Being Impersonated on a Netflix Show Wasn't on my 2025 Bingo Card...

my thoughts on all things 'apple cider vinegar' and seeing 'myself' on this weird tv show. is it legal, will I sue them, what are my thoughts overall on the slander, & beyond

Welp. Being impersonated on a Netflix show and having my real name and real brand name appear without my permission or knowledge certainly wasn’t on my 2025 bingo card. Oyyyy. How much weirder can 2025 get?!?! Lol. I’ve come to the point where I am “flattered but violated,” or freaked out by the state of the world but honored to be thought of so heavily in regards to wellness blogging & particularly the era that this all went down.

Soooo, let’s get INTO it. I have a LOT to say. I also have a podcast episode coming out about this topic on Wednesday, it’s a deep dive, so prepare yourselves for that one because Jonathan and I are ripping them to shreds. 🤪

Yeah. We’re going there. The show is ‘Apple Cider Vinegar’ on Netflix, which I hate to mention because I don’t want to give them any more eyeballs. But I am not self-absorbed enough to think that my mentioning them or not will make a huge difference or dent in their viewership. Most people who watch Netflix have noticed it already at least, if not watched the whole thing. Although the general consensus from all of us is: it’s disturbing, depressing, slanderous & not worth watching.

& with that! Let me get a few things straight before we dive into the story so we can weed out all of the possible thoughts you may be having before reading this:

1. My intentions for writing this post are to address my take on what happened and share my thoughts (duh, this is my blog), but beyond that & more importantly, to call out the heaviness of the anti-wellness propaganda happening in media right now that is so much bigger than me, any character in this show, or this show in general.

2. As hurtful and surprising as this experience was, I ultimately did not let it steal my peace. That’s important. I got a handful of messages from you guys on IG reminding me of the Mel Robbins “Let Them” theory and while I appreciate that perspective and agree, I don’t see ‘letting them’ and ‘letting them walk all over you’ as one & the same. Ya know? I am very outspoken if you haven’t noticed—like I am crazy nice, too nice lol, but if you poke me I will stand UP for myself & what I believe in—and I am so grateful to have an online platform that is my own to set the record straight! I see myself as a wellness commentator & wellness journalist at this point, so how could I not publicly address this? Even if I wasn't in it?!

3. While I am shocked that “I” was in the show and the portrayal of me was super off, I am still glad that Belle Gibson’s story was told. I have thought for over a decade this would make a fascinating true-crime show and while it could have done far better in many ways (like please work on your casting skills), it certainly makes for good TV and I am in no way defending any of her actions. Watching it and reliving it brought up a rawness of pain and feeling of betrayal that is indescribable… something I haven’t properly felt in over 10 years in regards to this scenario. Maybe it’s cathartic that I’m feeling it now after shoving it away for all those years? Maybe not. But painful for sure.

4. I explored my options with taking legal action & spoke to a handful of attorneys over the last few weeks. I left this post sitting in my drafts until I made a decision on how I wanted to move forward, but ultimately I learned that with the show being semi-fictionalized it isn’t worth the chase—which is fine because let’s be honest, mama doesn’t need to be embroiled in a legal battle. My number one here is protecting my own energy & peace. Scripted TV is protected through random (unethical) loopholes and terrifyingly enough they can write (albeit sloppily) about anyone in any way they wish—unless they go HARD on the slander and defamation. It’s really scary and brings up a lot of other important questions we should discuss at some point about social media usage and how much sharing is ‘too much’ with this in mind.

5. I barely ever knew Belle. I met her twice, and when I said that the other day some people messaged me saying, “But wait, you said you had a soul sisterly relationship.” We did! It was mostly over text messages and Instagram. She lived in Australia, I lived in NYC. I was 22-years-old and really looked up to her. I had 70,000 followers on IG at that time (the dawn of social media) and she had 2.3 million! She was massively successful and seemingly very kind. I am STILL trusting to a fault, so of course I opened my heart and let her in. But just because I am open, loving and trusting and wayyyyy too quick to call someone a ‘soul sister’ (I am still learning NOT TO DO THIS without vetting someone’s personality more heavily lol) doesn’t mean that I knew her well. She ‘love bombed’ me before I had ever heard of that term and then we fell massively out of contact. So with that in mind, all of those scenes with “Jordan” in the show were embellished / fake / so cringeworthy to watch / didn't happen.

Belle and I circa 2014. I actually hate looking at this picture and hate that I ever met her but here we are:

Okkkayyy, let’s get into it. The juice of this story, what the story is (for those who may not have watched or watch it go down IRL), my take on it, what they got wrong, what they got right, my path forward, and what we ALL should be aware of when it comes to holistic health, how its portrayed in the media, my thoughts on holistic healing for cancer, my thoughts on defamation & dealing with negative press, and quite simply—how threatened the media is by holistic health & wellness in general. They are grasping at straws at this point and it’s freaky.