For women, friendship is everything.
So it’s truly an unimaginable horror - finding out that your best friend has been lying to you since the start, about everything, and having to reassess everything you thought you knew.
This might sound like a scene straight out of a horror movie, but it’s actually one woman’s true story.
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The liar in question is Belle Gibson, an Australian blogger, who shot to online fame after her journey with terminal illnesses and pursuit of health and wellness captured the hearts of over 300,000 followers.
Against all odds, everything was a complete lie.
The deceit begins
When Belle was just 21, she informed her followers that she had been victim of two cardiac arrests, a stroke, and terminal Stage 4 cancer.
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The lies didn’t stop there, though - in fact that barely scratches the surface.
She also shared that she’d had to endure three heart surgeries - died on the operating table twice - before being told by medics she had an inoperable brain tumour and six months to live.
While it seems obviously ludicrous reading it all written down - Belle was a highly skilled liar that fooled everybody, even publishing houses. Her cookbook, titled The Whole Pantry was published by Penguin during her campaign of dishonesty.
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Belle benefitted financially from her lies with the book publication, as well as the launch of her wellness app, also called ‘The Whole Pantry’.
It’s estimated that a staggering 200,000 people downloaded the app within the first month of its release in 2013, and it was then unbelievably voted Apple's 'Best Food and Drink App' the same year.
Belle’s lies had devastating real-life consequences. She claimed to have 'cured' many of her illnesses by using natural remedies and a specific diet. This dissuaded real sufferers from having the procedures they needed.
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Lies exposed
Belle, who was also a mum-of-one, also told huge lies about charity donations
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Her lies and life as a con artist began to publicly unravel in 2015 when a charity shared that they’d never received the donations Belle claimed to have made.
It has now emerged that Belle spent people’s donations on a car, a townhouse, designer fashion pieces and dental procedures.
In a bombshell interview in 2015, she admitted her health woes were made up, confessing: "No, none of it is true," and was later fined £240,000 for fraud - which she has reportedly still not paid.
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"She was defensive"
ITV is airing a two-part documentary, Instagram’s Worst Con Artist, which will explore Belle’s lies in full - and the heartbreaking effect it had on her best friend, Chanelle McAuliffe.
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Chanelle revisits the shocking moment she found out about her best friend's lies after confronting Belle after an unconvincing ‘seizure’ and demanded to see medical evidence.
She had also started taking note of red flags - including Belle’s use of sunbeds and downing shots on nights out despite her alleged fragile health.
Chanelle said: "I asked her which hospital she went to get diagnosed at and she said she hadn’t been, that a doctor came to her house.
“She was defensive. But the more she spoke, the more it became clear it was all a lie.”
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Chanelle went on to say: “She was profiting from a web of lies she was spinning by targeting vulnerable people and it just made my blood boil. She was misleading people on such a major level. They were choosing to eat fruit and veg over medical treatment.
"I asked her if she was ready to come forward and she got really aggressive and told me to ‘f**k off’.”
Chanelle eventually had a hand in Belle’s lies being exposed, enlisting the help of law enforcement, journalists and lawyers.
The explosive documentary, Instagram's Worst Con Artist, airs tonight (25 April) and 2 May at 9.00pm on ITV.
Topics: Health, Documentaries, ITV
Kya Buller