Disgraced health blogger Belle Gibson has to pay $ 30,000 towards the legal costs of Consumer Affairs Victoria and has been banned from making deceptive claims about her health in connection with wellbeing advice.
Federal court justice Debra Mortimer made the orders on Friday against Annabelle Natalie Gibson, who claimed she had brain cancer and healed herself with natural remedies.
The judge said Gibson was prohibited from claiming, in connection with the development and promotion and sale of her wellness advice:
that she had been diagnosed with brain cancer at any time before 24 May 2016
that she was given four months to live
that she had taken and then rejected conventional cancer treatments in favour of embarking on a quest to heal herself naturally
Consumer Affairs Victoria took Gibson to court last year alleging she had lied about a 2009 brain cancer diagnosis and subsequent recovery.
It was also alleged that she had lied to consumers about donating to charities from the sales of her Whole Pantry app.
Last month Mortimer found the allegations against Gibson to be mostly true, saying she had “played on the genuine desire of members of the Australian community to help those less fortunate”.
An excerpt from Gibson’s Whole Pantry Book describes her journey from being told she had four months to live, to finding out she was pregnant, to rejecting medical intervention and travelling the country in search of non-medical advice.
If Gibson refused to obey Friday’s court order, she would be liable for imprisonment, sequestration of property or other punishment, the court documents said.
She has been absent from court since the case began and has not defended herself through lawyers.
Eight years ago, while returning home from a stag do in Blackpool, Scott Gibson began getting headaches that were so excruciating he rang the NHS’s 24-hour helpline and then had a stroke while on the phone. They sent an ambulance, but he turned it away and simply took to his bed instead – for four days. As he lay there, one thought kept going through his head: “I must be OK because I’m young and healthy.” Finally, he tried to head back to work, only to find himself going blind in one eye. Somehow he made it to hospital, where doctors diagnosed an aneurysm an inch-and-a-half deep behind his right ear. He needed major brain surgery, they said. The operation took seven hours.
After Gibson pulled through, he was determined to live life to the full – to live the life he’d always dreamed of, in fact. “I always wanted to be a storyteller,” says Gibson. “And, from day one, I knew this would be the first story I’d tell.” So, as a lifelong comedy lover, the Glaswegian embarked on a college standup course and was soon gigging regularly. In 2012, he took redundancy – £632 – from the call centre where he worked to focus fully on his new career.
But it wasn’t until last year that he made his Edinburgh fringe debut – after a false start in 2015, when the Stand Comedy Club, which has venues in Newcastle, Glasgow and Edinburgh, refused to book Life After Death, as he called his show. “I don’t know why,” says Gibson, now 32. “I don’t know if they thought I was worthy of a room.”
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A clip from Scott Gibson’s show Life After Death on YouTube
At no point did I think: ‘I’m going to win an award with my debut show’
In Edinburgh, however, he proved an overnight sensation. The unheralded Glaswegian swiped the coveted best newcomer comedy award with a show you’d happily watch even if there were no laughs in it, so gripping is his near-death tale. Looking back, Gibson says he is glad about the enforced wait: the extra year’s work contributed, he believes, to his extraordinary success. I could fill this whole article with quotes expressing the burly Scotsman’s astonishment at winning his gong, joining a pantheon that includes Sarah Millican, the Mighty Boosh and Tim Minchin. “I never thought in a million years I’d even be nominated,” he says, having arrived at the festival with “no manager, no PR, no buzz. Didn’t even have a press release. I don’t know if that helped, having no expectations. But at no point did I think, ‘I’m going to win an award with my debut show.’”
Even being shortlisted, says Gibson, propelled him into a glamorous new world. “The nominees turned up to have press pictures taken – and there’s free coffee and bacon rolls! I’m thinking, ‘This is how the other half live!’” Of 18 acts nominated, Gibson believes he was the only one without an agent or manager. He credits his venue, the Gilded Balloon, with providing the support that made his triumph possible.
