60 Minutes reporter Tara Brown reveals what she thought of Belle Gibson after bombshell interview

Tara Brown has lifted the lid on her infamous 60 Minutes interview with cancer con artist Belle Gibson, recalling never-before-seen footage from their tense exchange.

Veteran journalist Tara Brown has revisited her shocking 2015 interview with Belle Gibson, recalling a never-before-seen moment when the notorious con artist broke down.

Brown said that she would “hate to be” in Gibson’s shoes, reflecting on the deception that made her one of Australia’s most infamous fraudsters.

In the new documentary Dangerous Lies: Unmasking Belle Gibson, Brown questioned whether Gibson had ever truly been held accountable for her web of lies before their interview.

The documentary follows the Netflix’s latest drama series, Apple Cider Vinegar, which explores how Gibson built a wellness empire on the false claim that she had cured her terminal cancer through alternative medicine.

Veteran journalist Tara Brown has revisited her shocking 2015 interview with Belle Gibson. Picture: AAP

Brown recalled that Gibson initially came across as polite and “friendly” when she arrived for the interview.

However, her reluctance to answer even the simplest questions – like her own age – quickly wore down the veteran journalist.

“We wanted her to be honest with us,” Brown said.

“It was her responsibility to tell the truth – mine was to point out that she wasn’t.”

After reviewing Gibson’s non-existent cancer diagnosis and the apparent lying doctor who falsely told her she had a brain tumour, Brown questioned why Gibson withheld medical documents which would prove her story true.

“We’ve already asked for background information. We’ve asked for all your medical records and your medical history,” Brown told Gibson in 2015.

Belle Gibson as she appeared on the 60 Minutes interview in 2015.

“You haven’t given us any dates. You haven’t given us any brain scans, you haven’t given us any MRIs, you haven’t given us any tissue tests. You haven’t given us anything.”

Gibson replied: “I wasn’t explicitly asked for any of that, but I have it.”

However, a seemingly fed-up Brown answered: “Belle, Belle, Belle, please.

“You’re interested in getting to the bottom of this and presenting the facts as they are, or you’re not, OK?”.

The documentary also unveiled never-before-seen footage of Gibson becoming emotional and requesting to leave the room after facing a series of direct and pointed questions from Brown.

“Can we have a minute, because I’m feeling really belittled,” Gibson said.

Brown replied: “I’m not, I’m not belittling you, I’m actually trying to understand.”

Reflecting on the moment 10 years on, Brown said: “She had fooled the world, in a dangerous way.

“I didn’t want her to be upset but it didn’t mean that she should have avoided the questions.

“During the interview, there was a point where Belle Gibson got very upset and she needed to leave the room.

“I don’t know whether she felt attacked, or she felt that it was all unravelling, or she’d never been asked to account for her lies but yeah, she needed a breather.”

Brown said she hoped her 2015 interview now served as a cautionary tale to not believe everything you see online.

“I hope it leads to people questioning a bit more,” she said.

“I would hate to be Belle Gibson, I would hate to be associated with her.

“If there’s any sense of remorse, or shame, or even insight into what she did – there’s nowhere to hide now, is there?.”

‘DIDN’T WANT TO FORGIVE HER’

It comes as the Australian creator of the smash-hit series based on the life of fake cancer fraudster Belle Gibson has told why she didn’t want to meet the conwoman, as she opened up about the show’s ambiguous ending.

The Netflix series Apple Cider Vinegar has reignited interest in the story of the former Melbourne-based influencer, who launched a lucrative wellness empire by convincing the world she had brain cancer.

Hollywood star Kaitlyn Dever plays Gibson in the series, which also takes in wider issues around the rise of the wellness craze.

Belle Gibson is the subject of a smash-hit Netflix series. Picture: Facebook / 60 Minutes

Kaitlyn Dever plays the cancer fraudster in the new show. Picture: Getty Images

Samantha Strauss, writer and producer of the series, has told The Hollywood Reporter she did not want to meet Gibson, who has not yet commented on the series, as she did not want to “fully absolve” the former wellness guru, whose actions had “catastrophic consequences”.

Apple Cider Vinegar creator Samantha Strauss at the 2025 Gold Coast AACTA Awards. Picture: Richard Gosling

“I thought that distance would only help,” Ms Strauss said.

“I also didn’t want to sit down with her because I knew that if she asked me not to tell her story, I probably still would have done it.

“Because the things she did had such catastrophic consequences and may have harmed so many people so badly. So, I was guided by the view that I would never take cheap shots at her, but I also wouldn’t let the show fully absolve her.”

Ms Strauss told The Hollywood Reporter that for the series, which is adapted from the book The Woman Who Fooled The World by journalists Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano, she was inspired to explore how wellness culture “intersects with other forces like social media and the medical establishment”.

Belle Gibson leaves the federal court in Melbourne in 2019 flanked by her legal team. Picture: Aaron Francis/The Australian

“As got started, I found that you have to exercise enormous empathy to write someone like Belle. It’s my job as a writer to try to understand her as best I can — to grasp at the whys behind her story — but I also knew that I didn’t want to forgive her.”

 Gibson, a 33-year-old mother of one, launched her wellness app, The Whole Pantry in 2013, and ultimately signed a lucrative cookbook deal, claiming that she had cured her cancer by eating healthily.

In April 2015, Gibson admitted that she did not and had never had cancer.

In 2017, the mother of one was ordered to repay $410,000 to the Federal Court after being found guilty of misleading and deceptive conduct for falsely claiming she had terminal cancer that was cured by alternative therapies and nutrition.

Belle Gibson fooled the world by pretending she had brain cancer.

She told the court she did not have the capacity to pay and has since dodged the fine.

Ms Strauss also opened up about Apple Cider Vinegar’s ambiguous ending, which takes in her infamous 60 Minutes interview in 2015 interview with Tara Brown, for which she was paid $75,000.

During the interview, which has resurfaced online following the show’s release, Gibson denied having ever lied about having cancer and dodged questions about her age.

The series ends with the character of Gibson gazing at her partner and son as she is about to be interviewed by 60 Minutes.

Belle Gibson during her infamous 60 Minutes interview.

While being interviewed, the character of Gibson is asked again, “Do you have cancer?”

“I really, really hope not,” she replies.

Ms Strauss gave some insight into the meaning of the ending, telling The Hollywood Reporter the “I hope not” line was key.

“As a writer, you don’t want to totally give away your intentions, but to me, when she says, ‘I really hope not,’ as in, ‘I hope I’m not sick’ what she’s really saying is that she hopes she’s not broken, and that she really doesn’t want to do this to people again,” she said.

Apple Cider Vinegar charts Gibson’s story fairly accurately but the rivalry between Dever’s character and a wellness blogger character named Milla has been fictionalised.

The character of Milla is based on Australian wellness blogger Jess Ainscough, who tragically died from cancer in 2015 at the age of 29.  

In the series, Milla, played by Australian actress Alycia Debnam-Carey, is a fierce rival of the fictional Gibson.

 The series shows the character of Gibson obsessively following Milla’s every move as the two battle to reign supreme as the queens of wellness.

 In reality, while she had met Gibson at an event and occasionally interacted with her online, Ainscough did not have much of an offline relationship with Gibson at all.

According to Donelly and Toscano’s book, the real-life Gibson appeared at Ms Ainscough’s funeral and called attention to herself with theatrical “sobbing”.

Originally published as 60 Minutes reporter Tara Brown reveals what she thought of Belle Gibson after bombshell interview