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FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES

Less than two weeks after Belle Gibson’s app went live, a thrilling email landed in her inbox. It was from an executive at Apple. He was writing to congratulate her on The Whole Pantry’s meteoric success, and wanted to fly to Melbourne to meet her. ‘When we met,’ Gibson wrote in her book, ‘he told me that Apple had never seen an app launch in Australia the way mine had.’ More than two million apps were available on the Apple Store that year, and Gibson’s had been singled out from the crowd. It was the beginning of an exciting partnership that would see her invited to Apple Inc’s corporate headquarters in Cupertino, California, to work in secret on the smartwatch prototype.

In a matter of months, the young mum and high-school drop-out from Brisbane had launched a start-up that caught the attention of the world’s most valuable company. Gibson had come a long way from Wynnum. A fake story on social media had snowballed into a business that was about to go global. Things were moving very quickly indeed. On Instagram, Gibson was Instafamous. Now she was becoming mainstream famous, and wealthier by the day.

There was no better time to pitch a cookbook. On the afternoon of 18 September 2013, Gibson typed out an email to Penguin editor Nicole Abadee, spruiking her app’s international triumph and her growing social-media presence. She wrote that she had already been approached by a few other publishing houses, but Penguin was a favourite. Gibson’s proposal was heavy on the cancer story. In her pitch, she said she had terminal brain cancer, but had surpassed the expectations of her ‘specialists and diagnosis’ due to a ‘holistic and nutritional approach to wellbeing’.

Just a few weeks later, Gibson had an appointment at the publisher’s offices, sitting down face-to-face with Julie Gibbs, the director of Penguin’s lifestyle imprint, Lantern. Julie — Jewels to her team — is a slimly built woman with a wide smile and auburn hair. She had been with Penguin for more than two decades and, for most of that time, she ran Lantern, which she founded in 2004. Regarded as the queen of lifestyle publishing in Australia, Julie was the woman behind some of the most popular (and expensive) cookbooks ever produced. She had worked with the likes of Maggie Beer, Megan Morton, Lucio Galletto, Kylie Kwong, and Matt Moran, and she curated Stephanie Alexander’s iconic two-kilogram culinary volume, The Cook’s Companion, which, since 1996, has sold half a million copies. Julie worked out of a stylish second-floor office in a building in Surry Hills, Sydney, that was filled with colour and unique pieces of furniture, a bespoke bookshelf, and bold, floral-printed arm chairs. There were flowers in vases, and art on the walls. And books, everywhere. It is clear from their early correspondence that Julie was quite taken by Gibson. After their meeting, Julie sent her newest author a bottle of apple cider vinegar, a popular natural-health tonic purported to be a cure-all. She later sent her more gifts, a bundle of books, and a message on her birthday.

She lavished praise on Gibson over what she described as an ‘excellent’ book proposal. ‘I would so love to work with you to make your first book the very best, most inspiring book it could possibly be,’ Julie wrote. ‘I have been publishing in the health and wellbeing genre for many years now. Your voice and brand has a unique essence about it and we would undertake to respect, cherish and enhance that essence in the preparation and publishing of The Whole Pantry book.’ Already, Julie was flagging plans for the book to go global. Importantly, she told Gibson, the book would include a ‘substantial introduction’ telling ‘the key points of your personal health odyssey and the powerful benefits you have had from eating and living the way you do’. Her sales and marketing team were excited, too. They could see it was destined for success. ‘I understand and live your values and would relish the chance to help you take them to the widest possible book audience,’ Julie told Gibson. Katrina O’Brien, Lantern’s publishing manager, emailed Gibson a couple of weeks later, saying that Julie was ‘so thrilled’ to be publishing her cookbook. ‘Welcome to Lantern,’ Katrina said. ‘I’m sure we’ll have a great time working together.’

Gibson and Julie sealed the deal. They agreed that Gibson would deliver between 80 and 90 recipes with the help of a ‘home economist’ that Penguin would fund to the tune of $15,000. The publisher would also front up $12,500, roughly half the cost, to pay for the photography. Gibson’s 250-page health and recipe book would have an emphasis on ‘cutting out high allergen foods, gluten and sugar from the diet’. And it would contain ‘extra informative text about health and lifestyle tips and suggestions’. The first-time author’s advance was hefty. Paid over three instalments, it totalled $132,500. At the top of page five of the contract that Gibson signed on 19 November 2013, the author was required to warrant that no part of the work would be ‘a false representation, or misleading or deceptive or likely to mislead or deceive’. Belle Gibson initialled the bottom right-hand corner of the page — as she did on all the other pages of the contract.

