Netflix‘s new show Apple Cider Vinegar cheekily ends its six episode run by letting lead character Belle Gibson (Kaitlyn Dever) break the fourth wall to tell us to just google what happened to the real Belle Gibson next. It’s a refreshing change from what TV shows usually do, offering scant details that still inspire fans to google what happened to the real life inspirations for the characters anyway.
**Spoilers for Apple Cider Vinegar, now streaming on Netflix**
Apple Cider Vinegar tells the story of the rise and fall of Belle Gibson, an Aussie influencer who built an online wellness empire by lying about curing terminal cancer with healthy eating. As the Netflix show details, the real Gibson didn’t just lie about her health; she also fraudulently raised massive amounts of money for charity that she pocketed for herself.
The Apple Cider Vinegar show tells Belle’s true story in tandem with two other women’s tales. Milla Blake (Alycia Debnam-Carey) is a popular influencer who really does have cancer and really is using alternative medicine to “treat” it, while Lucy Guthrie (Tilda Cobham-Hervey) is a breast cancer patient who ardently admires Belle’s grift, believing it to be a bastion of hope for her case. While Milla is inspired by the real life “Wellness Warrior” Jessica Ainscough, Lucy is a character created for the show to stand in for the many, many followers who fell for the real Belle’s lies.
So how exactly do Belle, Milla, and Lucy’s respective stories end? Where is the real Belle Gibson now? What is the legacy of the real Milla, Jess Ainscough? And does Lucy kick her cancer in the show? Here’s everything you need to know about the end of the Apple Cider Vinegar show….
Apple Cider Vinegar Ending Explained: Where is the Real Belle Gibson Now?
Apple Cider Vinegar ends with Belle Gibson’s lies about her cancer being exposed, her cookbook pulped, and her online empire toppled. However, the Netflix show doesn’t explicitly share what happened next to Belle or her partner Clive (Ashley Zukerman). In fact, we learn only that in 2017, the Australian government found the real Belle guilty of…something. The chyron cuts out and Dever’s version of Belle tells us to just google what happened, in exasperation.
So what did happen? Well, the Australian government ruled that Belle Gibson had totally falsified her claims of having cancer and, more pertinently, was guilty of consumer fraud. In 2017, Gibson was fined $410,000 for lying about raising money for charity. Wouldn’t you know, by 2019, she had not paid a single Australian dollar of the fine. Since then, Gibson’s home has been raided twice by the Australian authorities in hopes of recouping her debt. Gibson has maintained that she does not have the money to pay the government.
In November 2023, the Daily Mail reported that Belle and her long-time partner Clive had finally broken up. Apparently, Clive stuck with Belle for a few years, even bankrolling a trip to Africa for her and son in 2019. As of 2023, they were no longer sharing a home. Belle and her son had moved out and Clive was photographed with a new lady.
Speaking of Gibson’s sojourn to Africa, in 2021, the Daily Mail also learned that Belle had begun to glom onto Australia’s Oromo community. The ethnically Ethiopian group welcomed Gibson, using the new name “Sobantu,” to various barbecues and community gatherings. However, once she expressed a desire to raise large amounts of money on behalf of the group, she was cut off.
Does Lucy Die in Apple Cider Vinegar?
Apple Cider Vinegar doesn’t end well for poor Milla Blake, who dies of complications from her cancer much like the real Jess Ainscough did. However, does sweet cancer patient (and Belle fangirl) Lucy survive her illness?
Apple Cider Vinegar ends on an optimistic note for Lucy and her journalist husband Justin (Mark Coles Smith). While Lucy took time in South America to pursue an ayahuasca-based approach to palliative care, Justin worked with his professional partner to break the Belle Gibson story. Justin’s greatest joy in exposing Belle’s grift, though, was seeing Lucy finally question her idol’s cancer diagnosis.
Once Belle’s spell on Lucy was broken, we see her and Justin reconnect with oncologists. Lucy continues chemotherapy and undergoes a mastectomy in the final montage of the series. The show never tells us if she beat cancer, if it went into remission and came back, or if she ultimately died. However, given the optimistic tone of our final peeks at Lucy, it seems like she was able to find healing through modern medicine.
Most importantly, though, Lucy not only reconnected with Justin, but also learned to block out the grifters leeching off of her online.
Will There Be an Apple Cider Vinegar Season 2?
Probably not! The six-part series was a straight adaptation of Belle Gibson’s story. So unless people are dying to watch her dabbling in cultural appropriation with the Oromo, we can consider Apple Cider Vinegar officially wrapped.
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