What made it doubly sweet, he says, was that the main award was won by his compatriot Richard Gadd, a first ever Scottish double-whammy and a rare instance of Edinburgh’s comedy awards recognising local talent. “Rightly or wrongly,” says Gibson, “we [Scottish comics] have an idea we don’t belong at the fringe. There is a voice in our heads saying we cannot compete with London, or the establishment.”
That’s partly because, for Scottish acts, the fringe is awkwardly positioned between home gig and alien environment. “It’s a home gig in that it’s in Edinburgh,” says Gibson, “but not in terms of the audience.” Then there’s the lack of a sustainable comedy circuit in Scotland, meaning acts can only ever do short sets in pubs, and seldom the hour-long narrative or themed shows that prosper on the fringe.
“It’s a hard apprenticeship,” says Gibson. “But it’s the best, because if you come through it, you can play anywhere.” So will his triumph be a confidence-booster for Scottish acts? “There’ll have been comics in Scotland who heard the result and went, ‘Brilliant! Next year, I’m going.’ And others who’ll say, ‘Well, that’s us for another 25 years.’ That’s unfortunately how we think, and it’s stupid.”
At any rate, Gibson will be back, with a show called Like Father Like Son, about “the male figures in my life and how those relationships formed me”. Already nearing completion, it will be one in the eye, Gibson promises, for anyone thinking: “All right, one-trick pony, let’s see what you’ve got.”
In the meantime, he is midway through a run at Soho theatre in London. Before his fringe success, getting a gig there was all he dreamed of, the apex of his ambition. However, his aspirations have not been much affected by awards glory. “I just love doing standup,” he says. “If you can pay your bills, go on holiday once a year, and do standup … ” The ex-call centre employee’s voice tails off. “I don’t know what else you’re wanting. It’s just a good life. Life’s good, man.”
•Scott Gibson: Life After Death is at Soho theatre, London, until 14 January.
The disgraced wellness blogger Belle Gibson was paid $ 75,000 by Channel Nine for an exclusive interview on 60 Minutes, according to court documents filed by Consumer Affairs Victoria.
In June last year Gibson was interviewed by the 60 Minutes reporter Tara Brown about faking brain cancer but her answers were incoherent and she even declined to give her age.
Nine has declined to say whether Gibson was paid for the bizarre interview, in which she told Brown she was the victim despite having deceived social media followers who believed she had terminal cancer.
“I didn’t trade in on my story or in other peoples lives,” Gibson told Channel Nine. “I’m not trying to get away with anything.”
Confirmation she was paid handsomely by 60 Minutes has emerged from the hundreds of documents filed by Consumer Affairs Victoria in the federal court.
A spokeswoman for Consumer Affairs confirmed the invoice for $ 75,000 dated July 2015 is included in an affidavit in the 1,500-page cache of documents filed with the court.
In May Consumer Affairs announced it would take action against Gibson after an investigation into her alleged contraventions of consumer law.
“The alleged contraventions relate to false claims by Ms Gibson and her company concerning her diagnosis with terminal brain cancer, her rejection of conventional cancer treatments in favour of natural remedies and the donation of proceeds to various charities,” the justice department said.
In the book The Whole Pantry, published by Penguin, Gibson claimed she had been diagnosed with malignant brain cancer at the age of 20 and had tried radiotherapy and chemotherapy but that diets and natural treatments had saved her life.
Penguin later withdrew the book from sale after acknowledging the statements made in it were not true.
Gibson’s payments from media appearances and her relationships with publishers and media companies are now being laid bare through the court case.
It was also revealed the federal court in Victoria last week that Gibson had made more than $ 420,000 from sales of her app and received a $ 132,500 book advance.
Company bank records tendered to the court show she made payments for a BMW, spent hundreds on Uber rides, spent money on overseas travel, including a trip to San Francisco, and at the Apple iTunes store and eating out at cafes.
Last week a video emerged of Gibson being coached by Penguin Publishing.
Her social media posts, including one where she said she had cured her terminal brain cancer “naturally”, are also being used as evidence she committed fraud.
