A Little Bit Culty
Sarah Edmondson and Anthony “Nippy” Ames, former NXIVM members and whistleblowers featured in the HBO series “The Vow,” host this podcast exploring cult-like behavior. They share their own experiences, interview other survivors and experts, and discuss how devotion can turn into dysfunction. The show aims to help listeners recognize red flags and avoid abusive situations.
Episodes
Summer bonus: Sarah & Nippy on Blown for Good: Scientology Exposed
In this summer bonus episode, we joined Claire Headley on Blown for Good: Scientology Exposed for a wide-ranging conversation about our new book, A Little Bit Culty: Navigating Cults, Control and Coercion, and the patterns that connect Scientology to other systems of power and control. We talked about love bombing, coercion, life after leaving, healing from high-control groups, and why le
Alicia Duncan on Coercion, Coverups & Canada's Medical Assistance in Dying Program (Part 2)
In Part 2 with Alicia Duncan, we get into the really juicy stuff: the loaded language, the euphemisms, and the whole “don’t say the scary word or everyone clutch their pearls” universe around MAID. Alicia breaks down how terms like autonomy, dignity, and assisted dying get used as PR glitter, while the actual lived experience can look a lot more like coercion, gaslighting, and a bureaucra
Alicia Duncan on Coercion, Coverups & Canada's Medical Assistance in Dying Program (Part 1)
This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. In this episode, we’re joined by Alicia Duncan for a conversation that takes ALBC somewhere new: not a traditional cult, but a deeply troubling story about coercion, undue influence, narrative control, and institutional power. Alicia shares what happened after her mother entered Canada’s MAID—Medical Assistance in Dying—program, and how a fami
Summer Bonus: Sarah & Nippy on Cults to Consciousness with Shelise Ann Sola (Part 2)
In the second half of our Cults to Consciousness bonus episode, the conversation gets even more practical: how to spot coercive control in real time, rebuild trust in your own intuition, and stop confusing love with obedience. We share more from our new book, A Little Bit Culty: Navigating Cults, Control and Coercion, including why survivor stories matter, how to talk about cultic experie
Summer Bonus: Sarah & Nippy on Cults to Consciousness with Shelise Ann Sola (Part 1)
In this bonus episode, we hop over to Cults to Consciousness with past ALBC guest Shelise Ann Sola for a real, slightly sweaty, very honest conversation about how cults mess with your head, your body, and your sense of what’s normal. We talk about our new book, A Little Bit Culty: Navigating Cults, Control and Coercion, and how survivors can move from confusion and self-blame toward clari
Where are they now? Gerette Buglion on Writing to Reckon (Part 2)
Gerette Buglion’s back for part two of our catch-up. This one dives deeper into the messy, important work of healing through writing, therapy, and self-trust. She talks about internal consent, knowing when to pause, and why it’s so important for survivors to move slowly when a story starts to light up the nervous system.We also get into the realities of publishing after cultic abuse, incl
Where are they now? Gerette Buglion on Writing to Reckon (Part 1)
In our next “Where are they now?” catch-up episode, Gerette Buglion is back, and she’s still doing what she does best: helping survivors turn cult experience into something meaningful, grounded, and actually useful. In this conversation with Sarah, she shares how life has evolved since we last spoke, from personal recovery and family life to the gentle, steady growth of Living Cult Free a
Summer bonus: Chapters 3 and 4 from the A Little Bit Culty audiobook!
If you love listening to ALBC on your commute, while folding laundry, or as your little antidote to the daily chaos, you’ll be right at home with the audiobook version of A Little Bit Culty: Navigating Cults, Control and Coercion. This bonus episode gives you Chapters 3 and 4 from the audiobook, so you can hear the book the way it was meant to be heard—out loud, in your ears, and with all
Summer bonus: Preface to Chapter 2 from the A Little Bit Culty audiobook!
