US launch for Belle Gibson's The Whole Pantry cookbook cancelled

Belle Gibson's overseas book launch has been officially scrapped amid concerns the Melbourne author faked having cancer and withheld thousands of dollars in charitable donations.

Atria Books, an imprint of publishing giant Simon & Schuster, has told Fairfax Media it is immediately dumping its deal with Gibson and will scuttle all existing orders for The Whole Pantry.

The popular cookbook was due to be released in US book stores next month.

"Our decision was made upon the failure of the author to provide clarification for numerous allegations concerning her biography and charitable endeavours," Atria Books publicity director Paul Olsewski said.

"Orders currently in our system will be cancelled."

The termination of the social media entrepreneur's US book deal came just hours after publisher Penguin revealed it will also pull The Whole Pantry from circulation in Australia.

Penguin has previously admitted never fact-checking Gibson's story, which claims healthy eating and natural therapies helped her treat multiple terminal cancers.

The 23-year-old launched her cookbook and smartphone app off the story of healing herself from brain cancer, but now says she may have been misdiagnosed. Close friends told Fairfax they did not believe Gibson's diagnoses and medical experts say they find her story of multiple cancers implausible.

Gibson and her company have been under close scrutiny after a Fairfax Media investigation revealed she had failed to hand over thousands of dollars in fundraising proceeds promised to charities.

The Whole Pantry's official Facebook page has been disabled after Gibson came under fire for deleting critical comments about her fundraising activities and health claims. The page, which had been inundated with about 1000 messages since last week, was removed on Tuesday morning.

It comes after thousands of posts were deleted in recent days from other social media pages belonging to The Whole Pantry and Gibson, including the app developer's Instagram account "healing_belle", which has been wiped clean.

Global tech company Apple, which heavily promoted Gibson's app as one of the first to be made available on the Apple Watch device, has remained silent for almost a week despite mounting accusations and repeated requests for comment. Apple refuses to say whether it stands by Gibson.

Gibson went to ground last week when controversy erupted over her business practices and the validity of her health claims. She has not responded to calls or emails from Fairfax Media, but blasted critics in a recent social media post for speaking out against her.

Gibson, who wrote of being "bullied to my death", went on to defend the work of The Whole Pantry.

"I know the work my company and it's [sic] contents did changed hundreds of thousands for the better," she wrote.