Apple Cider Vinegar: is Milla Blake a real person?

Emmy Griffiths
·3-min read
Alycia Debnam-Carey as Milla in Apple Cider Vinegar
Alycia Debnam-Carey as Milla in Apple Cider Vinegar (Courtesy Of Netflix)

Fans have been hooked to Netflix's new scam series Apple Cider Vinegar, which follows the story of Belle Gibson, an Australian influencer who faked having cancer to promote a wellness diet and lifestyle which she claimed was helping to cure her illness.

The show, which is billed as a "true-ish story based on a lie" sees Belle steal the idea from Milla Blake, a young woman who really did have cancer, and who had turned to alternative medicene for treating the illness. While Belle is indeed a real person, even taking part in a televised interview to discuss the accusations surrounding her faking her illness, there isn't any obvious proof that Milla ever existed. So was she made up for the show?

The show's creator, Samantha Strauss, described Milla as "a portrait of influencers at the time" in the 2010s, and that she is loosely based on Jessica Ainscough, a magazine editor who passed away aged 29 in 2015 from a rare form of cancer, Epithelioid Sarcoma, after being diagnosed aged 22.

Writing on her Wellness Warrior blog about her treatment, and how she decided against chemotherapy, she explained: "I didn’t chop off my arm. I didn’t go into aggressive, full-body chemotherapy. I didn’t accept that my doctor’s ‘solution’ was the only course of action.

Alycia Debnam-Carey plays Milla Blake on the show
Alycia Debnam-Carey plays Milla Blake on the show (Edward Tran)

"I decided that I would do everything in my power to thrive in life, in spite of the looming expiration date I’d been given. I learned how to treat myself with absolute kindness & self-respect. I radicalised my diet. I systematically detoxified my body — and mind."

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Speaking to The Booktopia Book Guru about her life before her diagnosis, she explained: "Before cancer, I was working at Dolly magazine. It was an amazing life, but something even better was waiting for me. So, the universe gave me a big kick up the bum to force me onto a different path – the path I am supposed to be on."

Following her death in 2015, her loved ones shared a post on Instagram that read: "Thank you for all of your love and messages over this past month since our angel Jess passed away.

Aisha Dee as Chanelle and Alycia Debnam-Carey as Milla in Apple Cider Vinegar
Aisha Dee as Chanelle and Alycia Debnam-Carey as Milla in Apple Cider Vinegar (Courtesy Of Netflix)

"We want to commemorate today by doing something special for Jess ... Well actually, it's for you... We want you to perform an act of self-kindness! Yep that's it. Simply think of the best thing Jess has inspired you to do, whether it be to drink a green juice, say a positive affirmation, meditate, do a coffee enema or any of the other awesome things you've learned from her! Please do this for yourself today in honor of our beautiful Jess."

Alycia Debnam-Carey as Milla, Aisha Dee as Chanelle in Apple Cider Vinegar
Alycia Debnam-Carey as Milla, Aisha Dee as Chanelle in Apple Cider Vinegar (Courtesy Of Netflix)

Jessica's mother Sharon also pursued alternative medicines following a breast cancer diagnosis, and died in 2013. However, unlike the show where Jessica encourages her mother to try alternative medicenes, it is unclear how

However, the show is very different to the series as, while the show pits Belle and Milla against one another, Belle and Jessica didn't appear to know one another well in reality. However, Belle did attend Jessica's funeral, with one mourner telling The Sydney Morning that she had been in floods of tears during the Wake. They said: "Some guests seemed put off by it. She was noticeably having outbursts."