If you love listening to ALBC on your commute, while folding laundry, or as your little antidote to the daily chaos, you’ll be right at home with the audiobook version of A Little Bit Culty: Navigating Cults, Control and Coercion. This bonus episode gives you the Preface, Introduction, Introduction to Part I, Chapter 1, and Chapter 2 from the audiobook. You can hear the book the way it wa
Dr. Gillie Jenkinson on Thought Reform, Trauma, and Walking Free (Part 2)
In Part 2 of our conversation with Dr. Gillie Jenkinson, we move from her remarkable story into the practical question so many survivors ask: How do you actually recover after leaving a cult? Gillie shares how her own experience escaping a high-control Christian group led her to become one of the world's leading specialists in cult recovery, and why she set out to create ethical, trauma-i
Dr. Gillie Jenkinson on Thought Reform, Trauma, and Walking Free (Part 1)
This episode is sponsored by Betterhelp.Dr. Gillie Jenkinson—the OG, the GOAT, and the GG of cult recovery work (she needed a definition, we provided several)—finally makes her long-overdue debut on A Little Bit Culty. She’s a therapist, cult survivor, and the author of Walking Free from the Trauma of Coercive, Cultic and Spiritual Abuse, and this first part is all about how she got in.It
The Workout Witch: Liz Tenuto on Trauma, Somatics, and When the Body Speaks (Part 2)
In Part 2 of our conversation with Liz Tenuto aka The Workout Witch, we get into the science (and surprisingly practical magic) behind somatic healing and why so many trauma survivors feel stuck even after years of therapy. Liz shares how her own search for relief from chronic health issues led her to the world of nervous system regulation, and explains how simple somatic exercises can he
The Workout Witch: Liz Tenuto on Trauma, Somatics, and When the Body Speaks (Part 1)
Liz Tenuto, aka The Workout Witch, joins A Little Bit Culty for a seriously useful, beautifully weird conversation about healing after abuse, trauma, and all the body-based chaos that can follow. She shares how TikTok accidentally became her platform, how somatics helped her reclaim her body after an abusive marriage, and why movement ended up being the thing that finally made a dent in h
Religious Trauma and Cults: Sam Sellers & Elise Heerde on Healing After High Control Churches (Part 2)
Sam Sellers and Elise Heerde return for Part 2 to unpack what healing actually looks like after leaving high-control religious environments. Spoiler: it is not neat, linear, or especially glamorous. Sam talks about getting married, being shunned, learning to live with religious trauma, and slowly rebuilding after years of dissociation. Elise shares how counseling helped her connect the do
Religious Trauma and Cults: Sam Sellers & Elise Heerde on Healing After High Control Churches (Part 1)
Sam Sellers and Elise Heerde of Religious Trauma and Cults bring the receipts on growing up in high-control faith worlds, with Sam from the Brethren Christian Church, an independent off-shoot of the Exclusive Brethren, and Elise from the Pentecostal Church & New Apostolic Reformation. They talk about how those systems can start out feeling like belonging with a side of certainty, then
Michael Shamblin Black on The Way Down and Escaping Remnant (Part 2)
Michael Shamblin Black is back for Part 2, and this one goes to the darkest corners of life inside Remnant Fellowship—and the even darker corners of life after it. Michael walks us through the red flags he couldn't ignore: Gwen's suffocating control, the Remnant "guidance system" cataloging every member's doubts and mapping their homes (collateral, just without the branding), an arranged
Michael Shamblin Black on The Way Down and Escaping Remnant (Part 1)
Michael Shamblin Black joins ALBC to talk about growing up inside his mother Gwen Shamblin’s world, featured in the HBO Max docuseries The Way Down: God, Greed, and the Cult of Gwen Shamblin. He reflects on life in Remnant, his current efforts to expose the church, and how therapy with Dr. Laura Anderson (past S6 ALBC guest) has helped him gain clarity while he works through long-held tru
Corey Jentry on Selling Sanity: Inside the Troubled Teen Industry Cult (Part 2)
In Part 2 of our conversation with Corey Jentry, we pick up where we left off and follow the long, winding path out of the troubled teen industry and the program founded by Bob Meehan. Corey shares how years of coercive control, dependency, and identity-shaping didn’t simply end when he left the program; they followed him into the world of recovery, where he found himself grappling with m
Corey Jentry on Selling Sanity: Inside the Troubled Teen Industry Cult (Part 1)