Gibson’s relationship with Julie and the Lantern team blossomed over the next 12 months. The emails exchanged reveal that the publishing staff were incredibly supportive and caring, and believed in their new star author. And Gibson, for her part, seemed grateful for the opportunity she’d been given. Once, Julie arrived back at her office after a sales conference to find a present from Gibson waiting for her. It was La Tavola Della Famiglia, a cookbook about a Melbourne restaurant family, the Bortolottos.

Julie emailed Gibson ‘an enormous thank you’:

I can’t tell you how special that book is. For several reasons: It is a beautiful book about a wonderful Melbourne restaurant family. When I lived in Melbourne 25 years ago I often used to dine at their St Kilda restaurant Bortolottos with Stephanie Alexander. The photos were taken by the gorgeous Sharyn Cairns and styled by the immensely talented Lee Blaylock. Mostly because you had the big heart to know I would love it and to gift it. Thank you so much.

We are hard at work on your book. Still material being compiled and polished but we will get there! It’s going to be wonderful. Hope all is well and that you are happy and stimulated but not too exhausted.

Love Julie

The Whole Pantry, when it was published, was beautiful. It was heavy and full of healthy, do-able, and down-to-earth recipes accompanied by stunning photography showing the texture, colour and depth of food. It featured quinoa tortillas, buckwheat and rosehip bircher, zucchini and chocolate muffins, lentil shepherd’s pie, fermented veggies, spiced pumpkin seed brittle, and lemon macadamia tarts with baked peaches. Gracing the thick pages were delicate watercolour illustrations. There was beauty advice, and tips on detoxing, on gut health, on weight loss, and on how to avoid chemicals. It contained a chart with natural medicines and instructions on how to make your own cleaning products. The book, and its whole life philosophy, encouraged swapping coffee for herbal tea, meditating, drinking more water, exercising, getting enough sleep, and having a break from technology. The pages were interspersed with a few shots of Gibson and Oli shopping at a farmers’ market, and splashing their feet in a river and eating black sesame bliss balls on a picnic rug. There was a 3,000-word precede, The Story So Far, a question-and-answer style write-up in which Gibson talked about life pre-cancer, and explained why she decided to heal herself, how she managed the fear of living with a terminal illness, the impact the disease had on her life, and her hopes for the future.

The front cover of the book whispered of a back-to-basics approach to wellness, lifestyle and nutrition. Of course, Gibson had no expertise in any such area. But that didn’t matter. Her credentials were listed in the first words of the very first sentence on the back cover: Social media sensation.

It’s little wonder that a book about healthy food written by a young, photogenic, cancer-curing mother flew off the shelves, just as Penguin knew it would: the first print run was huge, a staggering 42,000 copies. It was priced at $35. Published in Australia in late October 2014, the book had sold more than 16,000 copies by the end of the year. By then, the plan to take The Whole Pantry to the rest of the world was well underway. Julie introduced Gibson to her UK team, which included Lindsey Evans, the cookery publisher for Penguin Random House, based at The Strand, in London. ‘I know you two will get on a treat,’ Julie said. ‘Lindsey has worked with Jamie Oliver for years and is very experienced at high-profile cookery titles.’ Lindsey replied that she was delighted to be publishing The Whole Pantry in the UK, and her colleague, Tasmin English, couldn’t have been more thrilled to be part of the project. ‘Your message is such a vital and inspiring one, there is so much common sense in how you approach nutrition,’ she wrote to Gibson. ‘It’s a delight that we can share your ethos and gorgeous recipes with readers this side of the world too!’ Penguin’s UK publisher, Michael Joseph, and the American publishing house Simon & Schuster, were to release The Whole Pantry cookbook in the northern hemisphere. If questions had not been asked in the media about Gibson’s story, her book would have been for sale in bookshops on three continents by mid-2015.

