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'The Whole Pantry' App Developer Admits Faking Cancer to Boost Sales

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After facing a wave of controversy in March over reports of false claims made towards her cancer diagnosis, Australian indie developer Belle Gibson this week spoke out, admitting that "none of it's true" in regards to her ever having cancer (via News.com.au).

Last month, when $300,000 of her app sales failed to find its promised home at certain charities, the legitimacy of her cancer claims began to be questioned. Gibson is the founder of The Whole Pantry, a healthy lifestyle and diet app that focuses on naturally-occurring ingredients and solutions to complicated recipes.

bellegibson-800x511.jpg
Gibson claimed that her app, which launched in 2013 on iOS, was the culmination of a lifestyle and choices that helped her personally overcome terminal brain cancer, a statement she's now claiming to be completely false when talking to The Australian Women's Weekly earlier this week.
"No. None of it's true," she confessed. "I am still jumping between what I think I know and what is reality. I have lived it and I'm not really there yet."

"In the last two years I have worked every single day living and raising up an online community of people who supported each other ... I understand the confusion and the suspicion, but I also know that people need to draw a line in the sand where they still treat someone with some level of respect or humility -- and I have not been receiving that."
Click to expand...
Amid the firestorm against her, Penguin Australia has stopped selling her book and Gibson has faced monetary troubles as numerous accountants have instructed her to provide any leftover funds from The Whole Pantry's sales to the charities she initially pledged money to.

The-Whole-Pantry-Apple-Watch-800x469.png
The Whole Pantry Apple Watch app before it was removed by Apple.​

The Australian Women's Weekly suggests that Gibson may suffer from Factitious Disorder, whose sufferers feign illnesses and disease to gain a wider audience and recognition. Despite the whole ordeal causing her to shut down The Whole Pantry's Facebook page and even her own personal Instagram account, Gibson hopes her honesty on the matter helps her grow from the situation.
"I just think [speaking out] was the responsible thing to do. Above anything, I would like people to say, 'Okay, she's human. She's obviously had a big life. She's respectfully come to the table and said what she's needed to say, and now it's time for her to grow and heal.'"
Click to expand...
Apple began promoting Gibson's app The Whole Pantry as a featured spot on its Apple Watch app page, going so far as to fly Gibson out to Cupertino to assist her in being one of the first-wave launch apps for the Watch. The company ended up pulling the app from its App Store, and stopped promoting the Apple Watch version, when the fraud allegations began in March.

Note: Due to the controversial nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Article Link: 'The Whole Pantry' App Developer Admits Faking Cancer to Boost Sales
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2015/04/22/developer-admits-faking-cancer/
" Gibson may suffer from Factitious Disorder, whose sufferers feign illnesses and disease to gain a wider audience and recognition."

come on now.
 
Okay, she has mental issues and lied... Profiting from false claims, is that a crime in AU?

Where's the money that was supposed to be donated? Isn't that a crime?

Does anyone know what % was supposed to be donated?

I can't believe her smug, "can't we all just get along" attitude
 
I don't think she's going to get the kind treatment that she's naively hoping for.

She's basically said something like "I think all the people I stole from will understand me, and will want to give me a cuddle".

If only that was the way the world worked...
 
Seems reasonable...

An apology that doesn't answer for the money going where its supposed to go, that answers the questions we already had the answer for (and proof of), and then goes on to explain about how the situation is all about the

LYING, THIEVING, VICTIMIZING

individual. Poor her...

Yeah, that works.

When the money is where it should be, when she pays for the lives she wrecked with bullsheite, and doesn't make it a pity me trip... then it MIGHT qualify as an actual apology. No, I won't treat you with respect until these things are done, AT MINIMUM. You screwed up, and you need to EARN respect back. No, it is NOT a given.
 
From the News.com article:
"The young mother — she has a 4-year-old son called Olivier — claims she was forced to take care of herself from the age of five."