In Part 1 of our conversation with Dr. Corey Jentry, we dive into a side of the troubled teen industry that doesn’t get talked about nearly enough: the programs that didn’t need to kidnap kids in the middle of the night, because they convinced them to walk in willingly. Corey shares how, as a struggling teenager looking for connection, he was drawn into what would become a five-year stay
Bring Me the Beauties: Hoyt Richards, and a Double Life in Eternal Values (Part 2)
Hoyt Richards is back for Part 2 with the escape story nobody knew they needed: love, coercion, a shaved head, and the unlikely guardian angel who turned out to be Fabio. After Frederick's death, the new cult leader still made Hoyt's life hell. When Hoyt fell secretly in love with Donna over four years and dared to question the apocalypse timeline (spoiler: it didn't happen by 1999), he w
Bring Me the Beauties: Hoyt Richards, and a Double Life in Eternal Values (Part 1)
This episode is sponsored by Betterhelp.Hoyt Richards joins the pod to talk about the double life behind his modeling fame and his nearly 20 years in Eternal Values, the high-control group also featured in HBO’s Bring Me the Beauties: A Model Cult. He reflects on how a seemingly glamorous world of fashion, access, and status got tangled up with grooming, identity loss, and a spiritual sys
Where are they now? Mark Vicente on the Narcissist’s Playbook (Part 2)
In Part 2 of our “Where are they now” chat with Mark Vicente, he talks about Narcissist’s Playbook and the emotional toll of spending five years documenting narcissistic abuse and expanding that work through his Instaguru series and podcast. The project keeps revealing the same pattern at different scales, from cult dynamics and propaganda to politics, performance, and the way people get
Where are they now? Mark Vicente on the Narcissist’s Playbook (Part 1)
Mark Vicente returns for a new “Where are they now?” conversation and opens up about the five-year journey behind his upcoming film, Narcissist’s Playbook, which he describes as a way to better understand the psychology he once lived inside. We revisit how narcissistic patterns showed up in NXIVM and why they’re so hard to see clearly while you’re in it, and how the film tries to explain
REPLAY: Dr. Ramani Durvasula on Post-Narc Healing
Sharp, compassionate, and clarifying as ever, this replay episode from our second convo with Dr. Ramani finds her fresh off the release of her book It’s Not You: Identifying and Healing from Narcissistic People. She reframes narcissism away from labels and toward impact, helping listeners understand why these relationships can be so destabilizing and why recovery is absolutely possible.Sh
REPLAY: Dr. Ramani Durvasula on Navigating Narcissism
To prep for next week’s “Where are they now?” chat with Mark Vicente, we’re replaying our first convo with licensed clinical psychologist Dr. Ramani Durvasula from Season 5. Are malignant narcissists born or made? How do you recover after narcissistic abuse? Dr. Ramani tackles our burning narc-y questions. She’s the author of two books on the subject: Should I Stay or Should I Go: Survivi
Dr. Christine Marie on Trust Me: The False Prophet and the Fight for Justice (Part 2)
In Part 2 with Dr. Christine Marie, we dive into Netflix’s Trust Me: The False Prophet and why the lack of victim-shaming in the response has been a dream come true. She walks us through the strategy (and frustration) of working with the FBI on the Sam Bateman investigation, why she needed footage of Sam committing obstruction of justice to get him arrested, and the devastating mistake of
Dr. Christine Marie on Trust Me: The False Prophet and the Fight for Justice (Part 1)
Dr. Christine Marie joins us to talk about surviving manipulation, public shaming, and the long road to healing after her experience with a false prophet and the people around him, as documented in Trust Me: The False Prophet on Netflix. In Part 1 of our convo, she traces how her Mormon upbringing, business struggles, and search for meaning made her vulnerable to coercion, how NXIVM’s Kei
Danny Rensch Returns: Stories Behind Dark Squares and Untold: Chess Mates (Part 2)
In Part 2, we continue our wide-ranging convo with Danny Rensch, which starts with a very pointed critique of Netflix editing and the way it framed both Sarma Melngailis and the Hans Niemann scandal in Untold: Chess Mates. He gets into the ethics of Chess.com’s cheating investigations, why nuance gets flattened in public narratives, and how hard it is to explain a private, evidence-based
Danny Rensch Returns: Stories Behind Dark Squares and Untold: Chess Mates (Part 1)
Danny Rensch returns to A Little Bit Culty for a live conversation in Atlanta, where he was in town on the tour stop for his memoir, Dark Squares: How Chess Saved My Life. A fan favorite from our earlier Season 8 appearances, Danny reflects on the book, the life experiences that shaped it, and what it means to finally put language to trauma, manipulation, and survival.In Part 1, Danny ope
