The story of Belle Gibson sounds like the plot of a heartbreaking movie. A young, beautiful woman is diagnosed with terminal brain cancer and given four months to live. Worn down by two months of chemotherapy and radiation, she decides to abandon traditional medicine and take matters into her own hands, instead focusing on healthy eating and alternative treatments. Against all odds, she starts to recover. Somehow, her alternative techniques seem to actually work. Miraculously, she gets pregnant with her first child.If this all sounds a bit far-fetched, that’s because it is. As it turned out, Gibson did not “cure” her cancer. In fact, she didn’t have cancer at all. One of the original wellness bloggers, what happened with Australian influencer Belle Gibson is a bizarre tale that’s full of outlandish claims, lies, and deception. A new ITV documentary, In Search of Instagram’s Worst Con Artist, aims to dig into Gibson’s story. Set to air this autumn, it will feature interviews with friends and family who will be speaking on the record for the first time.
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00:00 And you were absolutely misleading, weren't you?
00:02 You said a doctor gave you this terrible prognosis in his office.
00:07 And you've just admitted that you didn't say it was at your home
00:11 and it wasn't with a real doctor,
00:12 because you thought people would be disappointed in you.
00:15 No, I believed he was a real doctor.
00:17 So did you lie to be believed, is the question.
00:19 I didn't see him in his doctor's office in Perth.
00:22 But it almost didn't matter what the question was.
00:26 There seemed to be a story in her answer every time,
00:29 even her age.
00:30 I've always been raised as being currently a 26-year-old.
00:37 How old are you?
00:41 Well, I live knowing, as I've always known, that I would be 26.
00:45 Do you believe you have a mental illness? No.
00:48 It's been suggested perhaps you have Munchausen syndrome.
00:51 Yeah. Or a factitious disorder.
00:53 Do you accept that perhaps you do?
00:56 I don't accept that, because I don't feel that I do.
00:59 I don't feel that I do.
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