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We Finally Have More Details About Netflix’s Belle Gibson TV Series

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If you ask most Australians who they believe to be the most notorious and disgraced wellness entrepreneur in the country, they’d quickly answer Belle Gibson

Belle was once one of the most followed wellness influencers in Australia and was one of the first “normal” people (that is, not a celebrity) to amass a monetisable following on social media. Peaking at roughly 300,000 followers, her now-deleted Instagram was the launch pad for a wellness empire. She launched a wellness-based food app, called The Whole Pantry before people were creating apps. It was so successful that when Apple launched its first Apple Watch, The Whole Pantry was one of the few apps preloaded onto the device. 

Undoubtedly, she was most famous for her claim that she had cured terminal brain cancer through food and various wellness practices. We now know this was untrue. Not only had Belle not healed her brain cancer through natural remedies, but she’d never been diagnosed with cancer at all.

When journalists unravelled her claims, it was a national news story and has continued to pop back up in the news cycle every few years. Now, Netflix is creating a show inspired by Belle’s life, and naturally, we’ll be tuning in.

Netflix Apple Cider Vinegar
Image: Courtesy of Netflix

It’s appropriate timing. In recent years, dramatisations portraying the antics of scammers, catfishes, and eccentric entrepreneurs have dominated our screens. From Anna Delvey’s Inventing Anna to Elizabeth Holmes’ The Dropout, and even the series starring Anne Hathaway and Jared Leto based on the life of WeWork founder, titled WeCrashed. These are but a few examples of television series that have gripped and shocked us in equal measure. 

Ahead, we lay out everything we know about Apple Cider Vinegar, and we’ll keep you updated as more information comes to light.

What Is Apple Cider Vinegar About?

Apple Cider Vinegar is a six-part fictional series that follows two women as they try to cure their life-threatening illnesses through wellness and food. According to Netflix, “the six-episode limited series serves as a cultural interrogation of the times, exploring the birth of Instagram; the allure and rise of wellness culture; peak girl boss start-up culture; and the age of innocence on social media with very few checks and balances in place”.

“It’s really interesting to look at how media uses food as a weapon against us and how much we crave the nourishment, but how much of a privilege and how expensive it is to try to be well,” explains the show’s creator, award-winning Australian writer Samantha Strauss (Nine Perfect Strangers, The End, Dance Academy). 

Is Apple Cider Vinegar A True Story?

The series is based on the true story of Belle Gibson’s life, or more specifically, it was inspired by the book The Woman Who Fooled the World by Australian journalists Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano. It was Donelly and Toscano who originally broke the story that unravelled all of Belle’s claims.

Who Has Joined The Cast For Netflix’s Apple Cider Vinegar?

According to Netflix, though the story is based on the true life story of Belle Gibson and the main character is named Belle Gibson, many of the characters have been fictionalises. 

Kaitlyn Dever as Belle Gibson

Kaitlyn Dever
Image: Amy Sussman/Getty Images

The Booksmart actor plays Belle Gibson in this series. We know what you’re thinking and no, she isn’t Australian, but she did work very closely with a dialect coach to nail the Australian accent. 

Alycia Debnam-Carey as Milla Blake

Alycia Debnam-Carey
Image: JC Olivera/Getty Images

Alycia Debnam-Carey is an Australian actor who you may recognise from The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart and Fear the Walking Dead. She plays Milla Blake, a woman who builds a platform promoting the power of food to fight cancer.

Aisha Dee as Chanelle

Aisha Dee
Image: Victor Boyko/Getty Images

Aisha Dee, of The Bold Type and Safe Home, plays Milla’s close friend Chanelle, who meets Belle at an event and starts working with her to build her business into the empire it becomes.

Tilda Cobham-Hervey as Lucy

Tilda Cobham-Hervey
Image: Karwai Tang/WireImage via Getty Images

Tilda Cobham-Hervey previously starred in The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart and I Am Woman. She joins the Apple Cider Vinegar cast as Lucy, a woman who is diagnosed with cancer and is attracted to the promises both Milla and Belle make online.

Mark Coles Smith as Lucy’s Husband 

Mark Coles Smith
Image: Don Arnold/WireImage

As Lucy’s husband, Mark Coles Smith’s (Mystery Road: Origin) character expresses concern over the impact Milla and Belle’s damaging ideas are having on his wife and her health.

Ensemble Cast 

  • Ashley Zukerman (Succession)
  • Susie Porter (Irreverent, Wentworth)
  • Matt Nable (Transfusion, Last King of the Cross)
  • Phoenix Raei (The Night Agent)
  • Chai Hansen (Night Sky, The New Legends of Monkey)
  • Richard Davies (Offspring)
  • Essie Davis (The Babadook, Game of Thrones)
  • Kieran Darcy-Smith (Mr Inbetween)
  • Catherine McClements (Total Control)

Where Was Apple Cider Vinegar Filmed?

Apple Cider Vinegar was filmed on location in Melbourne, Australia — the same city where Belle Gibson lived.

Apple Cider Vinegar First Trailer

What Is Apple Cider Vinegar’s Release Date?

Netflix hasn’t confirmed a release date for Apple Cider Vinegar, though we do know it will be in 2025.

The post We Finally Have More Details About Netflix’s Belle Gibson TV Series appeared first on ELLE.

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