From an article in September 2014 in The Age
""When I was first diagnosed - my mother fell into complete denial and fear and I had to let go of that relationship". "

Time to spin it in a new direction, eh?
 
Last edited:
ButteryScrollin said:
" Gibson may suffer from Factitious Disorder, whose sufferers feign illnesses and disease to gain a wider audience and recognition."

come on now.
Click to expand...

Had the same thought. There's apparently some medical reason you can fall back on to explain anything you don't want to take personal responsibility for. Maybe I'm wrong, but I always thought people were more honourable when I was a kid.
 
... a lifestyle and choices that helped her personally overcome terminal brain cancer
Click to expand...
Well, she obviously succeeded in avoiding brain cancer. :rolleyes:

Sad that someone would do this.
 
Last edited:
FrizzleFryBen said:
Okay, she has mental issues and lied... Profiting from false claims, is that a crime in AU?
Click to expand...

If that was true there would be no politicians there. That said I just can’t understand why people in the public eye do this. I could get away with it as I’m not in the spotlight, but her? Somebody, somewhere is going to find out.
 
People saw through her lies about being a victim of cancer, so now she's saying she's a victim of being ridiculed.

Uh, yeah. You deserve that. You're not supposed to like being ridiculed. You deserve a hefty fine and prison time for the lies you've said, in addition to the ridicule.
 
The snake oil salesman of today.
All for the money. Hope she gets none at the end.
 
MacRumors said:
[url=http://cdn.macrumors.com/im/macrumorsthreadlogodarkd.png]Image[/url]


After facing a wave of controversy in March over reports of false claims made towards her cancer diagnosis, Australian indie developer Belle Gibson this week spoke out, admitting that "none of it's true" in regards to her ever having cancer (via News.com.au).

Last month, when $300,000 of her app sales failed to find its promised home at certain charities, the legitimacy of her cancer claims began to be questioned. Gibson is the founder of The Whole Pantry, a healthy lifestyle and diet app that focuses on naturally-occurring ingredients and solutions to complicated recipes.

Gibson claimed that her app, which launched in 2013 on iOS, was the culmination of a lifestyle and choices that helped her personally overcome terminal brain cancer, a statement she's now claiming to be completely false when talking to The Australian Women's Weekly earlier this week.
Amid the firestorm against her, Penguin Australia has stopped selling her book and Gibson has faced monetary troubles as numerous accountants have instructed her to provide any leftover funds from The Whole Pantry's sales to the charities she initially pledged money to.

ImageThe Whole Pantry Apple Watch app before it was removed by Apple.​

The Australian Women's Weekly suggests that Gibson may suffer from Factitious Disorder, whose sufferers feign illnesses and disease to gain a wider audience and recognition. Despite the whole ordeal causing her to shut down The Whole Pantry's Facebook page and even her own personal Instagram account, Gibson hopes her honesty on the matter helps her grow from the situation.
Apple began promoting Gibson's app The Whole Pantry as a featured spot on its Apple Watch app page, going so far as to fly Gibson out to Cupertino to assist her in being one of the first-wave launch apps for the Watch. The company ended up pulling the app from its App Store, and stopped promoting the Apple Watch version, when the fraud allegations began in March.

Note: Due to the controversial nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Article Link: 'The Whole Pantry' App Developer Admits Faking Cancer to Boost Sales
Click to expand...

Have you got a slow news day, this story broke more than a month ago?

http://www.flamingopink.com.au/2015/03/belle-gibson-whole-pantry-cancer-scam/
 
AppleInLVX said:
There's apparently some medical reason you can fall back on to explain anything you don't want to take personal responsibility for.
Click to expand...

Oh my god. This.

This has been increasingly common, and it's sick.

At least she has a recurring theme now. Faking illnesses.
 
She did wrong, perhaps broke the law. But, me buying an app is if it's good and needed, not if the developer has cancer or had cancer.
 
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