Things are not going so well for Belle Gibson, the former wellness wunderkind who falsely told the world she had cured cancer through diet in order to sell copies of her book The Whole Pantry, but now they don’t look so good for her publisher either.
After she missed a court appearance yesterday, a secret video was shown to court which reveals that Penguin, the publisher of The Whole Kitchen, clearly had some reservations about Gibson’s story prior to releasing her book.
The video takes the form of an interview, where Penguin staff ask Gibson direct questions about her cancer diagnosis, self-treatment and proclaimed philanthropy, obviously in an attempt to see how well she’d weather questioning by journalists once the book was out.
“This is just for us … so that if you are sitting opposite a Good Weekend journalist who’s asking you quite investigative questions … we want to rehearse some questions with you,” a Penguin official can be heard saying in the recording.
“Because what we suspect might happen now, is that because you are the success story of the moment … you know what journalists do, they want to start scratch, scratch, scratching away.”
The video, which you can see in part at the Sydney Morning Herald website if you feel so inclined, features Gibson attempting to explain her claimed alternative therapy treatment for cancer, which anybody with half a brain cell could probably discern was absolute bullshit. The Penguin rep merely tells her to learn more about the treatment before fronting journos.
Gibson’s dodgy dealings when it comes to finance and philanthropy also come up, with the Penguin interviewer telling her to “get her story straight” about charities when it becomes abundantly clear Gibson doesn’t know what the hell she’s talking about.
It doesn’t look good that her publisher clearly had valid concerns about the legitimacy of her claims prior to publishing her book.
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Belle Gibson’s case in the Federal Court, which she has refused to lodge a defence for and may end in a $1.1 million fine, continues.
Source: Sydney Morning Herald.
Photo: Sydney Morning Herald.
