The Whole Pantry founder Belle Gibson faked cancer

Australian single mom and entrepreneur Belle Gibson reportedly lied about surviving terminal cancer simply by changing her diet to eating organic food. She founded a popular app called The Whole Pantry, and was about to have a book published when what may be the real truth began to emerge.

The Australian version of Elle published this piece on their website after someone who said they grew up with Belle wrote in saying she was lying about having cancer. At first, they thought the angry email was lies, but then things started to fall apart. It turned out that The Whole Pantry failed to donate $300,000 to charity, as promised. In a now-deleted Facebook post, The Whole Pantry said they didn’t donate the money because of “cash flow problems,” and “unforeseen delays.”

Customers of her app and book started demanding refunds when pictures of Belle partying surfaced, because she was supposed to be living a strictly healthy lifestyle to stay cancer-free. (It should be noted that doctors never recommend not seeking out medical treatment for cancer, and there is no proof that a healthy diet alone can stop or prevent cancer.) Gibson (who has been reported to be both 23 and 26,) told The Australian that last year’s announcement that her cancer had spread to her liver, spleen, blood and uterus was a “misdiagnosis.” “It’s hard to admit that maybe you were wrong,” she said, saying the experience made her “confused, bordering on humiliated.”

Penguin books halted production of The Whole Pantry cookbook because she has failed to give them a good enough counter to the allegations and claims against her. “Despite our best endeavors, Penguin Books has not received sufficient explanation from Ms. Gibson, author of The Whole Pantry recipe book, in response to recent allegations,” they said in a statement. “As such, we have been left with no other option but to stop supplying the book in Australia. We remain hopeful that we will receive the formal assurances we have requested in the coming days.” The Whole Pantry app has been pulled from both U.S. and Australian App stores.

One of her friends spoke to Guardian Australia about their suspicions: “I distanced myself from her after realizing something was a bit off. She also lied to me about her age and claimed to be much older than she is … She has such influence, with 300,000 downloads of her app and people giving up their medical treatments to follow what she does, and it just didn’t sit right with me.”