Forgot About Wellness Scammer Belle Gibson? Sorry, A BBC Documentary Is In The Works
The BBC has commissioned a documentary on disgraced Australian 'wellness' 'influencer' (I say those words begrudgingly) and convicted con artist Belle Gibson.
The documentary's working title is Bad Influencer; a fitting (if not understated) summation of a woman who made a fortune conning vulnerable people with bullshit claims of curing her own (made up) cancer via alternative therapies.
In 2017, she was fined $410,000 after being found guilty of misleading and deceptive conduct. Gibson also falsely claimed she was donating a percentage of her profits to several charities, and even a boy with inoperable brain cancer. Oof. In an absolute trainwreck Today Tonight interview that soon followed, she doubled down hard, saying she's always been open about her reality, it just "doesn't match your normal or your reality." Riiiight.
The documentary will reportedly explore the many cons and controversies of Gibson's life and examine the multi-million dollar global wellness industry that she thrived in for so long. It'll showcase the perspectives of the people who loved her, those that fell hard for her scams and the people who ended up exposing her.
It hasn't been confirmed what participation Gibson herself will have in the project, and look – here's hoping she doesn't somehow profit off this, too.
The doco announcement comes a few weeks after her Northcote home was raided by Victoria's Sheriff's Office over $500,000 in unpaid fines. She also was in the news lately for [checks notes] being adopted by an Ethipioan community in Melbourne. OK, babe.
She's yet to pay the fines and accrued interest for the scams, despite splashing plenty of cash in Bali and Africa in the years following her court case.
She's able to enjoy her freedom despite the hefty fines – which Twitter users pointed out is pretty fucked given the racist double standards in the justice system over unpaid fines.
There's no release date on the doco yet. Let's just hope it does right by the many, many victims of her scams.
Written by Dani Leever, a writer and homosexual pop culture enthusiast. Find their words at @danileever or catch their gay DJ drag adventures at @djgaydad.
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