Married at First Sight season nine brides Domenica Calarco and Ella May Ding have come under fire after making claims that “mindfulness” can “cure” terminal illness.
The backlash began when the reality stars turned fast friends aired some controversial opinions in an episode of their popular podcast Sit With Us titled “Practicing Gratitude.”
WATCH NOW: Lyndall Grace slams Ella May Ding for sharing “medical misinformation”. Article continues after video.
In the episode, Ella makes numerous claims about how the minds of listeners can kill them and “make you sick.”
“If you’re sick in whatever way it may be, whether it’s with illness, if you have cancer, or if you have depression, you can literally make yourself sicker by focussing on how sick you are.”
“You can then end up terminally ill.”
As a follow-up to her claims, Ella made reference to Dr. Joe Dispenza, someone she said was a chiropractic doctor as well as a lecturer on neuroscience and quantum physics.
“If you are unwell, whether it be terminal or not, read Dr. Joe Dispenza’s book, How to Rewire Your Brain,” the 29-year-old said before adding that in the book, Dr. Dispenza had cured “hundreds of case studies of people who were sick with cancer” and had “cured patients without chemotherapy [by] training them to just imagine not being sick.”
The doctor in question that Ella references however is not currently practicing, and has previously been criticised for publishing medical misinformation.
Despite backlash in the reviews section of the podcast on both Spotify and Apple Music, Ella doubled down on her approach to the issue, responding to a fan in the podcasts closed Facebook group that in an upcoming episode of the podcast she would be interviewing a “friend’s mum.”
The mum in question allegedly travelled to Mexico for a “four month cleanse that actually did get rid of her breast cancer with no chemo.”
Ella then added that listeners who disagreed with her could take her opinions and experiences on the matter with a “grain of salt.”
Also weighing in on the controversy was season 10 MAFS bride Lyndall Grace who suffers from cystic fibrosis.
Taking to her Instagram stories Lyndall spoke from the heart telling her audience: “You are enough and you are doing enough.”
“These things are TOOLS to HELP you mitigate your anxieties and your feelings around your conditions. They are not cures.”
“You are not being punished for not being happy enough.”
Almost two weeks on from the podcast episode going live, and amidst rapidly growing backlash, Ella finally took to her Instagram stories to clarify her on-air comments.
“Just touching base regarding our latest podcast on Sit With Us, where we talked about POSITIVITY and GRATITUDE,” Ella wrote.
“In this podcast, I made mention of a personal family friend and her experience with cancer. This was not meant as advice, it was me relaying a story I personally witnessed and saw the effects of.
“I also discussed a book that I read by Dr. Joe Dispenza. I want to clarify that although I am personally excited by Dr. Joe’s findings and treatment methods he described in the book, I was not intending to provide any medical or treatment advice nor am I qualified to do so.”
“In response to some of the comments following on from the podcast, I acknowledge and take full accountability that I should have made this clearer. I apologise for this. I understand that I should have reminded listeners to always seek professional medical advice in relation to medical conditions, or before making any medical decisions.
“I will ensure that I am more careful in the future when sharing information and stories in relation to these sorts of topics. If you are a loyal follower of mine, I hope you know that everything I say or do comes from a good place. Life is about lessons and how we choose to learn or grow from them. And from this, I will.”
