Father depicted in hit Netflix show Apple Cider Vinegar slams ‘lies’ about daughter

Having lost his wife and daughter to cancer Col ­Ainscough has suffered more grief and heartbreak than most face in a lifetime, and now part of his story is being played out in Netflix’s Apple Cider Vinegar.

Having lost his wife and daughter to cancer Col ­Ainscough has suffered more grief and heartbreak than most face in a lifetime.

But now the marine ­surveyor is reliving the trauma as Netflix’s hit series Apple Cider Vinegar has used his daughter Jess’s tragic story to spin a narrative which is hurtful and untrue.

Chronicling the life of heartless hoaxer Belle Gibson, the show describes itself as a “true-ish story based on a lie” but, as Mr Ainscough says, the series itself is riddled with ­inaccuracies.

The series depicts Gibson having a close friendship with a character called Milla Blake played by Australian actress Alycia Debnam-Carey, who confirmed Milla is based on the late “wellness warrior” Jess Ainscough.

Yet, as 72-year-old Mr Ainscough points out, there was never a friendship between his daughter, a genuine cancer sufferer who used conventional and alternative therapies to treat her epithelioid sarcoma, and Belle.

Alycia Debnam-Carey as Milla and Matt Nable as Joe in Apple Cider Vinegar. Picture: Netflix

“They have chosen to create a dramatised story in which Jess and my family are inaccurately portrayed,” says Mr Ainscough, who lives on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast and lost his wife Sharyn and only child within 18 months of each other.

“I find it insensitive and clearly profit-driven with wildly inaccurate fictional writing about a deeply real and personal tragedy.”

The real Belle Gibson leaving court in 2019. Picture: David Crosling

Although Belle attended Jess’s memorial when she died 10 years ago this month, friends and family say her attendance did not reflect a genuine friendship but was Belle inserting herself in the fellow wellness influencer’s tragic story.

“Jess and Belle Gibson were never friends,” says Mr ­Ainscough, who has no interest in watching the series but has learned of the inaccuracies it contains.

“Continually linking Jess’s name to Belle is appalling. Jess doesn’t deserve her legacy to be tarnished by this,” he said.

Jess, who worked as an online editor for Dolly magazine before being diagnosed with cancer and setting up her popular blog The Wellness Warrior, died just weeks before Gibson was exposed as a fraud.

Jess Ainscough died 10 years ago but her memory has been dragged into the movie abut Belle Gibson. Picture: Marc Robertston

Mr Ainscough is also appalled to discover that he is portrayed in the series as an aggressive and unsupportive husband and father.

Actor Matt Nable, playing Milla’s father Joe, portrays him as angry and oppositional when both his daughter and wife opt to try unconventional therapies in their cancer battles.

As he says, when Jess was diagnosed in 2008 after lumps began forming on her left arm, the outlook was bleak and “I felt Jess had no real option but to seek alternatives and I fully supported her bravery and diligence in doing so.

“Jess was incredibly intelligent and she and Sharyn spent months researching every possible option, including clinics worldwide. I did my own research, read about Gerson therapy and felt confident it was manageable for our family.

“I trusted Jess and Sharyn’s judgment, knowing they wouldn’t take such a decision lightly.”

He says the rigorous therapy, which required hourly juices and several coffee enemas each day, worked for his daughter.

Writer and wellness entrepreneur Jessica Ainscough with her father Col Ainscough. Picture: Supplied

“I saw Jess heal through this intensive process, which worked for her. She was cancer-free after 24 months on the program and stayed that way for several years.”

The Cancer Council has stated it is not “a valid or effective treatment for cancer” and should never be taken in lieu of treatments such as surgery, radiation and chemotherapy.

When his wife Sharyn learned she had breast cancer in April 2011 it was a late diagnosis and she chose not to undergo conventional treatment. Instead she adjusted her diet and incorporated aspects of Gerson therapy to improve her quality of life.

Mr Ainscough says each cancer sufferer has the right to make decisions based on diagnosis, stage of cancer and quality of life.

Sharyn died in October 2013 and Jess’s cancer returned the following year.

Along with Jess’s former fiancé, Tallon Pamenter, and her best friend, Melanie Elliott, Mr Ainscough is disappointed that no one was consulted by the series creators who have taken his personal story and used it to dramatic effect.

All three say Jess was open about exploring all types of conventional and holistic medicine and, as they point out, she died in February 2015 due to complications from radiation therapy. In Apple Cider Vinegar, the character based on Jess dies after the cancer spreads through her body.

The show’s production company did not respond to requests for comment.

While the show’s creator Samantha Strauss has reiterated that the story is “true-ish” and that, like Belle Gibson’s cancer diagnosis, her drama is “in some respects, fiction as well”, that is little comfort to a man who feels his daughter’s tragedy has been callously twisted for profit.

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Originally published as Father depicted in hit Netflix show Apple Cider Vinegar slams ‘lies’ about daughter