Belle Gibson lay on the floor jerking violently in an apparent seizure surrounded by horrified friends and family at her son’s fourth birthday party.
But none of the dozens guests called an ambulance despite it going on for 40 minutes because she ‘didn’t like getting hospitals involved’.
The episode in July 2014 showed just how desperate the renowned cancer faker was to convince everyone she was dying, as chronicled in new book The Woman Who Fooled The World.
Belle Gibson (R) faked a 40-minute fit at her son Oli’s (L) fourth birthday in 2014 to convince thousands of Australian fans she had cancer
‘It was, ‘No, no, no, this has happened before, everything’s going to be all right, she’ll get through it’,’ a friend in attendance told authors Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano.
‘There’s no need for an ambulance. That was the consensus.’
The fit, witnessed by her son and other children, was just one more part of Gibson’s web of lies, but her friends believed at the time it was real.
‘It looked real. I believed it was real. And I was mortified. I cried driving all the way home… I actually don’t know how I got home,’ one of them recalled.
Another said: ‘It was scary. It was so violent, the adults were crying.’
The fit, witnessed by her son and other children, was just one more part of Gibson’s web of lies, but her friends believed at the time it was real
The episode was well planned, Gibson waiting until 3.15pm when guests were preparing to leave, slumping against a wall and sliding down it to cushion her fall
The 25-year-old seemed to have no qualms about subjecting her son Oli, and his own birthday party, to the distressing sight before he was ushered away.
‘Oli was… I saw his face. He was petrified. The kids had to almost walk over the top of her to go upstairs. Oli had to look at his mum looking like she was almost dead on the floor,’ a friend said.
The episode was well planned, Gibson waiting until 3.15pm when guests were preparing to leave, slumping against a wall and sliding down it to cushion her fall.
Then when one guest got out their phone to call an ambulance she stopped her seizure – only to start again once everyone decided she didn’t need a doctor.
That night she played up her ‘painful collapse’ and seizure for the army of social media followers she milked for $578,000 claiming to cure her cancer with diet
That night she played up her ‘painful collapse’ and seizure for the army of social media followers she milked for $578,000 claiming to cure her cancer with diet.
‘I have seizures often as a result of my brain cancer, but nothing ever this long or intense,’ she wrote on Facebook.
‘Extremely grateful for my friends and family who were there to support me through this and my team who are looking for new answers.’
Two weeks later, Gibson claimed she had been diagnosed with a third and fourth cancer in addition to the alleged tumour in her brain.
‘One is secondary and the other is primary. I have cancer in my blood, spleen, brain, uterus, and liver. I am hurting,’ she wrote.
‘As some of you remember, there was a scare I briefly spoke about here 4 months ago where we found gynaecological cancer that I stood up against with strength I wouldn’t of had if it weren’t for each of you.’
The 25-year-old seemed to have no qualms about subjecting her son Oli, and his own birthday party, to the distressing sight before he was ushered away
Gibson inevitably used the opportunity to spruik her book and The Whole Pantry app she made half a million dollars from.
‘I sit and work from a space for each of you, still creating and growing our philosophy of living #thewholelife,’ she wrote.
‘Work towards releasing our first book and ensure that the legacies of our charity and community work which you ALL helped achieve through downloading The Whole Pantry App is all it needs to be, with whatever ends up being my defining story with you.
‘Please turn to this account, the app and book in this time of space for our message of The Whole Life, app and book updates and community support and inspiration to continue on.’
Tens of thousands of followers shared their grief at her worsened diagnosis and encouraged her – but some were finally starting to wonder.
‘Questions were being asked on the internet. People started posting comments about Gibson’s story: how it seemed to lack important detail,’ the authors observed.
‘How her lifestyle didn’t seem to reflect the deteriorating health she reported online; how she managed to outlive her doctor’s prognosis for a type of cancer that is so, so aggressive.
‘How she didn’t follow any cancer organisations, and never called for more funding to support brain cancer research.’
Even people close to her in real life were having their doubts, but like her legion of followers they felt guilty considering it.
‘Does Belle Gibson actually have cancer? Woah. Okay. Boy did I feel like a jerk as I typed that out,’ one blogger wrote.
They were right to be sceptical. Within a year, Gibson would be exposed as a fraud and in September was fined $410,000 for defrauding thousands of people.
The Woman Who Fooled the World: Belle Bibson’s Cancer Con by Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano is published by Scribe and out now for $32.99.
Gibson’s rise and fall, and the story behind it, is chronicled in new book The Woman Who Fooled The World by Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano