Money Crimes with Nicole Lapin - SCAM: Belle Gibson

Episode Date: June 12, 2025

Belle Gibson wasn’t just another wellness influencer—she was a scammer who faked terminal cancer, deceived vulnerable followers, and stole from charities. Nicole Lapin uncovers the shocking details behind Belle’s fraudulent empire, the investigation that exposed her, and the lasting damage caused by one of Instagram’s most notorious influencers. Scams, Money, & Murder is a Crime House Original Podcast, powered by PAVE Studios. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. For ad-free listening and early access to episodes, subscribe to Crime House+ on Apple Podcasts. Don’t miss out on all things Scams, Money, & Murder! Instagram: @Crimehouse TikTok: @Crimehouse Facebook: @crimehousestudios X: @crimehousemedia YouTube: @crimehousestudios To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is Crime House. We all like to try out a new persona from time to time. Maybe that means buying a new wardrobe, or styling our hair differently, or maybe we start hanging out with a new group of friends. It's natural to explore where we fit in and feel the most like ourselves. But sometimes, what starts out as a little exploration spirals into full-on deception. That is exactly what Belle Gibson did. She started by dabbling with different personas online,

and when she realized how easy it was to trick people, she pushed things even further. Eventually, Belle's story took on a life of its own, until she swindled her way into sweeping fame. But Belle's entire identity hung by one loose thread. And the more people who tugged at it, the quicker her lies unraveled at the seams. As they say, money makes the world go round. What many people don't talk about is the time it made people's worlds come to a screeching halt.

Whether it's greed, desperation, or a thirst for power, money can make even the most unassuming people do unthinkable things. And sometimes those acts can be deadly. This is Scams, Money, and Murder, a CrimeHouse original. I'm your host, Nicole Lapin. Every Thursday, we alternate between covering infamous money-motivated crimes and gripping interviews with the experts

or those who are directly involved themselves. CrimeHouse exists because of you. Please rate, review, and follow Scams, Money, and Murder. And for early ad-free access and bonus content, subscribe to Crime House Plus on Apple Podcasts. And for even more true crime stories from this week in history, check out Crime House The Show. This episode is all about Belle Gibson, the wellness queen who claimed she'd cured her own cancer by eating healthy and lifestyle changes alone.

Between 2013 and 2014, Belle capitalized on her diagnosis, launching a number one wellness app and publishing a wildly popular book. She even used her newfound fame to host lavish charity events. But when the truth about her medical and financial history was exposed, the world finally learned how low Belle was willing to go. Crime House Studios has released its first audiobook called Murder in the Media. Told through the lens of five heart-pounding murder cases, this thrilling audiobook traces the evolving and sometimes insidious role the media has had in

shaping true crime storytelling. Murder in the Media is a Crime House original audiobook. Find it now on Spotify. Annabelle Natalie Gibson wasn't always an internet celebrity, but she was one of Australia's first famous influencers. Probably because from the time she was just a kid, Belle was always finding new ways to get attention. Belle was born on October 8, 1991 and grew up in Brisbane, Australia, right near the beach. But her life wasn't all sunshine and rainbows. Unlike many of the kids she

went to school with, Belle's family didn't have a lot of money. She lived with her mother, Natalie, and her older brother, Nick, in public housing. She also told classmates that her mother had multiple sclerosis and her brother had autism, so she had to do all the housework. Belle often complained to her friends that she couldn't enjoy just being a kid. And Belle had a lot of friends. She was confident and outspoken, so her classmates were naturally drawn to her. But she never invited her friends to her house or introduced them to her family.

The other kids probably figured she was embarrassed about what her home life looked like. That might be why around 2004, when Belle was about to enter high school, she started trying on new personas. She entered an emo phase, dyeing her hair black and wearing heavy eye makeup. The new look was a far cry from her natural honey blonde hair and rosy cheeks.

