Belle Gibson’s cancer con exposed in disturbing video

A VIDEO presented in court shows Belle Gibson and her publisher were worried about cracks in her cancer survival story before the con was exposed.

A SHOCKING video presented in court shows disgraced wellness personality Belle Gibson and her book publisher were concerned about cracks in her cancer survival story before it was revealed she had lied about her diagnosis.

The recorded interview has been used in court as part of the case to expose Ms Gibson as a cancer con, and shows her struggling to defend her lies in a media training session ahead of publicity for the release of her cookbook, The Whole Pantry, in which they were printed.

Ms Gibson claimed to have been diagnosed with malignant brain cancer, that she said spread to blood, spleen and uterus.

While undergoing media training and mock interviews with Penguin publicists, Ms Gibson is asked to prepare for interrogation from investigative journalists.

“What we suspect might happen now is that because you are a success story of the moment — you are one of Australia’s great success stories of the moment — you know what journalists do, they want to start scratch, scratch, scratching away,” a woman says off-camera.

“They already are,” replies Gibson.

“And we’re concerned about that,” the Penguin representative says.

In the footage, recorded in 2014 ahead of the book’s October release, Ms Gibson is asked about the seriousness of her claimed cancer diagnosis, and cheers when she announced the cancer she claimed to have in her uterus has miraculously disappeared.

“I’m going to get tested for ovarian cancer. I no longer have cancer in my uterus,” she says, raising her arms and letting out a “woo-hoo”.

Belle Gibson appeared at ease in the mock interview presented in court.

When pressed on when she was told the cancer was gone, she replied: “Not long ago, but it all still feels like it sucks down there”.

Ms Gibson is filmed saying she had been putting off an ovarian cancer check “for a long time” because she was “forgetful”, and jokes she needs an AppleWatch to help her organise appointments.

She says in the video she is putting off having her ovaries checked, but believes “there’s something happening there”.

At one stage, she says she feels cancer is “a manifestation of just ignoring too many things”.

She also refers to her alleged health ordeal as “the cancer story”.

“I’m sick of the cancer story, there’s enough of that out there now, there’s enough of that in the book,” she says.

During the training session, Ms Gibson is pressed on the “experimental” treatment she claimed to be taking, and the charities she couldn’t prove she had donated to.

She struggles to explain the treatment, and says the Indonesia- and Cambodia-based charities she was dealing with “don’t speak English”, but that she could have documentation to prove her claims within six months, “once I get my s*** together”.

The interviewer tells her to “get your story straight about the charities. I think they’re going to go there with that”.

Belle Gibson photographed in Melbourne.

At one stage in the video Belle Gibson said she was ‘sick of the cancer story ... there’s enough of that in the book’.

It was Ms Gibson’s philanthropy claims that sparked investigations that eventually exposed her.

The consumer watchdog started legal action against Ms Gibson in May.

It is accusing her of engaging in “unconscionable conduct” for claiming she was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2009 and given four months to live but then healed herself naturally after rejecting conventional treatments.

Ms Gibson is also accused of engaging in misleading or deceptive commerce to promote her Whole Pantry wellness app and failing to donate $400,000 from the sales of her app to various charities.

Consumer Affairs’ barrister Catherine Button said Ms Gibson had publicly stated she had a stroke at work and was subsequently diagnosed with a malignant brain tumour in June 2009.

Ms Gibson told thousands of Facebook and Instagram followers she started receiving oral chemotherapy for her cancer before abandoning conventional medicine.

Parts of Belle Gibson’s 60 Minutes appearance have also been submitted as evidence. Picture: Facebook / 60 Minutes

Ms Gibson said this was the pivotal moment she started “getting back to basics” and opted for healthy foods and natural therapies, which healed her cancer, the court heard.

“Her publisher went out and published her book on the basis of her claims,” Ms Button said on Tuesday.

The barrister also read out excerpts from a transcript of a 60 Minutes interview Ms Gibson did last year in which she admitted she’d never had cancer.

Ms Gibson had no reasonable basis to believe she had cancer and did not undergo conventional medical tests, said Ms Button.

Justice Debra Mortimer has reserved her decision.

Originally published as Belle Gibson’s cancer con exposed in disturbing video