Julie could not have known then what she knows now, but Gibson’s book was to be one of her last. In 2013, Penguin was in the midst of a merger with Random House, a merger that would ultimately see Lantern gutted. In mid-2015, just after Gibson had come undone, the newly formed publishing goliath, Penguin Random House, announced it would slash the number of books Lantern printed and that the woman at the helm for more than a decade would, in turn, be leaving the company. Then chief executive Gabrielle Coyne said there simply weren’t the commercial returns anymore that there once was in illustrated books.

A few months before Gibson had pitched her book to Julie, the Lantern boss was asked in a media interview what she was most looking forward to. She replied that every year brought new and exciting projects. ‘The wonderful thing,’ said Julie, ‘is that this job is never repetitive or static.’ Julie has never spoken publicly about Gibson, but the year she spent working alongside her is one she is not likely to forget.

In 2013, Apple awarded Gibson the title of Best New Aussie App, Best Food and Drink App, and runner-up for App of the Year. The Whole Pantry was included in Apple’s ‘Great Aussie Apps and Games’ promotion, included as part of an editor’s choice recommendation, and publicised worldwide as a healthy living app. It was translated into French, Spanish, Japanese, and simplified Chinese, and was made available in Australia, the UK, and the US. The app was preinstalled on display iPads featured in Apple stores. Gibson posted a photo of herself peeking over an iPad from inside Apple’s New York store on Fifth Avenue, where The Whole Pantry app was being featured.

Apple saw something in Belle Gibson. The star app developer was once quoted as saying, ‘As Apple said to me, “Not only did you create a great app, you also created a market for healthy living apps.”’

Emails back and forth between senior Apple staff and Gibson speak volumes about how closely she had been embraced by the company. They begin with ‘Hello darling one’ or ‘Lovely’ or ‘Sweetest’, and sign off with kisses. In the acknowledgements section of her book, Gibson specifically singles out three Apple staff. She describes Luke Bevans, the Apple App Store manager for Australia and New Zealand, as her mentor:

Thank you, for reaching out in our humble beginnings and mentoring me more than you had to. The book wouldn’t be without a successful app, and it was you who encouraged me to keep that momentum happening.

Gibson travelled to Japan to meet with Apple executives on the 40th floor of the Mori tower in Roppongi, Tokyo, to discuss a local content and marketing strategy. She toured Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino. Three months later, Gibson was back in the US again when The Whole Pantry was announced as one of the few apps handpicked from around the world to be featured as a centrepiece on Apple’s new smartwatch. She was the only Australian invited to develop an app for the new device. Her logo, two white leaves on a pale-green background, was all over smartwatch promos, front and centre — twice the size of the Pinterest and Nike logos.

In a recorded interview, Gibson talked about how she was given early access to Apple’s smartwatch prototype and the new functions she was developing for the device. ‘Apple can surely trust you with a secret. They gave you access, how long ago?’ she was asked.

‘Three-and-a-half weeks ago,’ she replied, ‘and we’re the only team from Australia, so we’re feeling very proud and honoured. If there was any company that we were going to jump for, it was going to be Apple because they’ve supported us for so long.’

Asked about how her health was then, Gibson paused for a couple of seconds and considered her answer. ‘I … It’s funny that I’m here,’ she began. ‘All of my friends and family said, “Belle, you can’t go.” Six weeks ago, um, I was re-diagnosed with multiple cancers, um, but I’m feeling on top of the world.’

Gibson was beaming. Photos from the event show her grinning widely and wearing a long-sleeved, white fitted shirt, with an Apple swipe card hanging around her neck. She’s standing in a room full of people, in front of a large white screen with the iconic Apple logo, emblazoned in black, behind her. While in the US, Gibson went online and posted an inspirational quote from Apple founder Steve Jobs: ‘If you do something and it turns out pretty good, then you should go do something else wonderful, not dwell on it for too long. Just figure out what’s next – Steve.’ The post was ‘liked’ by thousands of her followers.

Back in Australia, Gibson was asked to appear on a panel at an Apple retail store event in Sydney to discuss her success building The Whole Pantry. The invitation plugged Gibson’s own tagline: ‘The Whole Pantry is the first app of its kind, combining inspiring wholefood recipes with lifestyle and wellness guides.’ It was a warm summer evening when Gibson appeared on stage in Apple’s George Street store. She sat next to a staff member wearing the company’s trademark blue T-shirt. Dressed all in black, Gibson spoke to her captivated audience of young people, and fielded questions from the crowd. ‘It was quite busy,’ said Sydney yoga teacher Roshini McCartin. ‘People had to stand.’