But Belle was also a typical mid-2000s teen, which meant she spent a lot of her free time in chat rooms talking to strangers, particularly a chat room for Brisbane's skater scene. Online Belle was equally outspoken. She trash-talked people and may have even pretended to know high-profile skaters in real life. And no one had any real way of fact-checking her. Through the internet, she learned she could make up whatever stories she wanted without question.

But Belle always wanted to push the boundaries, eventually brought her deceit IRL. And she made it a bit more dramatic, too. By the time she got to high school, Belle started telling her friends that she had a serious heart condition. On multiple occasions, she claimed to have had open heart surgery. She even said she went into cardiac arrest on the operating table and was dead for just under three minutes. But Belle's stories didn't get her the sympathy or attention she was looking for. Because some of her friends couldn't help but notice giant inconsistencies. Like the fact that Belle never really seemed sick or tired.

She didn't even have any scars. And she never seemed to miss more than a day or two of school. That's when other kids stopped trusting Belle and started distancing themselves from her. Even her own high school boyfriend began ignoring her. And once Belle had lost all her friends, the isolation became unbearable. So in 2008, when she was 16, she dropped out of school and moved across the country to Perth. She wanted a fresh start. Belle found work there at a health insurance company. It was her job to listen to policyholders who called in about their various claims and illnesses, which meant she was learning all about different health conditions and the kinds of treatments they required.

And when she went home at night, Belle used that knowledge in various chat rooms. Without much of a social circle in Perth, Belle once again resorted to the internet to gain a little attention and sympathy. But now she was able to be more specific about her supposed conditions. And it worked. People online felt sorry for Belle. They praised how brave she was. And Belle ate it up.

She loved that people were doting on her, feeling sorry for her, even if she wasn't interacting with them in person. But over the course of the next year or so, Belle began forming a real-life group of friends in Perth. She also found herself a boyfriend named Nathan. And just when everything seemed perfect, that's when things got challenging for Belle. In 2009, Belle claimed to be having strange headaches and blurry vision. That same year, she had a bizarre episode while she was at work. She was sitting at her desk when all of a sudden she started having the symptoms of a stroke.

She claimed her co-workers rushed her to a nearby hospital where she was treated by a neurologist. After giving her an MRI, Bell claimed the doctor said she had a stage 4 brain tumor. According to Kate Dremann, the director of neurosurgery at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, stage 4 brain cancer is known as glioblastoma. It's the most aggressive and fast-growing form of brain cancer. The most common treatment options are chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery. But glioblastoma is notoriously fatal.

In Belle's case, she was told she only had four months to live. Suddenly, it seemed like all the health issues Belle had been faking online had actually come true. We don't know how Belle's friends reacted to the news. We don't even know how Nathan, her boyfriend, felt. But we do know that after this diagnosis, Belle moved about 2,000 miles to Melbourne to be closer, she claimed, to her neurologist who had relocated there.

That's when Belle claimed she started chemo and radiation. But the treatments weren't working. Apparently she still felt lethargic and had intense headaches all the time. But Belle refused to give up. She said that if conventional medicine wouldn't work, then she would have to find another option. Which wasn't going to be hard to do because Belle had made the entire thing up. And this time, it wasn't just in chat rooms, it was to everyone in her life.

Her family, her friends, and her boyfriend. The truth was, Belle didn't have cancer at all. She was totally healthy. And no one had a clue. That's when Belle must have started thinking that maybe she could muster more than just a little bit of sympathy and attention. Before long, she would cash in on her fake illness, too. Let's see, they got jasmine, pomegranate, geranium, lemon…

Andre is the procurement manager at a big hospital, ordering everything from cleaning and office supplies to the snacks in the break rooms. He teamed up with Grand & Toy for a sourcing plan that simplifies his operations with actionable insights. Very sweet water? Oh, tangerine! Now he has time to make tough decisions,

like what the hand soap should smell like. Ha! Unscented. Nailed it! Don't overthink it. Go to grandandtoy.com to get started on your plan. Calling all true crime lovers, Crime House has released its first audiobook called Murder in the Media. Told through the lens of five heart-pounding murder cases, this thrilling audiobook traces the evolving and sometimes insidious role the media has in shaping true crime storytelling. From the discovery of America's first serial killer, to a shocking murder of a

