Research at the Irish Cancer Society
Where The Woman Who Fooled The World really excels is in a nuanced depiction of a woman more commonly represented in one-note terminology as an evil liar and a fraud.
Broadly
The Woman Who Fooled the World is a fascinating character study that will appeal to true-crime fans.
Booklist
Thoroughly researched, well written, entirely engrossing journalistic account of a badly executed fraud that took advantage of incredibly vulnerable people in a lot of pain, physically and mentally, and how it all came crumbling down, with plenty of relevant and fascinating segues into history and the cults/culture of healing.
Rennie Sweeney
This fascinating and thoroughly reported tale will have readers casting a gimlet eye on both the wellness industry and social media.
Publishers Weekly
February 20, 2022
SCAM is the theme of my life right now!? In the last 2 weeks I’ve read this as well as watched Inventing Anna and Tinder Swindler so yeah…. Don’t try and con me 😅. But seriously it was quite weird to watch those 2 Netflix shows (both excellent!) while reading this and seeing the current threads of people who scam like this. Troubled childhoods and a desire to make it big, be seen, be valued, live the rich and famous life, be ‘LOVED’. So sad.
Of the three this is the saddest of them all because by Belle falsely claiming to have terminal cancer and healing herself naturally, she ‘inspired’ others to stop conventional treatment to get the same results and yes I believe this means there is huge culpability there. And if you have lost someone to terminal cancer and you have experienced the pain and suffering, vulnerability, confiusoon, overwhelm and desperation… it’s even more outrageous and heartbreaking. I definitely cried in this book as the ramifications of her long con played out.
This book is written by the journos who broke the story of Belle’s deception. It is GREAT to read the inner workings of true investigative journalism and the story here is bigger than Belle… it’s about insatiable media who bite for the story but care not for the facts. It’s about the rise of social media and the stories that sell there. It’s about the wellness industry and it’s benefits and perils. I read this as someone who absolutely supports and benefits and believes in many ‘alternate’ health approaches. I can be pretty crunchy 🤣. But also sees how murky those waters can get without regulation or just a drop of common sense. A lot of thoughts about this book!!! I think it is an excellent and highly recommended read, just to check yourself as well as the world we are in. Eyes opened. Compelling! Great read and important too
Of the three this is the saddest of them all because by Belle falsely claiming to have terminal cancer and healing herself naturally, she ‘inspired’ others to stop conventional treatment to get the same results and yes I believe this means there is huge culpability there. And if you have lost someone to terminal cancer and you have experienced the pain and suffering, vulnerability, confiusoon, overwhelm and desperation… it’s even more outrageous and heartbreaking. I definitely cried in this book as the ramifications of her long con played out.
This book is written by the journos who broke the story of Belle’s deception. It is GREAT to read the inner workings of true investigative journalism and the story here is bigger than Belle… it’s about insatiable media who bite for the story but care not for the facts. It’s about the rise of social media and the stories that sell there. It’s about the wellness industry and it’s benefits and perils. I read this as someone who absolutely supports and benefits and believes in many ‘alternate’ health approaches. I can be pretty crunchy 🤣. But also sees how murky those waters can get without regulation or just a drop of common sense. A lot of thoughts about this book!!! I think it is an excellent and highly recommended read, just to check yourself as well as the world we are in. Eyes opened. Compelling! Great read and important too
August 22, 2019
Wow, this book was a hell of a ride. It reads a little bit like a thriller and I would say I've enjoyed it greatly if only it was fiction.
But it is not. A woman really faked terminal brain cancer.
She really lied about "curing herself" with a "natural diet" (I can't write all those things without scare quotes, I just can't).
She really made a lot of money out of it all (thanks to Penguin and Apple who really never checked any of her claims before going into business with her).
And then she really lied about giving all that money to various charities.
How low can you sink?
Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano (the reporters who originally debunked the whole Belle Gibson hoax) made a wonderful journalistic work with The Woman Who Fooled The World and yet they were unable to find out if Belle Gibson is really that much of a manipulative fraud or if she's a pathological liar. I've changed my mind ten times while reading this book but in the end, it doesn't matter. She still hurt so many people and profited from cancer patients, she still lied about donating to a 5-year-old little boy who actually had terminal brain cancer (again, how low can you sink?) and the reason why she did all those things won't change how terrible they were. Even if she is mentally sick, I can't find it in me to have empathy for her.
