6 Celebrities Who Have Spoken Out About Their Experiences in Cults
6 Celebrities Who Have Spoken Out About Their Experiences in Cults
Alexandra Schonfeld, Samantha StutsmanSat, April 11, 2026 at 9:00 AM UTC
0
Michelle Pfeiffer on April 06, 2026 in New York City; Joaquin Phoenix on September 03, 2025 in Venice, Italy; Rose McGowan on June 03, 2019 in Paris, France.Credit: Cindy Ord/Getty; Pascal Le Segretain/Getty; Laurent Viteur/WireImage
Several of Hollywood’s most recognizable stars have opened up about their time spent in cults.
For some, that experience began in childhood — long before fame. As adults, they’ve reflected on how they became involved and, ultimately, how they found a way out.
For Bethany Joy Lenz, that meant putting her experience on the page. In her 2024 memoir Dinner for Vampires: Life on a Cult TV Show (While Also in an Actual Cult!), she detailed how she navigated life both on-screen and within a controlling group behind the scenes.
Meanwhile, Glenn Close spoke candidly about her upbringing in a cult during an appearance in the Apple TV+ series The Me You Can't See, offering a rare glimpse into how those early experiences shaped her life.
Here are six celebrities who have discussed living in cults — and how they escaped.
01 of 06
Bethany Joy Lenz
Bethany Joy Lenz attends The Alliance For Women In Media Foundation's 50th Annual Gracie Awards Gala on May 20, 2025 in Beverly Hills, California.Credit: Frazer Harrison/Getty
While starring as Haley James Scott on One Tree Hill from 2003-2012, Lenz was also part of a small, ultra-Christian group led by a pastor in Idaho who would come to control much of her life, including her career and eventually her bank account. She opened up about the experience in her book, Dinner for Vampires Life on a Cult TV Show (While Also in an Actual Cult!) .
"I don't think of it as brave," she told PEOPLE about her decision to share her story. "I think of it as important. Living silently in the suffering I experienced, I don't know if that helps anyone."
Lenz tells PEOPLE that though her OTH castmates expressed concern, she denied anything was wrong.
"I was like, 'No, no, no. Cults are weird," she recalled telling Craig Sheffer when he asked ifs he was in one, adding, "Cults are people in robes chanting crazy things and drinking Kool-Aid. That's not what we do!'"
She ended up marrying a fellow "family" member and the two welcomed a daughter together; in 2012, though, she realized she needed to leave both her marriage and the group.
After a decade in the group, which she claimed cost her millions in income from the hit TV show, she left. In the years since, she has undergone a decade of recovery.
02 of 06
Joaquin Phoenix
Joaquin Phoenix.Credit: Gareth Cattermole/Getty
By the time Joaquin Phoenix was born, his parents, Arlyn and John Lee Phoenix, had already joined the religious cult Children of God. Before leaving the group when he was 3 years old, his parents were considered “archbishops” of Venezuela and Trinidad for the group, the Joker actor told Vanity Fair in October 2019.
In a 2014 interview with Playboy, Joaquin, who is one of five siblings, said his family's involvement in the cult "was really innocent on my parents' part" and that when they “realized there was something more to [Children of God], they got out."
“They got some letter, or however it came, some suggestion of that, and they were like, ‘F--- this, we’re outta here,’ ” he said of his parents' decision to leave after they found out about the group's sex recruitment tactics. “I think they were idealists, and believed that they were with a group who shared their beliefs, and their values. I think they probably were looking for safety, and family.”
03 of 06
Rose McGowan
Rose McGowan in 2024.Credit: Christoph Soeder/picture alliance via Getty
Rose McGowan also lived part of her childhood as a member of the Children of God cult.
Advertisement
"Like in most cults, you were cut off from your [outside] family. There were no newspapers, no television. You were kept in the dark so you would obey," she previously told PEOPLE of her experience.
She continued, "I remember watching how the [cult’s] men were with the women, and at a very early age I decided I did not want to be like those women," she continued. "They were basically there to serve the men sexually; [men] were allowed to have more than one wife."
When McGowan's father "got wind that the group was starting to advocate child/adult sex," he and Rose fled.
04 of 06
Glenn Close
Glenn Close.Credit: Griffin Lipson/BFA/REX/Shutterstock
When Close was just 7 years old, her father, Dr. William Taliaferro Close, joined a conservative religious group, Moral Re-Armament.
Her father moved the family to the group's headquarters in Switzerland where they lived for 15 years.
"It was basically a cult," Close said in an episode of the Apple TV+ series The Me You Can't See. "Everybody spouted the same things and there was a lot of rules, a lot of control. It was really awful."
Her time in the cult had lasting impact on her ability to make relationships with others as left her "psychologically traumatized."
"Because of the devastation, emotional and psychological of the cult, I have not been successful in my relationships and finding a permanent partner, and I am sorry about that," she said. "I think it is our natural state to be connected like that. I don't think you ever change your trigger points, but at least you can be aware of them and maybe avoid situations that might make you vulnerable, especially in relationships."
05 of 06
Michelle Pfeiffer
Michelle Pfeiffer.Credit: MICHAEL TRAN/AFP via Getty
After moving to Los Angeles at 20 years old, Michelle Pfeiffer met a "very controlling" couple who were "kind of personal trainers" who believed in breatharianism — the notion that people can live without food or water, per CBS News.
"They were very controlling. I wasn't living with them, but I was there a lot, and they were always telling me I needed to come more," she said. "I had to pay for all the time I was there, so it was financially very draining."
Pfeiffer would later realize something wasn't right while helping her first husband, Peter Horton, research for a movie about the Moonies (people who follow the Unification Church). Her research into another cult-like group led to the realization that "I was in one."
"We were talking with an ex-Moonie, and he was describing the psychological manipulation, and I just clicked," she said.
06 of 06
India Oxenberg
India Oxenberg attends the 32nd Annual Colleagues Spring Luncheon on April 19, 2022 in Beverly Hills, CaliforniaCredit: Phillip Faraone/Getty
India Oxenberg lived under the NXIVM cult for seven years before she escaped with the help of her mother, actress Catherine Oxenberg. During that time, she endured physical and mental abuse that included branding, forced sex and starvation.
“I used exercise to punish myself: ‘I ate a lot, so now I have to walk 20 miles.' ” she told PEOPLE in September 2023.
As part of Smallville actress Allison Mack's role as a NXIVM leader, she used to direct Oxenberg to weigh herself and report every calorie she consumed. Mack was later convicted of racketeering and conspiracy and served two years in federal prison.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