Hollywood legend, to a chilling disappearance that captivated the nation, each of these stories will change how you think about the relationship between the media and true crime forever. Murder in the Media is a Crime House original audiobook. Find it now on Spotify. In 2009, Belle Gibson told her friends she'd been diagnosed with stage 4 brain cancer and had just a few months to live. Before they could ask questions, Belle picked up and moved across

the country, from Perth to Melbourne, leaving her boyfriend Nathan behind. It was the second time Belle had abandoned her entire life. But now the stakes were even higher, because she soon discovered she was pregnant with Nathan's child. And she was completely on her own. It also seems like Belle had lost touch with her mom and her brother by this point, though she never told anyone why. On the outside, Belle appeared to be carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders. But in reality, she was just focused on keeping up her ruse. Because if she didn't

die soon, well, then people would definitely know she was lying. Belle knew that she had to come up with something, and fast. That's when she announced to her friends that she'd had a revelation. If flooding her body with chemicals wouldn't help her, she'd try the opposite. She started eating nothing but clean, healthy foods, rich in antioxidants with anti-inflammatory qualities. Basically anything that might purify her body. By the time her son Oliver was born in July of 2010, she said she was feeling better. Belle claimed she was energized, she could think clearly, she no longer had headaches or blurry vision.

She said she had completely stopped chemo and radiation and finally felt in control of her diagnosis. In fact, she basically said her cancer was now in remission. Of course, that was a lie, since there was no cancer to begin with. But everyone who knew Belle had already fallen for her story. The more attention she got, the more she wanted. So why stop with her friends? If they were falling for her sham, there's no reason the rest of the world wouldn't too.

So, Belle turned to the one place where she had always found a sympathetic audience, the internet. In 2012, Instagram was just over a year old, and when Belle stumbled upon the app that year, she knew it was the perfect place to share her story. She created an account with the handle, Healing underscore Belle. She penned an attention-grabbing bio that read, quote, Belle Gibson, game changer with

brain cancer and a food obsession. She started posting bright photos of acai bowls and salads, many paired with an inspirational quote like, your dreams belong to you. Throughout her feed, she wove a narrative that she'd been diagnosed with brain cancer, given four months to live, and was now curing herself with clean eating. It was a story for the ages. Did she have proof her cancer was in remission? No, but it didn't matter.

At the time, none of her 200,000 followers were asking for it. Since Instagram was so new, no one used the word influencer yet. Still, Belle was definitely one of the first. Now 200,000 might not sound like celeb status today, but back then in 2012, it was pretty darn close. And people with or without cancer were really starting to take notice. Because it wasn't just the food pics that looked really good. Belle herself was beautiful.

Her skin was clear, her hair was long and shiny, and she was in great shape. In contrast, some of her followers who did have cancer were dealing with splotchy skin, hair loss, and extreme weight changes. In their eyes, Belle's help was self-evident, which made them want to abandon conventional treatments like chemo and turn to holistic methods just like Belle had supposedly done. And soon, Belle gave her followers even more of a reason to look up to her. Because in 2013, she seemed to imply to her followers that her cancer was cured. And it was all thanks to healthy eating and natural therapies.

