The show’s creator explains her real-life origins.

By Georgina DiNardo

“Apple Cider Vinegar” follows the “true-ish” story of Belle Gibson, who said she cured her brain cancer through alternative treatment methods when, in reality, she never had cancer at all.

Other characters, like Lucy Guthrie, are inspired by real people. Lucy, played by Tilda Cobham-Hervey, acts as a contrast to Belle in the show.

Unlike Belle, she isn’t lying about her diagnosis — she actually has breast cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy. Lucy finds inspiration and courage in Belle’s story and social media posts, giving her hope that there are other options.

Over the course of the show, Lucy begins to shun conventional treatment for her breast cancer, choosing to pursue alternative methods herself after finding inspiration in Belle’s messaging and overriding her husband’s wishes.

“Apple Cider Vinegar” creator Samantha Strauss tells TODAY.com that Lucy is meant to be a stand-in for the audience.

“Lucy’s us. Lucy is the people who could suffer because of people like Belle,” she says.

While Lucy may be a fictional representation of the people who were influenced by Belle, she does bear similarities to Kate Thomas, who spoke in detail to journalists Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano for their book “The Woman Who Fooled the World,” which inspired the show.

Strauss tells TODAY.com that she used Donelly and Toscano’s book as a “template” for her show’s tale.

“It really became a jumping off point for us,” she says. “I don’t know what Belle talked about in real life, I can only speculate what motivated her. And so this is our fictional account.”

Who is Kate Thomas?

Kate Thomas was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer in February 2014 when she was 34 years old.

She’d only been married to her husband Nik Donaldson (who, unlike his “Apple Cider Vinegar” counterpart, is not an investigative journalist) for a year. At the time of her diagnosis, she managed a local cafe with plans to open a dog daycare business.

But all plans were put on hold when she received her cancer diagnosis. In the midst of grueling chemotherapy treatments, she found and connected with Gibson’s posts.

“To see that she had gone through this, but had done it the natural way, was inspiring,” Thomas told Donelly and Toscano in “The Woman Who Fooled the World.”

“She gave hope to people like me that maybe we didn’t have to put ourselves through such intense treatment. Maybe we could survive,” she said.

Thomas decided she wanted to follow Gibson’s path of fighting cancer through a focus on nutrition, juicing and a healthy lifestyle.

Her husband was not a fan of this approach and, similar to Lucy’s husband Justin in the show, preferred she stick with conventional treatment methods.

“If you want to eat certain foods or want to go organic, no problem,” Donaldson told Thomas, according to Donelly and Toscano’s book. “But there is no way you are not going to do conventional medicine. You are going to do your chemo, and you’re going to do your radiation program like they said, because these are doctors, and these are the people who know as much about cancer as we can.”

Thomas was surprised by his reaction, noting that he was normally so “supportive” of her, but after listening to her nurse mother-in-law, she continued conventional treatment.

While receiving treatment, Thomas continued to work as a manager at Cornerstone & Co, a small cafe southeast of Melbourne. Like in the show, Gibson was a cafe regular.

“She always looked so healthy. I always thought, ‘How can you look so good when your cancer’s probably way worse than mine, and yet I’ve got no hair, no eyebrows, no eyelashes. I’ve got sunken eyes, I’m bloated?’ I just looked horrendous,” Thomas told Donelly and Toscano for their book.

Journalists began to publish doubts of Gibson’s claims in 2015. Gibson admitted to lying about having cancer in an interview with Australia’s The Weekly that same year.

Thomas has just finished radiation when the news came out.

Donelly and Toscano wrote that when Thomas saw the news, she felt “betrayed, duped, taken advantage of.” Yet, she also realized her luck in not being fully sucked into Gibson’s story and sticking with her doctor’s advice.

“I saw so many people making comments about following her and not doing conventional medicine,” Thomas told Donelly and Toscano.

“I just don’t know how she can live with herself,” she continued. “People would be saying, ‘You’re such an inspiration, I’ve decided not to do chemo, I don’t want to put that toxic stuff in my body, I’m just going to eat healthy and do a juicing fast-type diet.’ Belle would have been reading those comments and knowing that people were stopping treatment. That is not OK. People are vulnerable — you would do anything to survive longer or to not have to deal with that horrible toxic stuff going through your body.”

Thomas was so enraged she ripped apart Gibson’s book before setting it on fire, burning it page by page.

She saw Gibson at the cafe a few times after the news broke. Each time she refused to serve her and would leave the building.

“I would always look her in the eye, but I couldn’t say anything. I was so angry,” she told Donelly and Toscano.

Where is Kate Thomas now?

As of the writing of the book, Thomas had Stage 3C cancer, the stage directly before Stage 4, which is terminal.

Yet still, Thomas tells Donelly and Toscano “I don’t even hate cancer, but I hate her,” referring to Gibson.

In May 2024, Thomas told Australia’s Geelong Advertiser she was “clear of cancer.”