Australian wellness blogger admits being a fraud

An Australian blogger-turned- recipe-book author who claimed she beat a terminal form of cancer via a healthy diet has admitted she never suffered the disease.

Instead Belle Gibson, 23, has blamed a "troubled" upbringing for her leading hundreds of thousands of followers to believe in her fictitious double-life which landed her an international publishing deal with industry leader Penguin.

After weeks of speculation she was a fraud, Gibson told the Australian Women's Weekly magazine she indeed was.

"No, none of it's true" she told the magazine which hit the shelves on Thursday.

Her blog about overcoming her "illness" through a healthy lifestyle and diet had been wildly popular, as was her recipe book The Whole Pantry.

Penguin has now withdrawn it from planned international launches after it was first released in Australia.

Suspicions first arose in medical circles and after she failed to donate 300,000 Australian dollars to charity as she had promised.

Follower Yvonne Hughes said the ramifications of Gibson's actions were extreme.

"People will have made choices about their cancer treatment based on her advice," she told the magazine.

"Sick and vulnerable people facing tough, life-and-death decisions and (her) lie may have cost lives. Luckily, it didn't cost mine." Endi