The book goes deeper, it also explores the whole wellness business online, with all the fad diets and all the ridiculous claims of all sorts. It's super interesting but also very depressing at times.
It's incredibly well documented and I would definitely recommend it.
But it is not. A woman really faked terminal brain cancer.
She really lied about "curing herself" with a "natural diet" (I can't write all those things without scare quotes, I just can't).
She really made a lot of money out of it all (thanks to Penguin and Apple who really never checked any of her claims before going into business with her).
And then she really lied about giving all that money to various charities.
How low can you sink?
Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano (the reporters who originally debunked the whole Belle Gibson hoax) made a wonderful journalistic work with The Woman Who Fooled The World and yet they were unable to find out if Belle Gibson is really that much of a manipulative fraud or if she's a pathological liar. I've changed my mind ten times while reading this book but in the end, it doesn't matter. She still hurt so many people and profited from cancer patients, she still lied about donating to a 5-year-old little boy who actually had terminal brain cancer (again, how low can you sink?) and the reason why she did all those things won't change how terrible they were. Even if she is mentally sick, I can't find it in me to have empathy for her.
The book goes deeper, it also explores the whole wellness business online, with all the fad diets and all the ridiculous claims of all sorts. It's super interesting but also very depressing at times.
It's incredibly well documented and I would definitely recommend it.
April 30, 2022
What I learned in journalism school: If your mother says she loves you, check it out.
What I learned from this book: If a young white woman is pretty enough and confident enough, Apple and Penguin Random House and many media outlets will accept an outrageous story as fact. They will take her word for it when she claims that she has several extremely aggressive forms of cancer but has rejected conventional medicine and is in the process of curing herself through a nutritious diet and positive thinking. They will not ask her for a doctor's letter or a copy of a scan or anything. They will pay her a fortune, and she will claim that she is giving all her money to charity, and she will keep 99 percent of it for herself. It was a great scam . . . for about a year.
My advice for future cancer scammers: When you make friends and persuade them to do your bidding, find out what your friends' parents do for a living. If it turns out that your new best friend is the child of a detective and a worker for a cancer organization, don't let her get any closer. She will figure out your fraud, and she will out you to the media.
What I learned from this Australian book about Australian crime: the word spruik, which means to orate or give a spiel about something.
What I learned from this book: If a young white woman is pretty enough and confident enough, Apple and Penguin Random House and many media outlets will accept an outrageous story as fact. They will take her word for it when she claims that she has several extremely aggressive forms of cancer but has rejected conventional medicine and is in the process of curing herself through a nutritious diet and positive thinking. They will not ask her for a doctor's letter or a copy of a scan or anything. They will pay her a fortune, and she will claim that she is giving all her money to charity, and she will keep 99 percent of it for herself. It was a great scam . . . for about a year.
My advice for future cancer scammers: When you make friends and persuade them to do your bidding, find out what your friends' parents do for a living. If it turns out that your new best friend is the child of a detective and a worker for a cancer organization, don't let her get any closer. She will figure out your fraud, and she will out you to the media.
What I learned from this Australian book about Australian crime: the word spruik, which means to orate or give a spiel about something.
Read
January 1, 20185/5
Well written- could not stop reading. My only hesitation is that I felt a bit dirty after I finished it- there’s something not quite right about the thrill of watching the take down from afar.
Well written- could not stop reading. My only hesitation is that I felt a bit dirty after I finished it- there’s something not quite right about the thrill of watching the take down from afar.
October 3, 2018
Fascinating and horrifying.
December 31, 2017
This ended up being a more thoughtful and balanced picture of Belle Gibson than I was expecting, particularly in relation to her family and upbringing. I think it gives a decent perspective on why she did it. Gibson seems to have been more capricious than malicious in her scam.
