Belle Gibson, founder of The Whole Pantry app, is facing questions over her claims she had cancer. Source: Supplied
SOCIAL media star Belle Gibson, whose claim to have survived terminal brain cancer helped launch a mini-empire, has reportedly admitted she may not have been suffering multiple, life-threatening cancers after all.
Ms Gibson founded a company that launched The Whole Pantry wellness app, which has been downloaded 300,000 times, as well as publishing a book which will next month be launched in the US and Britain.
The Whole Pantry yesterday blamed poor accounting after a report claimed it the company had solicited donations from followers but failed to pass them on to nominated charities. TWP denies the allegations, referring to Ms Gibson is a “former Managing Director” of the company.
Adding to the confusion, The Australian this morning reports Ms Gibson admitted her previous claims that she had cancer of the liver, uterus, spleen and blood was based on “misdiagnosis”.
She would not name the doctor involved.
“It’s hard to admit that you’re wrong,” she was quoted as saying, adding she felt, “confused, bordering on humiliated”.
Instagram image from author Belle Gibson’s Instagram account. Source: Supplied
Despite that she stood by her claims she used alternative therapies to survive an aggressive brain tumour.
Ms Gibson has previously stated she was 20 when a doctor broke the news she had terminal brain cancer and had only four months to live. However, the Australian investigation revealed she was actually 17 at the time, according to the birth date listed on her own corporate filings.
Ms Gibson’s book publisher reportedly never sought verification of her medical condition.
Ms Gibson said she now believed she was misdiagnosed by a medical team in Germany — by someone who she now thinks wasn’t a medical doctor.
She was now seeking treatment from a conventional medical team, which she declined to name. “I’m still going through understanding what’s happening to my body.”
Ms Gibson champions healthy eating, positive thinking and a wholesome lifestyle and along with her app and a popular cookbook, enjoys a devoted fan base.
Belle Gibson now believes she mat have had her cancer misdiagnosed. Source: Supplied
Fairfax newspapers reported yesterday TWP, which owns the app, previously solicited donations from its followers, saying the money would be given to charity. But Fairfax claimed the donations were never passed on.
TWP immediately rejected the allegations in a post on its Facebook page and denied any wrongdoing, blaming cash flow problems and delayed bookkeeping for the money not reaching its intended charities.
The post referred to Ms Gibson as the “previous Managing Director” before going on to rectify what TWP calls “incorrect claims and assumptions.”
In May, the company told followers that all proceeds from app downloads (which cost $3.79) would go to a charity in South East Asia called the Bumi Sehat Foundation. A spokeswoman for the Bumi Sehat Foundation told Fairfax: “I can say with confidence that we have never received a donation from Belle Gibson”.
Belle Gibson’s recipe book. Source: Supplied
The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, also linked to TWP, claimed it had no knowledge of fundraising drives.
But in its Facebook statement, TWP said donations to the ASRC and the Bumi Sehat Foundation had not “been absorbed by anyone, or TWP, but rather had been accounted for but not processed as per advice.”
The Whole Pantry says it has passed on company finances to an external team of accountants who have been working on the books for the past five months.
The company states it is allowing the external team to “finalise the donations once all business keepings were accounted first and brought forward.”
The company says it has “made private donations to ASRC which have been receipted”.