Shattered, Broken, and Beautiful: Brooke Deanne on Jehovah’s Witnesses (Part 2)
In Part 2 of our conversation with Brooke Deanne, we get into the moment the whole thing finally cracked wide open: the knife incident that became her final straw, the divorce that followed, and the painfully familiar push-pull of leaving a trauma-bonded relationship. Brooke also shared how the Jehovah’s Witness elders protected the wrong person, why the system kept men in power, and how
Shattered, Broken, and Beautiful: Brooke Deanne on Jehovah’s Witnesses (Part 1)
In Part 1 with Brooke Deanne, we chat about her growing up as a third-generation Jehovah’s Witness, the deliciously bad idea of confusing control with “truth,” and what it’s like to be raised in a system where curiosity gets shut down before it can even put on shoes. Brooke walks us through the culty greatest hits: conditional love, shunning, hierarchy, weirdly intense rules about sex and
Where Are They Now? Isabella Constantino on Post-NXIVM Healing and Identity (Part 2)
In Part 2 of our Where Are They Now? series with Isabella Constantino, we spill more on NXIVM, Keith Raniere, and the long shadow of cult recovery. Since first sharing her story, Isabella has been doing the brave, messy, non-linear work of rebuilding: untangling identity, processing trauma, and figuring out who she is outside a high-control group that once shaped so much of her early adul
Where Are They Now? Isabella Constantino on Post-NXIVM Healing and Identity (Part 1)
This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp.In the first installment of our “Where Are They Now?” series, we catch up with Season 5 guest Isabella Constantino to find out what life looks like after NXIVM when the smoke clears and the cult fog machine finally runs out of juice. Isabella shares what she’s been up to lately, including working at an art museum in Buffalo, and talks honestly about
International School of Temple Arts (ISTA): Two Insiders Expose Consent, Control, and Cult Dynamics (Part 2)
In Part 2, we continue our convo with Cara Cardoni and “Lina” about ISTA, the International School of Temple Arts, and the deeper red flags that pushed them to finally leave. Cara and Lina describe how the group used glossy language, spiritual framing, and “consent” rhetoric to obscure coercion, while the reality included harm, manipulation, and a system that made it hard to tell what was
International School of Temple Arts (ISTA): Two Insiders Expose Consent, Control, and Cult Dynamics (Part 1)
This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp.In this episode, we sit down with Cara Cardoni and “Lina” (whose real name remains anonymous) to unpack their experience with ISTA, the International School of Temple Arts, AKA the “Harvard of Sacred Sexuality” that turned out to have a lot more red flags than a festival wristband. Cara and Lina describe how they came to ISTA looking for healing, co
Stop the Tall Man, Save the Tiger: Peter Young on the Cult of Uncle Robert Booty (Part 2)
In Part 2 of our conversation with Peter Young, we go deeper into the disturbing story surrounding Uncle Robert Booty and how charisma, secrecy, and unchecked authority created the perfect conditions for harm to go unchallenged. Peter continues to unpack what he witnessed and experienced, shedding light on how manipulation and control can operate in plain sight, especially when wrapped in
Stop the Tall Man, Save the Tiger: Peter Young on the Cult of Uncle Robert Booty (Part 1)
In Part 1 of our convo with Peter Young, we step into the wild, uncomfortable orbit of Uncle Robert Booty, the “cult” leader who slowly took over Peter’s marriage, family, and sense of reality. Peter talks about his book, Stop the Tall Man, Save the Tiger, and how he first met Paige while working as a sports broadcaster in Idaho, only to discover that her family’s world revolved around a
ALBX: Catching up: Book Update and Listener Voicemails
Buckle up, cultiverse: it’s our catch-up bonus round, where we give you a little bit extra. In this episode, we bask in the glow of your Amazon book reviews (please, keep ‘em coming!) and eavesdrop on the spicy, kooky, and downright cathartic voicemails waiting in our inbox from listeners who are ready to dish out their “a little more culty” revelations, rants, and burning questions.Also…
The Art of Influence: Mind Games’ Alice Hines on NLP and High-Control Manipulation
This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp.In this episode, we welcome back Alice Hines, co-host of the Mind Games podcast, and dig into her reporting on neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), NXIVM, and the slippery gremlin bridge between self-help, persuasion, and manipulation. Alice explains how Mind Games traced the overlap between Twin Flames, NLP, and NXIVM. She spoke about interviewing e