Her followers were overjoyed. They'd posted comments praising Belle's strength and determination, not to mention her generosity. Thanks to her, other cancer patients had a clear path toward healing. Belle was a sensation, and her follower count kept increasing. But as Belle's account gained popularity, some of her old friends were side-eyeing her posts. People from high school had stumbled across her account and remembered Belle being a compulsive

liar. Some of them wondered if this was just her latest deceit. But so far, no one had said anything publicly. So Belle ran with her newfound Insta fame. She also started dating someone new, an IT consultant in Melbourne named Clive Rothwell. Clive was much older than Belle, and he naturally took on the role of stepfather to Oliver. We don't know if Clive was aware of Belle's lies, but either way he seemed to be supporting Belle and Oliver financially. if Clive was aware of Belle's lies, but either way he seemed to be supporting Belle

and Oliver financially. That is, until Belle came up with a revolutionary way to profit off her situation. By this point, 21-year-old Belle knew her content had potential even outside of social media. So she hired a small team of developers and got to work on building an app. She called it The Whole Pantry. It launched in Australia in August of 2013, just months after Belle seemingly announced she was cured.

The Whole Pantry contained recipes, health and wellness guides, and a bunch of other features. Basically, The Whole Pantry was a one-stop shop for everything you needed to get as healthy as Belle. Within days, hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world had downloaded the app and it shot to number one in the app store. By the end of the year, Apple named The whole pantry the best food and drink app overall. Belle was ecstatic.

Her profits were estimated at over $900,000 before taxes. For a high school dropout, this was life-changing. She was on a roll. And she wasn't going to stop there. One month after the Whole Pantry app launched, Bell sent a cookbook proposal to Penguin Books. The Lifestyle editor was enthralled with Bell's story, and they met a few weeks later. Soon, a 250-page cookbook was born. In it, Bell talked about life pre-cancer, how she managed the fear of living with a

terminal illness, and the impact the disease had on her future. Belle didn't care that she'd signed an agreement stating, quote, "...no part of the book would be a false representation, misleading or deceptive." She was happy to milk her lie for everything it was worth. And it was worth a lot. The whole pantry cookbook hit shelves in Australia in October of 2014. By the end of that year, 16,000 copies had been sold, bringing in some $560,000 in total revenue.

Belle spent the money immediately, renting a lavish home in an affluent Melbourne neighborhood. She, Oliver, and Clive were now living a lifestyle she had only dreamed of. So Belle thought it was only right to pay it forward, or to at least look like she was. So in December of 2013, ten months after the app launched, Belle hosted a charity event. She sold tickets online and invited entrepreneurs and philanthropists from all over Melbourne. Belle said the proceeds would go to different charities. It ranged from things like building schools in the African nation of Sierra Leone, to preventing infant and maternal deaths in Southeast Asia. Some of the money would even go to a family whose child was battling brain cancer.

By the end of the night, Belle had raised about $300,000, which meant now she was more than just a blogger and a writer. She was a philanthropist. Except, even that was a lie. After the event, Belle took the money and kept it for herself. By this point, Belle had profited off fake cancer, and she persuaded actual cancer patients to ditch scientifically-backed treatment, but intentionally stealing money from vulnerable people?

Well, that may have been the lowest thing Belle had done thus far. Of course, no one had a clue what was happening behind closed doors. As far as fans were concerned, Belle had faced death and won. Now she was pouring her all into helping others do the same, and people adored her for it. So while everyone was in the dark, Belle continued to skyrocket into fame. She appeared in magazines and on national news outlets. With all eyes on her, she was at the top of her game. But she had no idea that one of her closest friends was about to expose her. In late 2013, Belle Gibson rode the wave of her recent success by hosting a lavish charity

event. The fundraiser boosted her public image after she claimed to raise $300,000 for a handful of causes. However, no one knew that Belle had kept the money or herself. But while Belle was basking in the limelight, someone else had caught on to her. And he was determined to find all of the skeletons in Belle's closet. Richard Gilead was a reporter at a newspaper called The Australian. His wife had been diagnosed with cancer in 2005.

So when he heard about Belle's miracle cure, he was naturally curious. And when Richard scrolled through her Instagram feed, he immediately noticed some red flags. To start, Richard knew that a malignant brain tumor was essentially a death sentence. So Belle's claims about curing herself with healthy food were questionable at best. He also noticed how much adoration and praise she'd received from her fans, including comments from cancer patients who stopped relying on conventional medicine to follow her methods instead. Richard realized that not only was Belle most likely lying, she was putting people in grave danger.

