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PODCAST

Trust Me: Cults, Extreme Belief, and Manipulation

Exactly Right and iHeartPodcasts

Trust Me is a weekly interview podcast about cults, extreme belief, and the fine line between devotion and delusion—told through firsthand accounts from the people who lived it.Hosted by two women who’ve been in cults themselves, Lola Blanc and Meagan Elizabeth, the showfeatures survivors from groups like Heaven’s Gate, the Manson Family, NXIVM, OneTaste and more–sharing personal stories of how they got in, how they got out, and everything in between. Each week, they

society & culture

All Episodes

01:24:45

Amanda Rae - The Kingston Clan and Escaping Polygamy

Trust Me: Cults, Extreme Belief, and Manipulation ·

2025/03/12

Today our guest is Amanda Rae, host of YouTube channel by the same name and former member of the Kingston Clan, or the Order, a polygamist group in Utah, not to be confused with the FLDS. Some of you may remember our previous guest Priscilla from the same group - both of these gals were on Escaping Polygamy. Amanda’s going to tell us who the Kingstons are, how many mothers she had, and the principle of “pure Kingston blood” that led to people sometimes intermarrying with relatives - some of whom

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01:21:05

Maggie Rowe - Sinning Bravely and Moral Scrupulosity

Trust Me: Cults, Extreme Belief, and Manipulation ·

2025/03/05

Today our guest is Maggie Rowe, former writer on Arrested Development and author of Sin Bravely, a book about her experiences with moral scrupulosity, or sin-focused OCD. We talk a lot about OCD on this show, so here’s a guest who wrote an entire book about growing up with religious obsessions! She’ll tell us about her first obsessions about what was and was not sin, how she started to analyze the Bible with a critical mind to try to understand how to avoid hell, and how her parents tried to help

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00:55:45

Caleb Ward, Part 2 - Disneyland for Christians and...

Trust Me: Cults, Extreme Belief, and Manipulation ·

2025/02/26

Former evangelical Christian and pastor's son Caleb Ward continues his story of growing up in evangelical culture in the early 2000s. We discuss some of the touchstones of his youth including Heritage USA (Disneyland for Christians) and Christian rock event Creation Festival, as well as his fear of losing his virginity before marriage, what hell to meant to him (and Lola and Meagan) growing up, how his dad was an example of healthy church leadership, how his parents were ostracized when they left

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01:00:35

Caleb Ward, Part 1 - Kingdom Life Ministries and...

Trust Me: Cults, Extreme Belief, and Manipulation ·

2025/02/19

Former pastor's son Caleb Ward joins Lola and Meagan to share his experience about the height of evangelical culture in the early 2000s in a church called Kingdom Life Ministries. Caleb discusses growing up in an environment where everyone was speaking in tongues and having loud prophecies in the middle of church, the pressures that come with being the son of a pastor, how heightened emotional experiences keep people connected to their churches, wild evangelical youth culture involving Christian

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01:08:24

Uriah Wesman, Part 2 - The Hearts Center and The...

Trust Me: Cults, Extreme Belief, and Manipulation ·

2025/02/12

Today is part 2 with Uriah Wesman, former member of THREE different cults. This week he’ll talk to us more about cult #2, the Hearts Center (which was an offshoot of cult #1 from last week), what it was like being a rebellious emo kid slowly starting to realize inconsistencies in the church, and how his dad discovered cult #3 in Canada, the Ideal Society.We’ll talk about why he loved Canada so much, how he became obsessed with Alex Jones in his rebellious phase, and what that third cult - a vegan

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00:59:14

Uriah Wesman, Part 1 - The First Cult: Church...

Trust Me: Cults, Extreme Belief, and Manipulation ·

2025/02/05

Creator of the one man show 3 Cults Walk Into a Bar, Uriah Wesman, shares about his FIRST cult experience in Church Universal and Triumphant, how they combined Christianity and New Age ideas, the paranoia that was created by beliefs surrounding demons, his mom's mental deterioration that led her to accuse his father of being a demon, and his parents split that led him to his next cult... which we'll discuss next week!We have deals for you! ZocDoc: Stop putting off those doctors appointments! Go

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01:42:16

Philip Deslippe & Stacie Stukin - 3HO,Kundalini yoga,...

Trust Me: Cults, Extreme Belief, and Manipulation ·

2025/01/24

Today our guests are historian Philip Deslippe and writer Stacie Sutkin, who together have done investigative reporting on 3HO (“happy, healthy, holy organization”), Kundalini yoga, and Yogi Bhajan. They’re going to tell us how they got started writing about 3HO, both interacting with Kundalini yoga in different ways, who Yogi Bhajan was and whether he had any credibility in the Sikh religion (spoiler: he did not), and how he began to get white Americans to believe he was the ultimate spiritual

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00:38:50

REWIND: Frank Lyford - Heaven's Gate, Part 2:...

Trust Me: Cults, Extreme Belief, and Manipulation ·

2025/01/15

Episode 23: Lola Blanc & Meagan Elizabeth continue to interview Frank Lyford, former member of Heaven's Gate. In part 2, they discuss the growing number of red flags he began to notice after one of the leaders died, including talk of castration, and what led to his decision to finally, after 18 years, break away. He also tells the girls what it was like when he heard about the mass suicide on the news, how heartbreaking that was, the lessons he's learned as a result, and what his life is like

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00:48:00

REWIND: Frank Lyford - Heaven's Gate, Part 1: The...

