US beauty queen fakes cancer
A Pennsylvania beauty queen has been jailed on charges she faked having leukemia to benefit from fundraisers, and will be stripped of her title.
Online court records show 23-year-old Brandi Lee Weaver-Gates, of State College, was arraigned on charges of theft by deception and receiving stolen property.
State police say an April bingo benefit raised $14,000 for the Miss Pennsylvania US International pageant winner.
Troopers are asking the public to come forward if they have donated money to Weaver-Gates.
Butler’s Beauties, the company that sponsors the pageant, says in a Facebook page statement that they were also “led to believe that she was dealing with this horrible disease” and are making her return her crown and sash.
Records don’t list an attorney for Weaver-Gates, who faces a preliminary hearing on August 19.
Popular blogger Belle Gibson was discovered to have lied about having brain cancer and donating proceeds from her book, she later told media that “none of [what she said] is true.”
According to psychology professor Art Markman, lies like these might be due to what he calls the ‘dark triad.’
“The dark triad is a combination of high levels of narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism,” Markman says.
“Narcissists derive their self-esteem from the accolades of other people."
Psychopaths have little empathy for others and are not bound by the moral constraints that help to keep most people’s behavior in check.
Machiavellians are manipulative and willing to lie to achieve their goals.
People with this combination of traits are more likely to get wrapped up in extended lies in the public sphere than those who are not.”
The other factor at play here? An underdog story, which makes for a captivating drama.
“Anytime someone beats a serious illness, we root for them and give them the benefit of the doubt for a long time,” Markman says.
“Certainly, the public did that for Lance Armstrong, who, after surviving deadly cancer, maintained that he had not used performance-enhancing drugs while winning the Tour de France.”
“We assume that someone who has beaten a disease has some other virtue about them, and that affects how we evaluate other things they say,” he adds.
Morning news break – August 14
