Disgraced wellness blogger Belle Gibson still maintains she believed she had cancer, according to Channel Nine who have recorded an extensive interview with her.
Gibson built a wellness empire, which included a mobile phone app called The Whole Pantry and a website and recipe book of the same name, on the back of claims she cured terminal brain cancer through diet and lifestyle alone.
In April she admitted she had never had cancer. Her book deal with Penguin and her wellness app on the Apple watch collapsed.
Gibson’s story was shopped around the networks through a public relations consultant but was deemed too risky by some TV producers because of her history.
60 Minutes secured the sit-down interview, but many viewers are furious she has been given a platform.
“Until this day, Belle claims unscrupulous natural therapists duped her into believing she was dying, but this Sunday 60 Minutes will reveal the proof that this is a lie too – Belle Gibson is not a victim. She is a fraud,” Nine said in promotional material for 60 Minutes.
But viewers bombarded Nine’s 60 Minutes Facebook page with complaints about the interview with journalist Tara Brown, which airs on Sunday night.
“I am totally incensed that 60 Minutes is giving this charlatan’s story oxygen,” one said.
“She makes me sick my son fought so hard for his life he still fights from stage 4 brain cancer. She honestly is a disgusting human being,” said another.
“Lying about cancer makes me so angry, my son just finished his treatment for cancer. I hope she not getting paid for the interview,” wrote another.
The Australian Women’s Weekly secured a print exclusive with Gibson in May but her story was so contradictory and elusive it proved a disappointment.
“At first, she seems gullible, muddled and emotional,” journalist Clair Weaver wrote of the experience of interviewing Gibson. “She tells stories that are frustratingly vague, unverifiable and sometimes far-fetched.
“When pressed by the Weekly, she’s often unable to provide details such as names, locations and dates. Nor explain why her behaviour, even by her own telling, often seems irrational and illogical.”
Much of what she told the magazine was contradicted by her mother, Natalie Dal-Bello, in the June issue of the Weekly.
Nine sources said they had not paid for the interview, but a spokeswoman would not confirm this on the record. It has been reported elsewhere that 60 Minutes paid her $45,000.
Attempts to contact Gibson were unsuccessful.