And when he tried to reach out to her for an interview, she declined. So he started digging deeper. But he wasn't the only one. In July of 2014, six months after the charity event, Belle's son Oliver turned four. She hosted a birthday party for him at her home in Melbourne and invited a bunch of close friends. All the kids played in the backyard while the adults hung out on the patio. It should have been the perfect afternoon. But just as people were saying goodbye, Belle began convulsing violently. Her friends jumped into action, thinking she was having a seizure.

Meanwhile, one of Bell's best friends, a woman named Chanel McAuliffe, yelled for someone to call an ambulance. As she did that, Bell completely snapped out of her episode. She said not to call an ambulance, because she didn't trust Western medicine. She only wanted to be treated with natural remedies. But it seemed like she didn't need treatment at all, because Belle recovered from that seizure within a matter of moments. She thanked her friends and assured them she would be okay. However, in Chanel's opinion, things were anything but.

Chanel left the party with a sinking feeling in her gut. She couldn't shake the idea that Belle had faked her seizure. And that feeling only grew stronger when Belle shared another life update. A few days after the party, Belle took to Instagram with some heartbreaking news. Her brain cancer had returned. Even worse, she said it spread to her blood, spleen, uterus, and liver. This time, death really seemed inevitable. Now, not only is it super uncommon for brain cancer to spread in that way, but if it had, Belle probably would have had trouble doing everyday things like speaking and moving.

Meaning, they wouldn't be living their life as gracefully as Belle was. By the time Chanel saw Belle's Instagram post, her instincts were already on high alert, especially since she was supposed to be one of Belle's closest friends. And yet the first time she heard of this life-changing news was through Instagram, like everyone else. Chanel thought it was especially shady because she knew a side of Belle that she hadn't shared with her followers. Like the fact that Belle used tanning beds and went out binge drinking sometimes.

Even though in her cookbook, Belle stated that she didn't consume alcohol at all. Needless to say, things were not adding up. Chanel wanted to find out the truth. So following Oliver's birthday party, she went to Belle's house to confront her. She asked Belle to show her proof she had cancer, like medical documents or scans. But Belle said she didn't keep things like that in the house because they were quote, negative energy. Belle wouldn't even reveal her doctor's name. In fact, she told Chanel he was missing, which meant there was no way to contact him. Chanel didn't buy it for a second, and she was worried that Belle had taken advantage of people who

were actually sick. Soon after, she contacted a journalist, a lawyer, and the police. She told them she believed Bell was defrauding people. Everyone she reached out to had the same response. They said Chanel was making serious, slanderous allegations against a dying woman. In other words, no one would listen. But a few weeks later, two journalists from an Australian magazine called The Age got in touch. Their names were Bo Donnelly and Nick Toscano.

They told Chanel they didn't have enough evidence to accuse Belle of lying about her cancer. However, they did have evidence to prove she didn't actually donate the money from her charity event. Because they had contacted each organization that Bell claimed to have helped and confirmed it themselves. Donnelly and Toscano reached out to Bell for a comment,

but she refused to speak with them. She did, however, get in touch with another journalist she previously declined to talk to, Richard Gulliet, the reporter from The Australian, who had investigated Bell after his wife's diagnosis. In February of 2015, Bell and Richard made plans to meet up at a cafe. Once there, Bell told Richard she had recently learned some shocking news. She said she had been quote, led astray by one of her

doctors. The same one who had diagnosed her cancers and then supposedly disappeared. Finally, Bell admitted she didn't have cancer after all. It was a misdiagnosis, one she'd only recently discovered. Richard was stunned by Bell's bumbling attempts to cover up her charade. But now he had a great story. In March of 2015, as Richard was penning his exposé, The Age published their piece on Bell. It contained all the evidence that Bell had in fact kept the money from her charity event. The article made a huge splash, and Bell had no choice but to address it. She said that her business had quote, cash flow problems, but she didn't elaborate,

which made people even more suspicious. Then Gulliet's story hit the news. The proof was in the pudding. Bell Gibson was a complete and utter scammer. She never had cancer. Belle was mortified. She was spiraling downward and fast. At this point, she basically went off the grid and deleted all of her Instagram posts one by one. Which just convinced people further, Belle was too scared to hold herself accountable.