The Oracle’s Daughter: Harrison Hill on the Aggressive Christianity Missions Training Corps (Part 2)
In Part 2 with Harrison Hill, we go deeper into his book, The Oracle’s Daughter, and the wonderfully unhinged rise of the Aggressive Christianity Missions Training Corps (ACMTC), which started out as Free Love Ministries and then took a hard left into full-blown extremity. Harrison talks about the limited public record, the giant legal paper trail, and the kind of reporting that makes you
The Oracle’s Daughter: Harrison Hill on the Aggressive Christianity Missions Training Corps (Part 1)
This episode is sponsored by Betterhelp.In this episode, Harrison Hill joins us to discuss his book The Oracle’s Daughter and the rise and fall of the Aggressive Christianity Missions Training Corps (ACMTC), a group that began as Free Love Ministries and spiraled into an intensely controlling Christian cult. He explains how founders Jim and Deborah Green evolved from 1960s hippies into ch
Holy Disobedience: Melissa Duge Spiers on the Seventh Day Adventist Church (Part 2)
Part 2 with Melissa Duge Spiers picks up at the “WTF moment” when a call about her beloved father—a once‑celebrated Adventist youth pastor and doctor—exposes him as a child predator and shatters the good‑dad/bad‑mom story she’d carried her whole life. She walks listeners through confronting her parents, befriending “Dr. Z,” a former teen congregant who details the grooming and abuse, and
Holy Disobedience: Melissa Duge Spiers on the Seventh Day Adventist Church (Part 1)
In Part 1 of our episode with Melissa Duge Spiers, she pulls back the curtain on Seventh‑day Adventism (SDA)—a massive but strangely invisible denomination she describes as a classic end‑times cult built on control of food, bodies, and behavior. She traces the movement’s roots through prophet Ellen G. White, mad‑hatters‑era health fads, Kellogg’s cornflakes‑as‑anti‑masturbation tool, and
Twisted Yoga: Ashleigh Freckleton on Atman/MISA and Gregorian Bivolaru
In this episode, we finally sit down with Ashleigh Freckleton, one of the central voices in the Apple TV docuseries Twisted Yoga and a former devotee of MISA/Atman Yoga, the transnational yoga-tantra empire orbiting fugitive guru Gregorian Bivolaru. We’ve been trying to line this conversation up for years, and it was worth every time-zone fail and calendar mishap to get her in the (virtua
Escaping Scientology with Liz Gale: Audits, Absurdities, and Aftermath
In this episode, Liz Gale shares what it means to be a third‑generation Scientologist, born into a fanatical family where every aspect of childhood—schooling, discipline, even getting sick—was filtered through L. Ron Hubbard’s “technology.” She describes being audited from before birth, sent to a Scientology boarding school at eight, and subjected to invasive “sec checks” by her own mothe
Sex, Shame, and Sacred Secrets: Nancy Ross on Mormon Garments (Part 2)
In Part 2 of our conversation with Dr. Nancy Ross, we dig deeper into the fascinating (and frankly under-discussed) world of Mormon temple garments, the sacred undergarments worn by many devoted members of the LDS Church. Building on the research we introduced in Part 1, Nancy walks us through the results of her large survey examining how these garments actually impact people’s daily live
Surprise Drop: A Little Bit Culty Hits Amazon!
A Little Bit Culty: Navigating Cults, Control and Coercion dropped on Amazon this past weekend and has already hit #1 new release in the psychology & religion category!The Kindle version is coming any day now, and the book will be up at other online retailers in the next few weeks. Thank you! We love you!Also…let it be known that:The views and opinions expressed on A Little Bit Culty
Sex, Shame, and Sacred Secrets: Nancy Ross on Mormon Garments (Part 1)
In this episode, Dr. Nancy Ross—religious studies professor, longtime Mormon feminist, and co‑author of the forthcoming book Mormon Garments: Sacred and Secret—joins us to talk about what it’s like to grow up LDS in small‑town Maine, move into the hyper‑gendered world of southern Utah, and then turn all of that lived experience into rigorous research on faith, clothing, and control.She wa
Ashtanga Yoga After Pattabhi Jois: Magnolia Zuniga on Consent, Adjustment, and Real Healing (Part 2)
In Part 2 of our conversation, Magnolia Zuniga goes deeper into how the Ashtanga world responded—or failed to respond—to decades of sexual abuse by Pattabhi Jois and what that reveals about belonging, power, and performative “accountability” in yoga culture. She describes discovering that early Western students had deliberately suppressed photographic evidence of his assaults, how senior
