The Woman Who Fooled the World by Beau Donelly

Author:Beau Donelly
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: TRU004000, MED000000
Publisher: Scribe Publications
Published: 2017-11-13T05:00:00+00:00

Julie Gibbs was warned about problems in Belle Gibson’s story at least five months before releasing her book, but no one at Penguin, it turned out, had ever sought evidence to support her claims. In May 2014, Julie was sent an email by one of her senior editors, Nicole Abadee, about concerns in the book’s draft. They spanned Gibson’s personal story, her employment record, her medical history. ‘Julie,’ she cautioned, ‘I think the main thing to warn Belle about is that there are a few “gaps” which journalists might probe.’

Like so many, Julie was enamoured by the young author’s story. But these gaps, as the editor called them, were more like craters, and, in a landmark order several months later, they would cost Penguin Random House dearly. For Penguin Australia’s part in the Belle Gibson saga, the publisher paid $30,000. But the bigger blow was the acknowledgements it had to make. On 22 April 2016, Penguin’s general counsel, Briony Lewis, signed an undertaking admitting that the statements made by Gibson in The Whole Pantry about her health and charitable endeavours had not been substantiated. Penguin failed to check Gibson’s age, diagnosis, prognosis, treatments, and fundraising activities. Put simply, it published whatever she said.

In the undertaking, Consumer Affairs wrote it was concerned that The Whole Pantry was directed at people who had cancer, to people with a family history of cancer, and to people whose friends and relatives had cancer. These people, it said, were ‘unusually susceptible’ in that they were predisposed to being influenced by the false statements made in the book. ‘Further, Penguin knew that sales of the book would benefit from Belle Gibson’s reputation as a cancer survivor,’ it said. ‘The director of Consumer Affairs Victoria considers that by publishing The Whole Pantry, which contained the untrue statements, Penguin engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct.’

On top of the money, Penguin agreed to improve staff training and develop a risk-management checklist for books making health claims. For at least the next three years, it had to include a prominent warning notice in books making claims that alternative, natural, nutritional, or holistic therapies can treat illnesses. The notice must explain that said therapies are not ‘evidenced based’ or proven to provide any medical benefit.

Julie Gibbs signed a confidentiality agreement, and left Penguin at the end of 2015, a few months after Gibson’s story unravelled. Julie would not speak to us for this book.

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