Trust Me: Cults, Extreme Belief, and Manipulation ·

2025/01/10

Episode 22: Lola & Meagan interview Frank Lyford, survivor of Heaven's Gate who left after 18 years--just a few years before discovering his friends and loved ones in the group had died by suicide. In part 1, he tells the girls how he began following the leaders Ti and Do, what it was like living a nomadic lifestyle with his "check partner," and what happened when they all settled in one place for "Class." They discuss being separated from the love of his life, how the rules became more strict

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01:29:37

Ashlen Hilliard - The Evolution of Cult Intervention...

Trust Me: Cults, Extreme Belief, and Manipulation ·

2025/01/01

Cult interventionist and founder of People Leave Cults, Ashlen Hilliard, talks about her path to working in cult intervention and recovery, her personal religious experience that led her to this work, how interactions with Mormons in Utah affected her worldview, how she defines what a cult is, why accusing a group of being a cult isn't always helpful, how cult intervention today is different from how it was in the 70s, how it used to involved kidnapping and unethical practices, how her model takes a

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01:12:11

REWIND: Joann Vaega: Waco Survivor and Former Branch...

Trust Me: Cults, Extreme Belief, and Manipulation ·

2024/12/26

You're a child living on a remote compound in West Texas. One day authorities show up at your front door and an exchange of gunfire breaks out. Just as you expected would happen. Survivor of the Branch Davidians and the Waco massacre, Joann Vaega, discusses her earliest memories of living on the compound, what cult leader David Koresh was like in person, why she did not feel fear when the siege began, how her mom bravely acted to save her, learning about the fire that killed 76 people, including her

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01:24:49

Carolyn Costin - The Link Between Cults and Eating...

Trust Me: Cults, Extreme Belief, and Manipulation ·

2024/12/18

FOR OUR 200th EPISODE, we are joined by eating disorder therapist, author, and expert Carolyn Costin to discuss her own experiences that led to her starting her practice, why so many cults control the eating habits of their members, why having an eating disorder is like having a little cult leader in your brain, and how Carolyn helped Meagan with her own eating disorder.Check out our holiday sponsors!! Quince: Gift luxury without the luxury price tag! Go to Quince.com/trust for 365-day returns

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01:06:00

Yoni Shrira, Part 2 - Hard Labor, Isolation, Running...

Trust Me: Cults, Extreme Belief, and Manipulation ·

2024/12/11

Today is part 2 of our interview with Yoni Shrira, former student at the Family Foundation School, also known as Allynwood, the remote troubled teen program known for a series of lawsuits brought against it as well as over a hundred deaths from overdose or suicide by its former attendees. Last week, we talked about how and why Yoni ended up in the abusive school and the culture of required snitching, and this week he’s going to tell us about the punishments the kids endured, including hard labor and

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00:54:36

Yoni Shrira, Part 1 - The Family Foundation School,...

Trust Me: Cults, Extreme Belief, and Manipulation ·

2024/11/27

Today our guest is Yoni Shrira, friend of the show and survivor of the Family Foundation School, a troubled teen sobriety school that became notorious for how many of its former students died after going through the program. In part one today, he’s going to talk about what he was like as a teenager, how he was genuinely out of control when it came to drugs and alcohol, and why his parents believed the school was the best option to help him.He’ll tell us about the religious undertones of the group,

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01:26:26

Tory Hess - From Second Life to Wilderness Commune

Trust Me: Cults, Extreme Belief, and Manipulation ·

2024/11/21

Today our guest is Tory Hess, former member of a small rural group in upstate New York she calls Crazyland. She tells us about how she always loved reading and fantasy growing up, never went to public school, and didn’t connect easily with folks in real life when she was young, and how she found connection in the online gaming community Second Life, where she acted out her dream of having a family of her own... until it began to consume her life. She’ll tell us how some of the friends she made on

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01:10:44

REWIND: Jay Van Bavel - Groupthink, Social Identity,...

Trust Me: Cults, Extreme Belief, and Manipulation ·

2024/11/14

Groups!... I did it again. Jay Van Bavel, NYU Associate Professor of Psychology and Neural Science, Director of the Social Identity and Morality Lab, and co-author of The Power Of Us, discusses how our social identities change depending on our environment and context, how the groups we identify with affect our decisions and perception, and the importance of instilling healthy hierarchy in a group to prevent unhealthy leadership. They also discuss how emotionally charged situations can forge shared

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01:22:50

Bethany Joy Lenz - One Tree Hill, a Secret Cult, and...

Trust Me: Cults, Extreme Belief, and Manipulation ·

2024/11/06

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

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00:59:31

Anne - Psychosis, Delusions, & the Cult of Your Own Mind

Trust Me: Cults, Extreme Belief, and Manipulation ·

2024/10/31

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

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01:22:09

REWIND: Jitarth Jadeja - Former QAnon Believer

Trust Me: Cults, Extreme Belief, and Manipulation ·

2024/10/23

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

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01:15:31

Gareth Gore - Opus Dei, Human Trafficking, & Project...

Trust Me: Cults, Extreme Belief, and Manipulation ·

2024/10/16

Today our guest is Gareth Gore, journalist and author whose new book Opus is about Opus Dei, an ultra-conservative Catholic sect, its harmful practices, its history of dark money, and its connections to modern day right-wing American politics. Gareth shares how he came to this story while investigating the shady practices at a bank in Spain, the history of the group and the leader’s goals of recruiting elite members of society, and its cultic practices like living in gender segregated homes with a

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234 results

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