Share

cover art for Wellness and Lies: My Friendship With Belle Gibson

What It Was Like

Wellness and Lies: My Friendship With Belle Gibson

Season 1, Ep. 73

In 2015, wellness influencer Belle Gibson was outed for pretending to have cancer. Now she's back in the headlines thanks to a new show on Netflix. In this episode we talk to a woman named Beckii Jones, who once considered Belle a friend. She ran a Facebook group for mothers in the early 2010s when Belle joined and even suggested the name for her infamous app, The Whole Pantry. Beckii reflects on the woman she knew and the parts of Belle that remain a mystery.


Follow our new show SCAMMERLAND. It's based on a two-part episode we did last year on What it Was Like about scammer farms and it's on Spotify, Apple and YouTube.

Find us on TikTok

Find us on Youtube

Follow us on Instagram

A Superreal production

More episodes

View all episodes

  • 126. Whales Are Sinking Boats and No One Knows Why

    41:18||Season 1, Ep. 126
    Since 2020, orcas have been attacking sailing boats off the coasts of Spain and Portugal. Experts initially thought the behaviour was a passing fad, but six years later, it shows no sign of stopping. In this episode, British yachtsman Robert Powell describes the day a pod of orcas methodically disabled and sank his boat — and the surprising thing the coast guard told him after the rescue.Find us on TikTok: @whatitwaslikepodcastFind us on Youtube: @whatitwaslikepodcastFollow us on Instagram: whatitwaslikepodcastThis is a Superreal production
  • 125. The Millionaires Who Went Mad in Their Jungle Fortress

    51:14||Season 1, Ep. 125
    When American millionaire John Bender moved to Costa Rica with his wife Ann, they set out to build a dream life in the jungle. Instead, their relationship spiralled into madness. When Bender died from a gunshot wound in 2010, the question remained: was it suicide or murder? Journalist Carol Vaughn takes us inside one of Costa Rica’s strangest cases.Check out Carol's book on the case: Crazy Jungle Love: Murder, Madness, Money & MonkeysFind us on TikTok: @whatitwaslikepodcastFind us on Youtube: @whatitwaslikepodcastFollow us on Instagram: whatitwaslikepodcastThis is a Superreal production
  • 124. Ted Bundy Tried to Kill Me

    42:27||Season 1, Ep. 124
    In 1967, 14-year-old Connie Geldreich met a young man at a lake who called himself Ted. What began as a strange encounter escalated into something far more disturbing. In this episode, Connie recounts her memories of a man who would later become the world's most famous serial killer.Find us on TikTok: @whatitwaslikepodcastFind us on Youtube: @whatitwaslikepodcastFollow us on Instagram: whatitwaslikepodcastThis is a Superreal production
  • 123. How I Ended Up Running a Happy Endings Parlour for Women

    57:43||Season 1, Ep. 123
    Alice was in her late 30s when she reinvented her life. She left her marriage and started prioritising herself for the first time ever. That journey led her to open a happy ending massage parlour for women. This is the first episode of our new podcast: The Sex That Changed My Life. A show about the intimate moments that transform us.Find us on Instagram ⁠@changedmylifepod⁠Find us on Tiktok ⁠@changedmylifepod⁠Find us on Youtube ⁠@changedmylifepod⁠Follow Laura ⁠@lauraroscioli⁠A ⁠Superreal⁠ Production
  • 122. Sunk by Killer Whales, Adrift for 38 Days

    53:50||Season 1, Ep. 122
    Douglas Robertson was a teenager when his family set out to sail the world on a yacht. Seventeen months into the voyage, orcas sank the boat in the Pacific. In this ep, Douglas describes 38 days adrift in a small dinghy, surviving on turtle blood and rainwater.Find us on TikTok: @whatitwaslikepodcastFind us on Youtube: @whatitwaslikepodcastFollow us on Instagram: whatitwaslikepodcastThis is a Superreal production
  • 121. I Made a Fortune Helping People Cheat Their Tax

    38:15||Season 1, Ep. 121
    Rick Hogg was a Melbourne accountant who specialised in minimising tax by fabricating expenses. In 2018, it all imploded and Rick got five years in prison. In this episode, he explains how the scheme worked, why he crossed the line, and what the ordeal taught him about greed.Find us on TikTok: @whatitwaslikepodcastFind us on Youtube: @whatitwaslikepodcastFollow us on Instagram: whatitwaslikepodcastThis is a Superreal production
  • 120. I Made $2M a Year as a Corporate Spy

    45:55||Season 1, Ep. 120
    Robert Kerbeck was a broke actor when he stumbled into corporate espionage. His job was to trick low-level employees into divulging company secrets, which he sold for big money. In this episode, he explains what the work taught him about lying and the shortcomings of American capitalism.Check out Robert's book: RuseFind us on TikTok: @whatitwaslikepodcastFind us on Youtube: @whatitwaslikepodcastFollow us on Instagram: whatitwaslikepodcastThis is a Superreal production
  • 119. I Bought a Haunted Witches' Prison (Classic)

    01:07:33||Season 1, Ep. 119
    Vanessa Mitchell thought she was buying the home of her dreams. Sure, it was a medieval prison for English peasants accused of witchcraft, but it was cute and within her price range. But then her possessions started vanishing and she found a mysterious pool of blood on the floor and three years later she was out, fleeing with her son. This is Vanessa's story of what happened.Find us on TikTok: @whatitwaslikepodcastFind us on Youtube: @whatitwaslikepodcastFollow us on Instagram: whatitwaslikepodcastThis is a Superreal production
  • 118. I Was Raised in a Cult Believing I'd be Dead by 12

    53:03||Season 1, Ep. 118
    Flor Edwards grew up in the Children of God, an authoritarian sect that taught its followers that the world would end in 1993. In this episode, she reflects on how it felt growing up expecting to die, and how the group responded when the apocalypse never came.Find us on TikTok: @whatitwaslikepodcastFind us on Youtube: @whatitwaslikepodcastFollow us on Instagram: whatitwaslikepodcastThis is a Superreal production