Ashtanga Yoga After Pattabhi Jois: Magnolia Zuniga on Consent, Adjustment, and Real Healing (Part 1)
This episode is sponsored by Betterhelp.In Part 1 of this two‑episode conversation, Magnolia Zuniga—one of only about 20 certified Ashtanga teachers worldwide as of 2015—joins us to unpack how a practice she loved became a textbook example of how charisma, secrecy, and male‑centered power can warp modern yoga. She traces her path from early days in Bikram to that first Ashtanga class in L
Through the NXIVM Lens: Bjorn Bolinder on V-Week, Branding, and Seeing the Light (Part 2)
Welcome back for Part 2 with Bjorn Bolinder: dancer, photographer, and the guy whose heart was screaming “GET OUT!” louder than any cult alarm system we've ever heard. We pick up in 2016 as Bjorn signs up for SOP (the men's program) in a moment of pleaser panic, and then experiences a full-body revolt between the commitment meeting and his Washington Heights apartment. He listened, backed
Through the NXIVM Lens: Photographer Bjorn Bolinder on V-Week, Branding, and Seeing the Light (Part 1)
This episode is sponsored by Betterhelp.Bjorn Bolinder—photographer, NXIVM insider, and the guy on the ladder in The Vow Episode 3—finally tells his story. For NXIVM nerds, this is the episode you've been waiting for: a behind-the-scenes perspective from someone who witnessed it all but stayed largely unknown to the public. Bjorn walks us through his recruitment in January 2015, how a mid
PATREON REPLAY: "Zenu Is My Homeboy" - Marc Headley on Scientology
In this bonus Q&A episode from our Patreon vault, Marc Headley broke down how Scientology actually works on the inside: from Sea Org recruitment scripts and billion‑year contracts to what really goes on at Gold Base behind the gates and cameras. He explained the day‑to‑day mechanisms of control—sleep deprivation, production quotas, “ethics” punishments, sec checks, disconnection, and
The Lost Boy: Unpacking Corey Feldman Vs. The World with Marcie Hume
Following last week’s conversations with ex-Corey’s Angels musicians Margot Lane and Jezebel Sweet, director Marcie Hume joins us to talk about making Corey Feldman Vs. The World, the cinéma vérité documentary that starts as a quirky comeback chronicle and turns into an unexpectedly raw portrait of a former child star wrestling with trauma, ego, and the need to be believed.Marcie shares h
Sex, Power, and Music: Jezebel Sweet & Margot Lane Expose Corey Feldman (Part 2)
In Part 2 with Margot Lane and Jezebel Sweet, we dive more into the spectacle of Corey’s Angels and the documentary Corey Feldman Vs. the World and what happens after you walk away from someone else’s narrative and start writing your own. They talk about the emotional and professional fallout of leaving Corey Feldman’s orbit, how it felt to watch their time in the band reframed on screen,
Sex, Power, and Music: Jezebel Sweet & Margot Lane Expose Corey Feldman (Part 1)
This episode is sponsored by Betterhelp.In this episode, we’re joined by Margot Lane and Jezebel Sweet, former members of Corey’s Angels, the all‑female band and “angel” entourage formed and led by actor and musician Corey Feldman. Drawing on their experience, partially shown in the new documentary COREY FELDMAN VS. THE WORLD—a cinéma vérité chronicle of Corey’s attempt to reboot his care
The Guru Wears Prada: Sofia May on Surviving Tibetan Buddhism at Tara Mandala (Part 2)
In Part 2 of our conversation with Sofia May, she continues sharing her experiences connected to Tara Mandala and the community around lama Tsultrim Allione. We get into the messy, nuanced territory where Buddhist teachings, spiritual leadership, and real-world power dynamics intersect. We explore what draws people to Tibetan Buddhist communities and retreat centers in the first place, an
The Guru Wears Prada: Sofia May on Surviving Tibetan Buddhism at Tara Mandala (Part 1)
In Part 1 of this conversation with stand-up comedian and former Tara Mandala practitioner Sofia May, she joins us to talk about how a beautiful Tibetan Buddhist retreat center in the Colorado mountains—founded by western author lama Tsultrim Allione—slowly revealed a deeply culty underbelly beneath the goddess imagery and tantric empowerment language. Sofia traces her path from sincere B
I Belong to Me: Tia Levings on Rebuilding After Religious Trauma (Part 2)
In Part 2 of our conversation with author Tia Levings, we go even deeper into what it actually takes to leave a high-control Christian fundamentalist marriage and rebuild a life on the other side. Tia shares more about how religious doctrine, patriarchy, and fear were used to justify control, submission, and abuse, and how difficult it can be to recognize harm when it’s framed as God’s wi
I Belong to Me: Tia Levings on Rebuilding After Religious Trauma (Part 1)