That said, when my sensible, well educated mother was diagnosed with agressive breast cancer she visited an alternative health clinic that was later discredited for quackery. I can only imagine how much damage may have been done by people like Gibson in luring people away from conventional medicine as sufferers tried to find a cure that absolved them of society's view of illness as a moral failing. A really interesting read on the serious impact the wellness industry and the bright, best life positivity of social media have made on their collision course with mainstream medicine.
That said, when my sensible, well educated mother was diagnosed with agressive breast cancer she visited an alternative health clinic that was later discredited for quackery. I can only imagine how much damage may have been done by people like Gibson in luring people away from conventional medicine as sufferers tried to find a cure that absolved them of society's view of illness as a moral failing. A really interesting read on the serious impact the wellness industry and the bright, best life positivity of social media have made on their collision course with mainstream medicine.
December 7, 2018
4.5* This book was so interesting, not only does it go right into Gibson's life and her lies, but also discusses the wellness industry as a whole, issues within publishing, and changes to the way journalists work in a changing social climate. This book at times was scathing in its discussion of Gibson, and although I had a vague idea about her con prior to reading, this got so into into it, including interviews with family and colleagues, doctors, and previous friends. The authors give so much background and really delve into trying to figure out why Gibson did what she did. Definitely recommend this as a fascinating non-fiction read
January 17, 2020
This was an incredibly well researched and written book, and as unbiased as a book exposing a person as a liar and a cheat and a fraud can be. It holds multiple parties accountable and notes the very prominent role the wellness industry and the online news reporting cycle had to play. I wish more time was given to Belle’s introduction to the female scammers hall of fame and the vitriolic response from the public women are faced with in times like these as opposed to their male fraudster counterparts. Someone interviewed for, and quoted in, the book said “...we have to be aware of our willingness to be deceived” and I think that that’s the most profound takeaway of this whole story
May 30, 2022
Quick Take: Young beautiful white woman fakes cancer to get Insta likes.
Imagine you live in a world where people say whatever they want without proof, where journalism often publishes articles without fact-checking and anyone can publish a book…oh wait, we DO live in that world. The Woman Who Fooled the World by Beau Donnelly and Nick Toscano is the story of Belle Gibson, cancer survivor and health guru….until she wasn’t.
Belle Gibson became popular on Instagram through her claims that she had brain cancer and was given 4 months to live but instead survived by healthy eating and wellness. Her Instagram and Facebook had millions of followers, and many followed her prescribed healthy eating plans. She eventually published a phone app and a cookbook.
Unfortunately, as you can already guess, her story was fake. She never had cancer of any type. The reason her fraudulent behavior is so abhorrent is that many with cancer decided against traditional treatment because of her story.
This book did an excellent job telling the story of Belle as well as showing what suffering with cancer really looks like. They also dive into issues of media and fact checking. I’d recommend this book to anyone interested in wellness or true crime.
Rating: 5/5
Genre: Non-Fiction/True Crime
Check it out on Instagram HERE!
Imagine you live in a world where people say whatever they want without proof, where journalism often publishes articles without fact-checking and anyone can publish a book…oh wait, we DO live in that world. The Woman Who Fooled the World by Beau Donnelly and Nick Toscano is the story of Belle Gibson, cancer survivor and health guru….until she wasn’t.
Belle Gibson became popular on Instagram through her claims that she had brain cancer and was given 4 months to live but instead survived by healthy eating and wellness. Her Instagram and Facebook had millions of followers, and many followed her prescribed healthy eating plans. She eventually published a phone app and a cookbook.
Unfortunately, as you can already guess, her story was fake. She never had cancer of any type. The reason her fraudulent behavior is so abhorrent is that many with cancer decided against traditional treatment because of her story.
This book did an excellent job telling the story of Belle as well as showing what suffering with cancer really looks like. They also dive into issues of media and fact checking. I’d recommend this book to anyone interested in wellness or true crime.
Rating: 5/5
Genre: Non-Fiction/True Crime
Check it out on Instagram HERE!
March 6, 2018
Unbelievable true story of Belle Gibson, a young woman, who for a long run successfully scammed the world! Made me think a lot about “wellness” and claims that are made on social media. Anyone can put things out there on the internet and sadly, so often people believe it.
Read
September 4, 2021This shit is even crazier than I dared believe. Next How Novel! episode. I can't wait to tell Claire about this nonsense.