Roshini became a big fan of Gibson’s after coming across her on Instagram. She had the app on her phone, and later bought the book. The Apple event was promoting app-building, holding Gibson up as a success story. But Roshini wasn’t there to learn about building an app. She was there to see Gibson in the flesh. She said Gibson had a young, girl-next-door kind of feel about her. She wasn’t airbrushed. She was raw and relatable. ‘I remember her sharing a little bit about her story, her cancer, her child, the success of her app,’ Roshini recalls. ‘I walked away super inspired. I thought, Wow, anything is possible. I believed every single word she said, and I’m quite a good judge of character.’

In her book, Gibson thanks Bree McKenzie, an Apple events and marketing manager, ‘for creating a dream with me in your Sydney Apple Store — a moment that still blows me away, and one that wouldn’t have happened if you didn’t believe in the TWP message or hard work.’

Apple’s public relations and marketing staff introduced Gibson to the media so that she could promote her app. ‘Once Apple saw the app,’ the company would later tell the courts, ‘it was decided that Apple Australia would make an effort to introduce the developer (Annabelle Gibson) to the Australian media.’

An Apple executive once emailed Gibson to tell her that the app store URL featuring her book and app had gone live. Apple’s marketing team in Cupertino contacted Gibson asking for exclusive promo art so her app could be featured on the App Store’s Facebook and Twitter pages. The company’s publicity arm kept her in mind for developer profiles that they could put forward to the media for ‘wellness-related stories’. In one pitch to a Sydney newspaper, Gibson was included as a part of a package on Female developers who are changing the world one app at a time! ‘A single mum who was diagnosed with cancer, Belle turned to whole food cooking and eating,’ the promo from Apple began. ‘She wanted to share what she learnt but didn’t want to use a website or blog. Belle decided she wanted to build an app for iPhone and iPad. She spent hours learning how to “code” and took a very active role in the process to ensure every last detail was to her spec.’

Jesse James, Apple’s Australian PR manager, became very close with Gibson. She typed out a message on her iPhone 5s saying she was more than happy to help Gibson workshop a media plan so her message didn’t get lost. ‘I agree you should not do any more interviews until you work out exactly what you want your story to be — being a female app developer who’s innovating like crazy is getting lost,’ Jesse wrote.

TC Chan, another Apple employee, was also known to have a close relationship with Gibson. Some described him as her ‘handler’ in Australia for Apple Inc. In her tribute to TC in the back of her book, Gibson thanked him for encouraging and helping her: ‘Because you’re the only one who understands the fragmented, colliding universe with me.’ TC is a middle-aged man from Sydney. One former friend of Gibson’s described her relationship with TC as ‘extremely close’ and ‘very odd’. ‘They would sit there holding hands,’ he said. ‘But you’ve got to remember, people were just so emotionally involved with her story at the time.’

Cosmopolitan magazine nominated Gibson for an award, and invited her to a photoshoot at the Skyline drive-in theatre in Blacktown, western Sydney. She posed next to singer-songwriter Dami Im in the 1950s diner-style shoot. Staff remember an Apple representative, believed to be TC, watching on from the sidelines. ‘He was rapped [sic] with her,’ one said. ‘He was talking about how exciting the [Apple] watch was going to be and the fact that there were very, very few apps that were going to be built into the watch and TWP was one of them.’

Gibson took to social media again and again to praise her ‘gorgeous team at Apple who helped this dream come alive,’ singling out Luke Bevans and TC Chan.

Gibson was once asked to name her biggest influence on her ‘health journey’. ‘Steve Jobs,’ she replied. ‘It’s bizarre, I know, but I really do admire his vision and how much he fought for what he believed in.’

It certainly was bizarre. The founder of Apple died from pancreatic cancer in 2011, after delaying surgery for nine months and opting instead to go down an alternative-treatment route, using fruit juices, dietary supplements, and acupuncture to try to fight the disease. After his death, his biographer, Walter Isaacson, a former TIME magazine editor, said Jobs regretted his decision not to use conventional medicine sooner, and believed he had made a mistake. ‘We talked about this a lot,’ Isaacson said. ‘He wanted to talk about it, how he regretted it. I think he felt he should have been operated on sooner.’