At the same time, Belle's old high school friends started posting about all the lies she told when she was younger. They said she was a fraud. Even leading neurologists poked holes in her claims. But Belle wasn't prepared to lose everything she built. So she hired a PR team to plot her next move. Which came two months later, in May of 2015. Belle spoke with the Australian magazine Women's Weekly.

During their conversation, she once again claimed that she had been misdiagnosed and admitted that she did not have cancer. She never did. She also reiterated what she had told her childhood friends in the past that she grew up poor, without a father, and had to help her sick mother and brother. It seems like this was Belle's way of trying to garner more sympathy. But it didn't work, because shortly after, Belle's mother Natalie contacted Women's Weekly. She and Bell had been estranged ever since Bell dropped out of school and left home. And Natalie wasn't gonna let her daughter throw her under the bus.

Natalie explained that she did have multiple sclerosis, but Bell never had to take care of her. Natalie had always been able to care and provide for her children. Speaking of her children, Bell's brother Nick did not have autism. Belle completely made that part up, too. This was the end of the road for Belle. The whole world knew the full truth about her. She deleted the whole pantry's social media accounts, the app got taken down, and Penguin

yanked the book off the shelves. There's no hard proof that anyone died or got sicker because they listened to Belle's advice. But we do know for a fact that people did follow her methods, and it may have cost someone their life. Belle told the press that she didn't expect forgiveness, and that admitting to her lies was the quote responsible thing to do. But if Bell thought that that was the extent of her penance, she was sorely mistaken. In April of 2015, the state of Victoria's Consumer Affairs Department launched an investigation into Bell's alleged charity fraud and deceptive conduct. Two years later, she was fined $410,000 Australian.

When she didn't pay up, the authorities threatened to put her in jail. Bell pretty much ignored them, but they weren't gonna let her off that easily. She was brought to court in 2019, where she told the judge she didn't have the money to pay the fines. However, investigators learned that between 2017 and 2019,

Belle had spent more than $90,000 on clothes, cosmetics, and lavish vacations. Between interest and penalties, Belle's fine went up to $500,000. Bell's fine went up to $500,000. Authorities raided her home twice between 2020 and 2021 in an attempt to recoup the money, but they weren't able to get everything she owed. As of February 2025, Victorian Consumer Affairs says they won't let up on getting Bell to pay what she owes. Some Australian lawyers have wondered whether Bell will be charged with contempt of court proceedings, which could result in more fines or even jail time.

All we know is that while Belle was trying to sell a miracle cure for cancer, all she really peddled was a croc of Snake Oil. Thank you so much for listening. I'm your host, Nicole Lapin. Scams, Money and Murder is a Crime House original. Join me every Thursday for a brand new episode. Here at Crime House, we want to thank each and every one of you for your support. If you like what you heard here today, please reach out on all social media at CrimeHouse.

And don't forget to rate, review, and follow Scams, Money, and Murder wherever you get your podcasts. Your feedback truly makes a difference. And for ad-free listening plus early access and bonus content, subscribe to CrimeHouse Plus on Apple Podcasts. Scams, Money, and Murder is hosted by me, Nicole Lapin, and is a CrimeHouse original powered by Pave Studios. This episode was brought to life by the Scams, Money and Murder team, Max Cutler, Ron Shapiro,

Alex Benedon, Lori Marnelli, Natalie Prusovsky, Sarah Camp, Sarah Batchelor, Joanna Powell, and Michael Langsner. Thank you so much for listening.