Ps. I was really worried this was going to be sexist and rude and it's not. For what it's worth I found the authors' take on this whack series of events measured and tactful.
Ps. I was really worried this was going to be sexist and rude and it's not. For what it's worth I found the authors' take on this whack series of events measured and tactful.
February 3, 2024
The core story of Belle Gibson and her fraud was interesting, but I honestly found myself more enjoying the often unexpected tangents the authors would go on.
March 25, 2018
Completely fascinating account - I couldn't put it down. Devoured in two days. Highly recommend!
February 13, 2019
How does one even begin to describe the subject matter of this book? It's so vitally important to read something like this in an age where no one seems to ask the hard questions and everything could well be an elaborate facade. I remember this the controversy about Belle Gibson when it happened, and I had only a fleeting interest then. However, in the years since; the question of why she wasn't ever charged and how this sort of thing can even actually happen really really grated at me. I've a legal background and it seemed to me that this was a slam dunk for criminal charges like obtaining a financial advantage by deception, and for the charity element alone!
This book is the closest I think the public will ever come to a 'why'?
No one will ever really know what went on and what still goes on in Gibson's head or household. Perhaps we ought not to know. But after reading this, you'll be able to have a pretty good stab in the dark. Mostly, this just made me sad and so very angry. That could also be because, despite having had an interest in it for some time, I chose to read it just as my brother was diagnosed with (non-terminal) cancer and began having chemotherapy, fantastic life decision that one.
I cried reading this, sobbed silently on the train for the scores of people who believed this woman's lies. My heart breaks for those who have terminal cancers or illnesses of any kind, who are so utterly desperate for it not to soon be their time that they'll believe anything, anything. And this woman took advantage of that, and she's not even the only one. It's disgusting.
The other part of the book that I found absolutely fascinating however, which may not even have been Donnelly's intention, was the interesting course of public opinion and how, when and how ferociously it turned. It is a very interesting thing to look at the behaviour of what is essentially a 21st century Lynch mob.
This is an important book, it should be read and read widely because people do need to take a little bit of care before believing what it is they (so often) desperately want to hear. We should have to sometimes stop and think, "Does this seem legitimate?" "Can this actually be true?" because, as we've seen, the consequences of nobody so doing, are disastrous.
This book is the closest I think the public will ever come to a 'why'?
No one will ever really know what went on and what still goes on in Gibson's head or household. Perhaps we ought not to know. But after reading this, you'll be able to have a pretty good stab in the dark. Mostly, this just made me sad and so very angry. That could also be because, despite having had an interest in it for some time, I chose to read it just as my brother was diagnosed with (non-terminal) cancer and began having chemotherapy, fantastic life decision that one.
I cried reading this, sobbed silently on the train for the scores of people who believed this woman's lies. My heart breaks for those who have terminal cancers or illnesses of any kind, who are so utterly desperate for it not to soon be their time that they'll believe anything, anything. And this woman took advantage of that, and she's not even the only one. It's disgusting.
The other part of the book that I found absolutely fascinating however, which may not even have been Donnelly's intention, was the interesting course of public opinion and how, when and how ferociously it turned. It is a very interesting thing to look at the behaviour of what is essentially a 21st century Lynch mob.
This is an important book, it should be read and read widely because people do need to take a little bit of care before believing what it is they (so often) desperately want to hear. We should have to sometimes stop and think, "Does this seem legitimate?" "Can this actually be true?" because, as we've seen, the consequences of nobody so doing, are disastrous.
January 16, 2018
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and raced through it. An intriguing story very much of the social media age. I’m still unclear, as are the authors, as to what prompted Belle Gibson to claim she had cancer and am appalled that she continues to see herself as a victim, taking no responsibility for the harm and hurt she caused. And the big beasts that fell for Belle - Apple, Penguin, numerous magazines - all of whom failed to undertake basic fact-checking. We are well and truly living in the era of fake news. Hopefully, telling Belle’s story will make us all a little more sceptical about the nonsense that is spouted about superfoods, clean eating, earthing and so on and future Belle Gibson’s will be seen for the charlatans they are.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 196 reviews