Wellness blogger Belle Gibson, who falsely claimed she cured her own cancer by eating a natural diet, has been ordered to pay a fine of $410,000 to the federal court in Victoria, Australia.
The disgraced wellness blogger had created an app and a book, The Whole Pantry, which made the blogger well over $400,000 in profits. She made the promise that she would pay several thousand dollars worth of her own money to charity after her stunning success, but after the charities claimed to not receive her donations, her story started to unravel in 2015. She had even promised a private family that she would give them money to aid in the treatment of their son’s brain cancer, but she declined to do so.
The wellness blogger has been ordered to pay fines of $90,000 for falsely claiming to make donations from the sales of her app; $90,000 claiming that she would make donations from her company, on which she never followed through; $50,000 for claiming that part of her sales from her app launch would be donated to charity; $30,000 for claiming she would donate to charity during a Mother’s Day event and $150,000 for claiming she would donate to the Schwartz family, whose son suffered from brain cancer.
In 2015, Belle Gibson admitted that her empire was built on lies in an interview with Australian Women’s Weekly. Despite her success, the wellness blogger admitted that she had never had cancer, much less terminal brain cancer. After confessing, she then stated that she actually had brain cancer, but she had been misdiagnosed with blood, spleen, uterus and liver cancer by a German magnetic therapist. She refused to show any proof of her diagnosis, and it was noted that whenever she was questioned, she began to cry or flip the script around to make herself look more innocent and vulnerable.
Originally, she stated that she did not want people’s forgiveness. Instead, all she wanted was for people to acknowledge that she is human and made mistakes.
Proceedings were brought up against her last year with her by Consumer Affairs Victoria, but Gibson has failed to show up for any court hearings or respond to any summons thus far.
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