The mystery of ‘Clive’, the man cancer con Belle Gibson claims is bankrolling her lifestyle

Cancer fake Belle Gibson claims Centrelink payments while shopping, gambling and taking lavish holidays — apparently funded by a mystery man she’s lived with for years. Yet she’s sworn in court he’s just a “friend”. Does her latest story stack up?

Lies. They are something Belle Gibson knows all too well.

She is the woman who duped the world into believing she beat terminal brain cancer with healthy eating and natural therapies — and built a profitable wellness business out of her false assertions.

She has since admitted: “None of it’s true”.

But this week, promising to “tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth” as she gave testimony in the Federal Court, it was her relationship with a mystery older man she constantly referred to as “Clive” that was thrown in the spotlight.

Asked how she paid for legal fees, the 27-year-old unemployed mother answered “Clive”.

Again probed as to how she afforded a month-long holiday to Africa in January, she said it was “a gift”.

From who?

“Clive”, she coughed up after pausing and looking around the room.

The ‘friends’ in a picture posted to Gibson’s Facebook several years ago.

Fronting court finally in person this week, Gibson knew strangely little about her ‘friend’ Clive. Picture: AAP

Gibson was facing a grilling by Consumer Affairs Victoria over her financial situation and why she had failed to pay a cent of her $410,000 fine, issued in 2017 for five breaches of consumer law over her misleading and deceptive conduct as founder of The Whole Pantry.

She claimed she simply couldn’t afford it. So dire is her financial situation, she says, she has resorted to selling items in her home at times to make ends meet.

Yet, her bank statements from the past two years revealed what prosecutor Elle Nikou Madalin, for the consumer watchdog, described as “curious” transactions from Sportsbet and cryptocurrency accounts, and multiple Afterpay or PayPal purchases.

Gibson also wore designer sunglasses to court, and admitted she bought a new $200 black dress especially for the hearing. But she couldn’t remember the label, despite purchasing it only a week earlier.

It wasn’t the only thing she couldn’t remember.

Crying poor and that she lives off Centrelink payments, her answer for any questions relating to living expenses, including rent and utilities, was that Clive, who is on the lease with her at her Northcote property, covered it.

“I contribute when I can,” she said.

But despite living with the South Australian-born IT consultant for at least four years, Gibson could not say what he did for work or how much he earns.

“That’s not my business,” she said.

Who is ‘Clive’?

Clive Rothwell, up until Tuesday’s court hearing, was always widely known among Gibson’s family and friends as being her partner. They often attended events together.

Before her web of lies was exposed and she deleted her social media accounts, they were littered with images of the pair, often looking cosy.

But Gibson this week, after taking her affirmation in the court, denied they were engaged, let alone in a romantic or de facto relationship.

“He’s just a friend,” she declared.

Gibson, Clive Rothwell and son Olivier. Picture: Rob Leeson

Gibson admitted she bought a $200 dress for court this week. Picture: David Geraghty.

Many in the courtroom found it hard to believe. Her barrister Andrew Tragardh, who specialises in commercial fraud and white collar crime cases, jumped to his feet and explained that it was simply something that had been speculated about in the media.

But it appears he was wrong.

Gibson, in many interviews before she was ousted as a fraudster in March 2015, had herself spoken openly of her relationship with Clive.

When preparing to launch her The Whole Pantry cookbook, her publisher Penguin video recorded a media training session with her.

A transcript of the session revealed she confirmed she was no longer in a relationship with Nathan Corbett, the father of her son, Olivier, now 8, and that she was with Clive.

Told the media would likely ask her about that, Gibson said: “That’s OK. It’s better to be honest than them to extrapolate stuff I was trying to hide”.

So which answer is the truth?

Talking about her wellness app, she was asked if Clive, an IT expert, was advising her.

“Clive always believed in me, always does believe in me,” she said.

“He knew that it was also going to be a big part of my healing. I’ve always been a teacher and he knew that I needed to teach.”

Gibson outside her Northcote home, where she has lived with Clive for several years. Picture: Ian Currie

Gibson in 2015, spruiking The Whole Pantry app.

The wellness app was said to have been also partly funded by Clive.

She said the app was funded by the couple putting “all of our money together”.

Again, in an interview with Australian Women’s Weekly in May 2015, after the scandal broke, she claimed to have had a miscarriage with Mr Rothwell.

But the magazine described how she became visibly upset and refused to discuss it when asked further questions, only to say it was not another false health crisis.

Gibson described Mr Rothwell as being “supportive but obviously devastated” at her deception.

“He’s been very stern, along the lines of, ‘I just want you to acknowledge where you’ve f---ed up and not try to smooth over that’,” she told the magazine.

Mr Rothwell was also among the many people Gibson personally thanked on two pages of acknowledgments in her cookbook.

“For everything. No words can say it all, but this addition to the TWP family is yours (almost) as much as it is mine,” she wrote to him. “Thank you, every single day, forever.”

Mr Rothwell played a huge role in helping her with the business, even registering The Whole Pantry domain name in 2013.

Financial statements from the company for the 2014 financial year identify a loan of $12,661 to Mr Rothwell.

Gibson later tried to explain it was “an accounting error”.

Mr Rothwell, a scrum master at RMIT, has never publicly spoken, and remained silent this week when approached leaving the home they share.

Without his side of the story, it is hard to decipher what is the truth about their relationship.

MORE: BELLE’S HISTORY OF LIES

Does it matter if he’s more than a friend?

If Gibson is found to have been lying on the stand, she could be facing a perjury charge.

Adding to her woes, authorities may also come knocking to probe her over her eligibility for government payments.

Consumer Affairs has doggedly pursued civil action against Gibson to make her accountable for the lies she told, including not only that she had cancer but was donating a large proportion of profits to charities.

Under examination, she denied receiving any of The Whole Pantry’s $216,000 profit.

So what happened to that money,” Ms Nikou Madalin probed.

“The staff under that company were paid,” Gibson responded.

She says she is not financially capable of paying the fine, but if she was she would “absolutely” have every intention to do so.

It would seem not much has changed since her tweet on September 14, 2009: “I have more bills than income. Oops.”

But crying poor now may not be enough to get her out of the hole she has dug.

She will return to court for further examination on a June 6. After that, Judicial Registrar Claire Gitsham will determine if she can afford the fine, even if it meant paying it off in $5 per week instalments.

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