Believe in Magic

Lore & Background

Believe in Magic was founded by Megan Bhari, then 16, who had been diagnosed with idiopathic intracranial hypertension three years earlier. Her mother, Jean O'Brien, worked with her on the charity, which was registered with the Charity Commission on 20 January 2012. In its first year, the charity received £73,635 in donations. It rose to prominence after One Direction repeatedly tweeted support, wore bracelets onstage, and attended events; band member Louis Tomlinson reportedly donated £2 million. In 2015, Tomlinson hosted a fundraising gala at the Natural History Museum in London, and Bhari received an award from Prime Minister David Cameron.

Reader's Guide

The charity's significance lies in its rapid rise and dramatic fall, illustrating how celebrity endorsement can amplify a charitable cause while also masking underlying mismanagement and potential fraud. The controversy began when O'Brien posted a JustGiving appeal in 2015 seeking £120,000 for emergency treatment in the United States, which was met within 48 hours. A group of parents, led by Jo Ashcroft, privately investigated and discovered emails being opened from a Disney World resort in Florida, and a private investigator photographed Bhari and O'Brien disembarking from a cruise ship with no signs of illness. The Charity Commission launched a statutory inquiry in 2017, freezing the charity's accounts and revealing that over £100,000 was unaccounted for, with funds withdrawn in cash or transferred to personal accounts without adequate records. Bhari died in 2018 at age 23; an inquest found her brain was morphologically normal with no tumour, and her cause of death was acute cardiac arrhythmia due to fatty liver disease. A subsequent review by Kingston Adult Safeguarding board concluded Bhari was most likely a victim of Munchausen syndrome by proxy. The case has been the subject of a BBC podcast and a BBC television series, serving as a cautionary tale about the vulnerabilities in charitable oversight and the manipulation of public sympathy.

Did You Know?

• Believe in Magic was founded by 16-year-old Megan Bhari, whose mother falsely claimed Megan had been diagnosed with a brain tumour three years prior.
• The charity received support from One Direction, with band member Louis Tomlinson reportedly donating £2 million.
• A private investigator photographed Bhari and her mother disembarking from a cruise ship, with Bhari appearing fit and not using oxygen.
• An inquest after Bhari's death in 2018 revealed her brain was morphologically normal with no sign of a tumour.