This episode is sponsored by Betterhelp.In this episode, Tia Levings—bestselling author of A Well-Trained Wife and survivor of Christian fundamentalism who appears in the Amazon docuseries Shiny Happy People—returns to dig deeper into what happened after escaping her high‑control marriage and the broader world of Christian patriarchy and homeschooling that enabled it. She talks about navi
Is Landmark a Cult? Anne Peterson Returns (Part 2)
In Part 2 with former Landmark Forum staffer Anne Peterson, we dig into what it actually took to leave the Landmark ecosystem emotionally, financially, and socially—and how she began unpacking the “technology” and jargon she once used to coach other people’s breakthroughs. Anne breaks down the aftershocks of working inside a Werner Erhard–inspired large group awareness training (LGAT): th
Is Landmark a Cult? Anne Peterson Returns (Part 1)
In Part 1 of this conversation, former Landmark Forum staffer Anne Peterson returns to update us about life post-Is This a Cult? book launch. She takes us back inside the transformational training machine built on Werner Erhard’s EST curriculum, and how something sold as breakthrough personal growth slowly revealed classic high‑control dynamics. Going from enthusiastic participant to full
Ma Will See You Now: Chasing Nirvana with Priya Hutner (Part 2)
In Part 2 of our conversation with Priya Hutner, we keep pulling back the curtain on life inside the Kashi Ashram and the world surrounding Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati (“Ma”), including what happens when devotion, hierarchy, and silence collide. Priya continues sharing her lived experience growing up in and around the ashram and how spiritual ideals were often used to excuse harm, blur boundar
Ma Will See You Now: Chasing Nirvana with Priya Hutner (Part 1)
This episode is sponsored by Betterhelp.In Part 1 of our conversation with writer Priya Hutner, she takes us inside her years at the Kashi Ashram, a spiritual community led by guru Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati, AKA “Ma,” in New York. She unpacks how an intentional, service-oriented “ashram family” slowly revealed deeply culty dynamics beneath the incense and darshan (beholding). She traces her
My Toxic Father and Bahai: Jared Van Driessche’s Survival Story (Part 2)
In Part 2 of our conversation with Jared Van Driessche, we go even deeper into what happens when you start questioning the system you were raised in, especially when that system is built on family, faith, and authority. Jared continues to unpack his experience growing up in a high-control religious environment connected to the Bahá’í faith, and how parental power, spiritual obedience, and
My Toxic Father and Bahai: Jared Van Driessche’s Survival Story (Part 1)
In Part 1 of our conversation, security specialist Jared Van Driessche shares the story behind his polished “protector” persona: growing up in a Bahá’í family with a controlling and volatile father, and how a faith that preached unity, justice, and service coexisted with secrecy, fear, and emotional and physical abuse at home. He talks about being parentified from a young age, trying to m
Cults to Consciousness: Shelise Ann Sola on Post-Mormon Podcast Life (Part 2)
In Part 2 with artist and ex-Mormon creator Shelise Ann Sola, we pick up with what happens after you walk away from the LDS Church: family fallout, reclaiming your body and sexuality from modesty/purity culture, and learning how to trust your own inner authority instead of a prophet, bishop, or priesthood holder. Shelise talks about healing religious trauma, unpacking scrupulosity and int
Cults to Consciousness: Shelise Ann Sola on Post-Mormon Podcast Life (Part 1)
In the first part of our conversation, artist, podcaster, and former Mormon Shelise Ann Sola joins us to talk about growing up in a devout Latter-day Saint (LDS) family. She internalized “perfect girl” expectations and slowly deconstructed the high-demand beliefs that shaped her identity and relationships. Shelise shares how modesty culture, purity messaging, temple worthiness interviews,
Setting Healthy Boundaries: Elicia Ybarra on Red Flags in Martial Arts (Part 2)
In Part 2 of our conversation with Elicia Ybarra, she unpacks her path to healing through EMDR trauma therapy. She realized how buried triggers from years of grooming and abuse sabotaged her marriage and self-defense curriculum development, leading to a near-separation and inability to be touched even by her son. She broke down her "Pretty Hands, Hard Punches" empowerment model. We also d
Setting Healthy Boundaries: Elicia Ybarra on Red Flags in Martial Arts (Part 1)
