The Woman Who Fooled the World: The true story of fake wellness guru Belle Gibson

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Beau Donelly Nick Toscano

The Woman Who Fooled the World

The true story of fake wellness guru Belle Gibson

Beau Donelly, Nick Toscano

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English

Scribe Publications
04 February 2025

Biography; Hoaxes & deceptions; Criminal investigation & detection; Popular medicine & health

The jaw-dropping story of Instagram influencer and wellness scammer Belle Gibson, whose cancer diagnosis and cure was all a lie.

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Entrepreneur. Inspiration. Guru. Australian wellness influencer Belle Gibson shot to fame after she convinced the world she had cured her terminal brain cancer with just a healthy diet. But there was one problem- she lied - she'd never had cancer.

Gibson, a high school dropout and teenage mother, built a global business in less than eighteen months that vaulted her to fame and fortune. She had 200,000 Instagram followers from Melbourne to Los Angeles to London, international book deals, and a bestselling smartphone app, having fooled both Penguin Books and Apple. She was a digital-age celebrity, a one-woman cult, a hero of the ""wellness"" world, and an inspiration to many.

Written by the two journalists who assiduously uncovered the details of Gibson's lies, The Woman Who Fooled the World unravels the mystery and motivation behind this deception. It follows the public reaction to the scandal, which included headlines in Time magazine and Gibson being named as a top-ten villain of the year by The Washington Post.

The Woman Who Fooled the World also explores the lure of alternative cancer treatments, the cottage industry flourishing behind the wellness movement, and the rise of social media. It documents not only Gibson's folly but the devastating impact this con had on hers fans and on people suffering from cancer.

'The Woman Who Fooled the World isn't just a detonating expose, but a forensically researched, compulsively readable and frequently staggering behind-the-scenes account of an unravelling on an operative scale. It'll also restore your faith in journalism's ability to uncover the truth and expose it to light.' -Benjamin Law, author of Gaysia and The Family Law

'Meticulously researched and elegantly composed, The Woman Who Fooled The World is a journalistic detective story for the smart-phone age. Donelly and Toscano not only chart con artist Belle Gibson's rise to global acclaim and her crashing fall, they explore and explain modern society's willingness to believe in anyone, or anything, that offers hope of beating what is perhaps our greatest collective fear- cancer. For me, the book reaches its highest point when we hear from genuine cancer sufferers who believed in Gibson. Their honesty about their fears and uncertain futures counter balances the bullshit of Gibson and her profit-minded enablers. Donelly and Toscano give a master class in old-fashioned investigative journalism and a reminder of its potency and importance.' -Richard Baker, investigative journalist, The Age

'The Woman Who Fooled the World is a balanced and authoritative account of Gibson's career ... essential reading for anyone seeking an understanding of how so many people could have fallen for her pernicious lies.' -Simon Caterson, Irish Independent

By: Beau Donelly, Nick Toscano
Imprint: Scribe Publications
Country of Publication: Australia
Dimensions: Height: 197mm, Width: 130mm, Spine: 21mm
Weight: 254g
ISBN: 9781761381638
ISBN 10: 1761381636
Pages: 336
Publication Date: 04 February 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Beau Donelly (Author) Beau Donelly is a multi-award-winning journalist who covered social affairs for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. His news-breaking and investigative skills have been recognised by the United Nations and the Melbourne Press Club. Donelly has been awarded for an expose on illegal brothels, coverage of clergy sex-abuse trials, and reporting on disability issues. He has also been a finalist for Australian journalism's highest honour, the Walkley Award. Donelly has a Bachelor of Journalism from Monash University, and is based in Europe. Nick Toscano (Author) Nick Toscano is a multi-award-winning journalist based in Melbourne, who specialises in federal politics, business workplace relations, and the labour movement for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. He has been awarded the the Grant Hattam Quill for Investigative Journalism, and has twice received the highest honour in Australian journalism, the Walkley Award, for exposing the country's biggest-ever underpayment scandal. Toscano has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Melbourne and a Masters in Journalism from RMIT.