Clive questions

The series portrayed Clive sympathetically as a father figure who truly cared for Belle’s son and stayed with them, even after learning the truth, because of his love for Belle and her son. I couldn’t find much info about the real Clive online but question how pure his motives really were.

Was he a victim of Belle’s manipulation and just trying to do the right thing for her child? Or was he just as culpable as Belle in the financial scheming? I have the impression he enabled her grift and profited from it as much as she did. Remember in the beginning episodes he’s driving an old, cheap car and working a normal job (doesn’t seem like he comes from money). Then of course later on he’s enjoying the luxury lifestyle enabled by Belle’s scamming.

When the Age journalists were investigating, they found Clive’s name and fingerprints all over Belle’s business ventures. I get why Belle had to be the focus of their articles, but while watching, I wished they would have been tougher on Clive too. If I was the reporter I would have told Clive beforehand that my story will mention his name and all his financial ties to Belle’s grift, then give him the chance to explain himself to me before the story goes to print.

Not sure if Clive was investigated by authorities alongside Belle but in my view he should have been. Yes it’s admirable that he was a responsible and present father figure to her little boy. But I don’t think that absolves him or makes him a good person — if he was complicit in her scam and had known for a long time that she didn’t have cancer. Hard for me to imagine that he DID NOT know she was lying about the cancer early on, seeing as he lived with her.