In Part 1 of our conversation with martial artist and empowerment self-defense instructor Elicia Ybarra, we trace how a childhood love of ninja turtles and karate turned into a 30-year journey through grooming, coercive control, and abuse in multiple martial arts settings, and how she eventually turned all of it into a curriculum to help other women fight back before it ever gets physical
A Little Bit Extra: A Casual Xmas Chat, AMA, and Listener Voicemails
Ring the sleigh bells for this A Little Bit Extra Thursday Christmas bonus. We navigate thorny territory around recent NXIVM-adjacent podcasts we legally can't discuss yet. Trust us, we have thoughts, and Sarah spills her feelings about all the drama on her hour-long debrief with Mark Vicente. We reflect on our favorite episodes from 2025—ones that surprised us, moved us, and occasionally
Twin Flames Universe Took My Niece: Cheryl Tuppa Speaks Out
In this episode, Cheryl Tuppa joins the pod to tell the story of her niece Briana’s seven-year entanglement with Twin Flames Universe—from a late-night Google search about soulmates to a full-blown high-control group that nearly swallowed her life and savings. A longtime cybersecurity specialist, Cheryl walks us through how a close, resourceful New England family still missed key early si
Love Has Won: Andrew-Ryan Profaci on His Time with Mother God (Part 2)
In Part 2 of our conversation with Andrew-Ryan Profaci, we pick up right where things get extra bananas: the “quantum hoax,” the moment he pulled back the curtain on Love Has Won’s manufactured enemies, fake spiritual threats, and collective delusion. Andrew-Ryan realized the whole thing was a miniature version of the way abusive systems run in the wider world. We walk through how he
Love Has Won: Andrew-Ryan Profaci on His Time with Mother God (Part 1)
This episode is sponsored by Betterhelp. In the first of this two-part episode, we finally go inside Love Has Won with someone who was actually there, and who tried to stop it from the inside out. We talk with Andrew-Ryan Profaci about how a lonely, spiritually curious guy dealing with addiction recovery, job loss, and a rabbit hole of conspiracies became “Father God–adjacent” in a g
Amanda Montell: Cultish and Coded Language, Revisited (Part 2)
Amanda Montell returns for round two, diving into what she's learned since Cultish dropped: Instagram comment wars as tribal battlegrounds, "platforming" as a thought-terminating cliché, and why understanding opposing views could get you canceled. We bonded over podcast economics, navigated controversy around Sounds Like a Cult episodes on Waldorf and fertility, discussed which cult
Amanda Montell: Cultish and Coded Language, Revisited (Part 1)
Amanda Montell—author, linguist, and our reigning three-time champion guest—returns in studio to talk about the newly released paperback edition of Cultish, the book that launched a thousand cult-discourse hot takes and made us all think twice about our SoulCycle memberships. We dove into what it's like to write a cult book when you're 27, watch it blow up unexpectedly, and face the onsla
A Little Bit Extra: Post-Thanksgiving Word Salad and Listener Voicemails
We’re back for A Little Bit Extra Thursday filled with Thanksgiving word salads and gallows humor. We chat about the last few truly bonkers weeks, share a long-awaited update on the book (spoiler: it’s actually finished and with our copy editor!), and talk about why we can’t publicly comment on certain NXIVM-adjacent podcasts just yet.We listen to your voicemails about the podcast featuri
Anthia Gillick on OneTaste: Strokes, Sex, and Shame
When does sexual empowerment cross the line into cult control? Following Ellen Huet’s OneTaste expose, we sat with Anthia Gillick—former OneTaste “insider,” survivor, and truth-teller—for a deep dive into the mechanics of manipulation inside one of the most controversial so-called “wellness” groups of the last decade. Anthia shares her journey from lost post-grad to commune life, revealin
Real Housewife and Bad Mormon: Heather Gay on Surviving Mormonism (Part 2)
We’re back with the second half of our conversation with the unstoppable Heather Gay: housewife, truth-teller, and newly minted slayer of Mormon silence. Heather gets real (and really funny) about what she’s gained since stepping away from the church: self-discovery, creative freedom, and the kind of joy 10-year-old her would’ve fainted over. We dig into her docuseries Surviving Mormonism
Real Housewife and Bad Mormon: Heather Gay on Surviving Mormonism (Part 1)
Heather Gay, Real Housewife, “Bad Mormon,” and faith deconstruction trailblazer, joined us to talk about her journey from devout church girl to outspoken survivor. She shares what made Mormonism so magnetic, how family, secrets, and ritual shaped her upbringing, and the pivotal moments that cracked her certainty wide open, including appearing on past ALBC guest Dr. John Dehlin’s Mormon St
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