Netflix's latest true-crime series Apple Cider Vinegar dramatizes a story from the dark side of the wellness influencer community. The Australian limited series fictionalizes the real-life scammer Belle Gibson (played by Kaitlyn Dever), who became famous for healing her brain cancer through natural eating and alternative medicine—only she never had cancer.
In addition to Belle's rise and fall, Apple Cider Vinegar includes narrative threads about others affected by Belle's actions, including actual cancer patients who were harmed by her grift. Viewers also follow Milla Blake (Alycia Debnam-Carey), a woman diagnosed with a sarcoma at age 22 who attempts to use holistic remedies to cure her illness. With all six episodes out on February 6, 2025, fans wonder if Milla is also based on a real-life influencer. Read on for everything you need to know about Milla Blake from Apple Cider Vinegar and the real women who inspired the character.
Is Milla Blake based on a real person?
In Apple Cider Vinegar, Milla Blake is another influencer Belle counts as an inspiration, nearing the point of parasocial obsession. Milla's diagnosed with a rare soft tissue sarcoma in her arm; rather than have the arm amputated, she elects to treat herself through holistic means including juices and coffee enemas. Sadly, her cancer gets worse, and by the time she seeks out traditional medicine, it is too late. She dies around five years after her original diagnosis.
Speaking with Tudum, series creator Samantha Strauss describes Milla as "a portrait of influencers at the time." The writer adds, "She’s someone who is desperately trying to save her own life and becomes blind to the truth because of it."
Strauss also revealed in an interview with TODAY that Milla was "inspired in part" by Jessica Ainscough, a former editor of an Australian teen magazine who was diagnosed with epithelioid sarcoma in her early 20s. The character of Milla shares many similarities with Ainscough, including the real-life influencer's shallow connection to Belle Gibson.
Who is Jessica Ainscough?
According to The Guardian, Jessica Ainscough was an online editor for Dolly in 2008 when she was diagnosed with epithelioid sarcoma, a rare soft-tissue cancer that most often affects teenagers and young adults. Doctors recommended amputating her arm at the shoulder as her "best chance at survival," but she instead initially tried chemotherapy.
Once chemo stopped working, Ainscough sought to treat her cancer using "Gerson therapy," which is represented in Apple Cider Vinegar via the fictional Hirsch Institute. Gerson therapy works under the theory that disease can be cured by "removing toxins from the body," per the National Cancer Institute. The intense regime involves an organic, high-potassium vegetarian diet; several dietary supplements; and regular coffee enemas. Per Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Gerson therapy "does not treat or prevent cancer" and the American Cancer Society warns that it can be "very harmful to the body," especially the repeated use of coffee enemas.
Ainscough eventually left her job and began documenting her experiences with alternative medicine through a blog, which is no longer online. The self-nicknamed "wellness warrior" also hosted events with other wellness figures, and published the book Make Peace with Your Plate: Change Your Life One Meal at a Time in October 2013.
Like with Milla, cancer also affected another member of Ainscough's family. Her mother, Sharyn, was diagnosed with breast cancer and also underwent Gerson therapy. Per The Guardian, Sharyn died from cancer in 2013.
A year after her mother's death, Jessica revealed that her illness had flared up since Sharyn became ill, writing, "For the first time in my almost seven year journey with cancer, this year I’ve been really unwell."
According to a statement released by her family, Jessica Ainscough died on February 26, 2015, at the age of 29. She was survived by her fiancé, Tallon Pamenter, whom she had been set to marry that September.
Did Jessica Ainscough and Belle Gibson know each other in real life?
According to the book on which Apple Cider Vinegar is based, Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano's The Woman Who Fooled the World, Gibson and Ainscough were "not friends" in real life. Per TODAY, they met at a conference two years before Ainscough's death, and she later said "something was off" about Gibson. According to Time, their acquaintanceship didn't go any deeper than "occasionally commenting on each other’s social media profiles."
One outrageous incident from the Apple Cider Vinegar finale actually happened in real life: Gibson really did attend Ainscough's funeral. According to Donelly and Toscano's book, Gibson "hysterically sobbed" at the service, entered Ainscough's childhood bedroom, and cried on Pamenter's shoulder. As seen in the series, this incident happened just after the reporters sent Gibson 21 questions for the article, marking the beginning of her downfall.
