Last but not least: Lying scandal around blogger
Many cancer patients hung on her every word: Now, under mounting public pressure, an Australian health blogger has revealed herself to be a liar.
Belle Gibson made a splash since 2013 with her app "The Whole Pantry," which was hailed as the first app on health, wellness and nutrition. In her blog posts, the 23-year-old always assured that she had beaten her brain tumor with the help of a special diet and lifestyle. But she never suffered from this serious disease, as she now meekly admitted publicly.
Gibson's rise was so rapid that, according to media reports, her app was even selected by the U.S. company Apple for its new smartwatch Apple Watch. The young mother's fall is all the deeper now: in an interview with Women's Weekly magazine, she admitted to having lied about her entire story of suffering and recovery from the start. "None of it is true," Gibson said in the interview, titled "My Long Struggle with the Truth." She said she thought it was "best" to come clean about everything and now hopes people will say, "It's fine, she's only human." Gibson's hopes, meanwhile, appear to be only partially realized, as she has received hate mail and death threats since her confession, according to her own words. As to her motivation for building such a web of lies, she said only that she had a difficult childhood. An expert told Women's Weekly, possibly Gibson suffers from Munchausen syndrome. This is a mental illness in which sufferers feign symptoms and illnesses, sometimes even by self-harm, in order to deceive those around them and doctors.
The president of the Cancer Association of Victoria, Todd Harper, warned patients not to rely on therapies that sounded too good to be effective, in light of Gibson's scintillating health advice. Health officials plan to investigate the case further. Doubts about Gibson's integrity had arisen last month when it was revealed that she had not passed on donations equivalent to 222'000 francs from publication income to charitable organizations as promised. Gibson had also published a successful book on the subject, which was also withdrawn from sale by her publisher in March as the scandal slowly became public.
After this App lie could spread so fast, now also the uncovering in all its information and media-technical facets can be pursued already likewise; via Facebook. (SDA/uma)
