Moment Belle Gibson’s best friend realised she was lying about having cancer

The erstwhile champion person of Belle Gibson has recalled the infinitesimal she realised the Melbourne crab faker was conning millions of radical – and making hundreds of thousands of dollars successful the process.

Ms Gibson falsely claimed to person healed her inoperable encephalon tumour done fare and alternate treatments, profiting astir fractional a cardinal dollars from a wellness app and cookbook.

In 2017, the Federal Court of Australia recovered the mum-of-one had engaged successful misleading oregon deceptive behaviour and fined her $410,000 for breaching user laws.

In February, A Current Affair revealed the 32-year-old was yet to wage her fine, citing fiscal difficulties and an inability to find employment pursuing her nationalist controversy.

Ahead of the premiere of a two-part documentary connected Britain’s ITV, titled Instagram’s Worst Con Artist, Chantelle McAuliffe opened up astir her relationship with Ms Gibson successful an interrogation with The Sun.

The 36-year-old was introduced to Ms Gibson successful October 2014 done communal friends. They rapidly formed a choky bond, with Ms McAuliffe inspired by Ms Gibson’s entrepreneurial spirit.

But wrong a fewer months, she started to go suspicious, saying that “things conscionable weren’t adding up”.

The “red flags truly started to popular up for me”, Ms McAuliffe said, erstwhile she watched Ms Gibson miraculously retrieve from what seemed to beryllium a seizure – wiping the saliva from her rima and insisting she was fine, aft moments earlier rolling astir connected the floor.

“I felt truly sick successful my tummy for what I had conscionable seen,” she said.

Days later, erstwhile Ms McAuliffe recovered retired via an Instagram station that Ms Gibson’s crab had allegedly spread, “I started to question everything, to spell implicit it each successful my mind”.

“She ever looked truthful well, she ne'er looked sick. I started to deliberation astir times wherever she had gone connected tanning beds and different clip erstwhile we went to a nightclub and she was ordering shots and drinks,” Ms McAuliffe recalled.

“I said to Belle, ‘This is not good’. But she said, ‘I’m going to dice soon anyway. Why not person immoderate fun?’

“Those weren’t things she was sharing with her online community. Things conscionable didn’t adhd up for me.”

Ms McAuliffe confided successful a adjacent person that she was starting to uncertainty whether Ms Gibson was telling the information – and recovered he’d been having akin reservations.

The brace drove, unannounced, to Ms Gibson’s Melbourne home, wherever they confronted her.

“She looked bewildered and I asked her to spell get immoderate aesculapian documents oregon scans – immoderate benignant of aesculapian grounds – that she would person successful her house,” Ms McAuliffe said.

“She claimed she didn’t clasp connected to thing similar that astatine location due to the fact that it ‘had antagonistic energy’, truthful I asked her which infirmary she went to get diagnosed astatine and she said she hadn’t been, that a doc came to her house.

“She was defensive. But the much she spoke, the much it became wide it was each a lie.

“She was profiting from a web of lies she was spinning by targeting susceptible radical and it conscionable made my humor boil. She was misleading radical connected specified a large level. They were choosing to devour effect and verge implicit aesculapian treatment.

“I asked her if she was acceptable to travel guardant and she got truly assertive and told maine to ‘f**k off’.”

Ms McAuliffe past made it her ngo to unravel what Gibson was doing – contacting police, media and lawyers.

“With nary proof, cipher would judge me. A lawyer accused maine of defaming her. I couldn’t sleep,” she said.

“I knew idiosyncratic was retired determination doing harm though, truthful I couldn’t stop.

“For six months to a twelvemonth I was warring to get her lies exposed. I spoke to lawyers and that outgo maine money. I spent hours co-working with journalists.

“I was conscionable truthful hellbent connected stopping her.”

Ms McAuliffe said she inactive felt atrocious for those who had believed Ms Gibson.

“I consciousness for Belle’s victims, the crab survivors who person ne'er seen immoderate justness … and the charities that were ripped off. She volition ever beryllium a wolf successful sheep’s clothing.”

– with The Sun