Is Milla a real person? The truth behind Apple Cider Vinegar character

The new Netflix series Apple Cider Vinegar brings the shocking true story of Belle Gibson (played by Kaitlyn Dever) to life, but another character has been catching viewers’ attention: Milla Blake (Alycia Debnam-Carey). 

For the uninitiated, Belle Gibson was a highly successful wellness entrepreneur, having launched The Whole Pantry app in 2014, and later a cookbook under a Penguin publishing label. 

She gained millions of followers on social media and collaborated with Apple, impressing the world with her story. According to Belle, she had successfully cured her terminal brain cancer without modern medicine, simply through diet, exercise, natural medicine, and alternative therapies. 

There’s just one major problem, though: it was all a lie. Belle was never diagnosed with cancer or any other serious disease. Her rise and fall is tracked in Apple Cider Vinegar, running alongside that of Milla, another wellness influencer who really did battle cancer. Warning: some may find this content distressing. 

Is Apple Cider Vinegar’s Milla Blake a real person?

Milla Blake is inspired by the story of Jessica Ainscough, an Australian woman who died from cancer in 2015. The real-life case unfolded in much the same way as Milla’s does in Apple Cider Vinegar. 

jessicaainscough.com/in-loving-memory

Like Milla, Jessica worked for a teen magazine after graduating from university. But in 2008, she was diagnosed with epithelioid sarcoma, a rare, aggressive soft tissue cancer that usually starts as a lump in the arms, hands, or legs. She was just 22 years old. 

She was initially offered for her arm to be amputated, preventing the cancer from spreading. In Apple Cider Vinegar, Milla starts researching alternative therapies – including mistletoe treatment – before demanding that her doctors find another way. 

They instead offer her an isolated limb perfusion, which involves delivering a potent dose of chemotherapy directly to the tumor site. However, in real life, Jessica agreed to the amputation but was then offered the isolated limb perfusion, which she went through with. 

Initially, scans showed that the treatment had worked, but when the cancer returned months later, she chose to forgo the amputation and started seeking alternative therapies. 

Jessica went to Mexico in 2010 to follow Gerson Therapy, which is represented by Hirsch Therapy in the Netflix series. This involves an intensive, organic juicing regimen and regular coffee enemas. 

It should be noted that although Gerson Therapy has many advocates, it’s not considered a legitimate cancer treatment in modern medicine. As stated on the Cancer Research site, “There is no scientific evidence to use it as a treatment for cancer.”

However, Jessica went on a number of years with seemingly good health. She kept a regular blog about her health journey and gained a strong following on social media, where she became known as the “Wellness Warrior”. 

On her now-deleted blog, she wrote (via Mamamia): “I swapped a lifestyle of late nights, cocktails, and Lean Cuisines for carrot juice, coffee enemas, and meditation and became an active participant in my treatment.

“This research led me to Gerson Therapy… The therapy involves drinking 13 fresh organic veggie juices per day (yes that’s one an hour, every hour of my waking day), five coffee enemas per day, and a basic organic whole food plant-based diet with additional supplements.

“For two years I devoted my entire life to healing, to the extent that I was effectively housebound.

“I am ecstatic to report that it has worked for me. I have had no cancer spread, no more lumps pop up (they were popping up rapidly before) and I can actually see some of my tumors coming out through my skin and disappearing.”

Jessica would also share her experiences at Wellness Warrior events, in the same way Milla does in Apple Cider Vinegar, but under her Green Stone Healing banner. 

In 2013, she published a book similar to Milla’s ‘Hell to Well’ title, except it’s called ‘Make Peace with Your Plate: Change Your Life One Meal at a Time’.

But in 2014, her cancer returned and it was aggressive. There’s no indication that Jessica used black salve like Milla does in the show. 

She did open up to her followers, writing, “For the first time in my almost seven-year journey with cancer, this year I’ve been really unwell.

“I’ve lived with cancer since 2008 and for most of those years my condition was totally stable. When my mum became really ill, my cancer started to become aggressive again. After she died, things really started flaring up.

“For the past few months, I’ve been pretty much bedridden.” 

“I’ve had scans to detect what’s going on in my body, and I can report that the disease is still contained to my left arm and shoulder, however I do have a big fungating tumor mass in that shoulder that’s causing me dramas,” she added.

