Today our guest is actor, musician, and now author Bethany Joy Lenz, whom we will just call Joy. Joy was the star of hit TV show One Tree Hill, and today she’s going to talk to us about how she was in a Christian cult the whole time she was filming the show. She’ll tell us about her upbringing and her career as a young actor, living in LA on her own and joining a small Bible study group that seemed like the perfect place to share a community with like-minded young Christian actors, and how a charismatic preacher named Les began showing up, leading the meetings, and changing everything.

She’ll tell us about going to a house in Idaho they called the “God spa,” how she was drugged at the house (but did not realize until later), and how Les began to exert more and more control over her life - including isolating her from her family and taking over her finances, which were being drained without her knowledge the entire time she was working on a hit television show - and how the group’s hold over her led her to turning down her dream role in her dream Broadway play.

Plus, how she discovered her money was gone and finally decided to leave.

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Got your own story about cults, extreme belief, or abuse of power? Leave a voicemail or text us at 347-86-TRUST (347-868-7878) OR shoot us an email at TrustMePod@gmail.com

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Today, our guest is a friend who we'll call Anne. We discuss the connection between psychosis and cults, the mental changes Anne experienced when her episode started, the delusions that grew stronger, how she felt like she was communicating with spirits, the paranoia that grew inside her, and how a psychiatric mental health professional helped pull her out of it. We also compare the similarities of Anne's experience with that of many cult leaders, how coming out of a paranoid delusion is similar to coming out of a cult belief, and why it can be wise NOT to directly attack the beliefs of someone experiencing a psychotic episode.

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Got your own story about cults, extreme belief, or abuse of power? Leave a voicemail or text us at 347-86-TRUST (347-868-7878) OR shoot us an email at TrustMePod@gmail.com

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@oohlalola

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Episode 15: Lola and Meagan interview Jitarth Jadeja, former QAnon believer. He tells the girls about how, despite being Australian, he first was a Bernie supporter, then shifted his support to Trump before becoming obsessed with conspiracy theories. They discuss the two years of his life in which he believed in Q, the moment he realized it was all a lie, how he'd have gone to the Capitol if he'd still believed, and what he suggests you should do if a loved one has fallen into QAnon. Original Airdate: 01/13/2021

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Got your own story about cults, extreme belief, or abuse of power? Leave a voicemail or text us at 347-86-TRUST (347-868-7878) OR shoot us an email at TrustMePod@gmail.com

INSTAGRAM

@TrustMePodcast

@oohlalola

@meaganelizabeth11

TWITTER

@TrustMeCultPod

@ohlalola

@baberahamhicks

TIKTOK

@TrustMeCultPodcast