A 17-year-old British girl lied about having a terminal brain tumor in order to con celebrities out of huge sums of money and lead an extravagant lifestyle, it has been revealed. Megan Bhari not only falsely claimed to be suffering from the illness but also set up a charity called Believe in Magic to help terminally ill children, taking in millions of dollars in funds via celebrity donations and using the money to fund multiple trips to Walt Disney World in Florida and journeys on cruise liners and private jets, The Times reports.
- Bhari’s lies were outlandish from the beginning. Bhari started Believe in Magic in 2012 and was a trustee along with her mother, 66-year-old Jean O’Brien, and two other close relatives. She began repeatedly making posts online in which she begged for funds she allegedly needed to travel to the US to undergo radon therapy to treat a second tumor she claimed she’d developed. On social media, she claimed the tumor had “grown tentacles” and that she was unable to have surgery because it had wrapped around her brain’s main blood supply. One Direction helped raise the £120,000 she needed at this time. However, unbeknownst to anyone else, doctors were more concerned with her frequent trips to the hospital and her “use of powerful opiates” – not a tumor.
- So many celebrities were pulled in by Bhari’s story. No one likes to hear of a young person suffering something as terrible as cancer, and after hearing Bhari’s story, so many celebrities came forward to donate money or help in other ways. Harry Styles’ mother climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in 2012 to benefit the charity, while stars like Taylor Swift, Little Mix, Ed Sheeran, Pharrell Williams, Jessie J, and Michael Buble all also donated money totaling millions of dollars.
- Soon enough, the parents of other ill children started to suspect something was up with Bhari’s story. Joanne Ashcroft’s son Corey attended a party for children with cancer and noticed that the descriptions of Bhari’s alleged cancer treatments were bizarrely vague. “I spoke to other oncology parents close to me who felt the same,” Ashcroft recalled. “Our own children had been through the most horrific disease and treatments imaginable. There was just something in the words that didn’t ring true.”
- Bhari’s story began unraveling quickly. After it was discovered that Bhari had repeatedly traveled to Florida on cruise liners and stayed at Walt Disney World resorts on multiple occasions when she was meant to be receiving treatment, the families hired a private investigator. Watching her as her boat docked in Southampton just after the charity claimed that “her body has been through more than any ever should have to and is so weak right now,” the investigator noticed that she came off the boat smiling and pushing a cart full of suitcases. Despite this, the Facebook page for the charity claimed that she had “deteriorated even further” on the journey and had been taken to a hospice.
- An official investigation by the Charity Commission was launched. It was revealed that there were large withdrawals made from the Believe in Magic bank accounts between 2015 and 2017 totaling £397,786. Soon after the investigation was launched, the commission froze the bank account and shut down the charity.
- Bhari did indeed die at 23, but not from a brain tumor. Bhari passed away in 2018 but the coroner recorded the cause of death as heart failure related to her fatty liver. No tumor was mentioned whatsoever. However, Bhari’s mother still won’t admit that her daughter lied about her condition. “The charity grew so quickly and although Meg and I worked tirelessly I take full responsibility for the less than perfect admin and record keeping,” she said in a Facebook post. “I am not ashamed to say I have been driven to the brink by these completely untrue and devastating allegations.”