Instagram: @jessainscough

“Over 10 months of non-stop bleeding from the armpit has rendered me really weak (and uncomfortable) and as a result I’ve had no choice but to stop absolutely everything and rest.”

According to oncologist and professor, David Gorski, “Apparently, she also started undergoing radiation therapy, although I have no independent confirmation of this other than from some commenters after this blog post.”

On February 26, 2015, Jessica died from her cancer.

As is depicted in Apple Cider Vinegar, Belle really did credit Jessica as an inspiration, and she attended her funeral despite not being invited, where she wept loudly. 

Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano’s ‘The Woman Who Fooled the World’, the book the streaming service’s show is based on, said the pair weren’t friends in real life, and Jessica is reported to have said “something was off” about Belle. 

Is Milla’s mom Tamara real?

Jessica’s mother Sharyn Ainscough went through a similar journey as Milla’s mom Tamara (Susie Porter) does in Apple Cider Vinegar.

In the series, sometime after Milla’s health journey, Tamara gets diagnosed with breast cancer. Milla tries to treat her mom in the same way she treated herself, with Tamara wanting to go down the Hirsch route.

However, on their way to Mexico, she tragically dies from untreated cancer. In real life, Tamara was diagnosed with breast cancer and also chose to forgo conventional treatment. 

She joined her daughter and went through Gerson Therapy, but in 2013, two and a half years after her diagnosis, she died. 

At the time, Jessica wrote on her blog: “As many of you know, my Mum had breast cancer for the past few years. She was diagnosed about a year after I started Gerson Therapy, and seeing how much the therapy helped me, she went straight on it herself. 

“However, unlike my journey, Mum’s was fraught with complications. She had been doing well and seemed to make it through her obstacles, however a few months ago it became clear that the cancer was getting ahead of her. 

“She was in pain, lost a lot of weight, lost all energy, and her health quickly deteriorated. We explored lots of options, however Mum chose to see out the final months of her life in a way that was exactly right for her.

“Last Friday, after putting up the bravest fight I’ve ever witnessed, my mum passed away. She went peacefully and was comfortable with no drugs, which is what she always wanted. 

“Her whole family was in the room, my dad and I were holding her hands and Edie was at the foot of her bed. She flickered her eyes, took one last gasp, and then went off to sleep.”

The true story of Milla’s partner Arlo

Apple Cider Vinegar character Arlo (Chai Hansen) is Milla’s supportive partner, and he too is inspired by a real-life person: Tallon Pamenter, Jessica’s fiancé.

Tallon and Jessica got engaged in July 2014, with a plan to get married in September 2015, but Jessica sadly died before then. 

She would regularly sing his praises on her blog, including when her health deteriorated. “Tallon, my freaking hero, has had to step up and help me with everything from making food and juices, doing all of our housework and laundry to doing my hair,” she said. 

Following Jessica’s death, Tallon shared a tribute with her followers, where he said she was “giggling and drinking green smoothies” right through to the end. 

He also confirmed Jessica had undergone radiation in her final weeks after the fungating tumor in her left shoulder became large and painful.

“This was a risky and tough decision, but Jess bravely embraced this last chance option,” he said (via the Daily Mail). 

“In true Wellness Warrior style, we integrated our natural healing regime with the recommended radiation.

“Finally the walls were broken down between conventional and unconventional medicine – I don’t know why as a society we must choose one or the other.

“This was something Jess was looking forward to sharing (with her followers). It was an exciting evolution from her earlier days of feeling that she had to be part of one extreme world or the other.”

Tallon went on to say, “Jess displayed a sense of courage and grace that I am yet to see in anybody else I have ever met – myself included.”

Although the radiation managed to shrink the tumor, “some complications arose during the final stages of treatment”. 

“Not long after, the words I LOVE YOU would leave my lips only to fall softly upon Jess’s ears for the last time,” he said. “I said goodbye to the love of my life that day and my heart has been in a million pieces since.”

Apple Cider Vinegar is streaming on Netflix now. You can also read about the true story behind 1923, the Myka and James Stauffer docu-series, and the new true crime coming to streaming this month.