In 2013/14 I was going through the decline of my marriage and found Jess. I downloaded Make Peace With Your Plate and thought she really seemed to have life sorted—it was truly a strange time to imagine in 2025—when manifestation magic was possible and I was just about to take my 200 hr YTT and change my life. #blessed amirite?
People never mention it, but the Wellness Warrior website had great content. The aesthetic seems dated now but she seemed sincere and attracted interesting people I was interested in knowing more about. The biggest red flag I see now when I visit it in the Wayback Machine is the B-School mentions (imho, problematic).
When Jess died so suddenly it was like they erased her, and all her official content disappeared. I know it might have been difficult for those her loved her but maybe being honest about how her illness played out w/out the typical medical interventions would have helped others.
As a mom, much older now, all I really think about is how she was so young. I think she really believed all the stuff she did/ate/thought really would save her.
Belle just seems truly unwell mentally. I’m not sure that story will ever make sense as she took such INSANE risks with her lies.
Completely agree, I feel so much empathy for Jess - trying to do what she felt best with the cards she'd been dealt (even if in hindsight so much of that time was problematic, the B school! And the Gabby Bernstein's of it all) The portrayal of her in the show feels unfair (even though yes, I know it's only BASED on her but still feels mean). And while I was utterly blown away by Belle's lies at the time, I believe as you do - that she is severely mentally unwell, and I hope she has had some level of care for that in the past ten years.
This is all so bang on, Rebecca. I felt, and feel, every word of it. The idea that we are responsible for healing ourselves; to lead a 'good' healthy cancer-free life, we just have to want it bad enough is so toxic. And if we get sick, or cancer returns, did we just not try hard enough. If we are responsible for healing ourselves, are we also responsible for getting cancer in the first place? Ugh. It's a lot.
In 2013/14 I was going through the decline of my marriage and found Jess. I downloaded Make Peace With Your Plate and thought she really seemed to have life sorted—it was truly a strange time to imagine in 2025—when manifestation magic was possible and I was just about to take my 200 hr YTT and change my life. #blessed amirite?
People never mention it, but the Wellness Warrior website had great content. The aesthetic seems dated now but she seemed sincere and attracted interesting people I was interested in knowing more about. The biggest red flag I see now when I visit it in the Wayback Machine is the B-School mentions (imho, problematic).
When Jess died so suddenly it was like they erased her, and all her official content disappeared. I know it might have been difficult for those her loved her but maybe being honest about how her illness played out w/out the typical medical interventions would have helped others.
As a mom, much older now, all I really think about is how she was so young. I think she really believed all the stuff she did/ate/thought really would save her.
Belle just seems truly unwell mentally. I’m not sure that story will ever make sense as she took such INSANE risks with her lies.
Completely agree, I feel so much empathy for Jess - trying to do what she felt best with the cards she'd been dealt (even if in hindsight so much of that time was problematic, the B school! And the Gabby Bernstein's of it all) The portrayal of her in the show feels unfair (even though yes, I know it's only BASED on her but still feels mean). And while I was utterly blown away by Belle's lies at the time, I believe as you do - that she is severely mentally unwell, and I hope she has had some level of care for that in the past ten years.
I actually had a Gabby Bernstein-trained Life Coach during this time!! I was deep in it!!! 🤣
This is all so bang on, Rebecca. I felt, and feel, every word of it. The idea that we are responsible for healing ourselves; to lead a 'good' healthy cancer-free life, we just have to want it bad enough is so toxic. And if we get sick, or cancer returns, did we just not try hard enough. If we are responsible for healing ourselves, are we also responsible for getting cancer in the first place? Ugh. It's a lot.