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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

64:34

Sarma Melngailis - Part 2: Isolation, Deeper into the...

Trust Me: Cults, Extreme Belief, and Manipulation ·

2025/10/29

In part 2, Sarma Melngailis, subject of the docuseries Bad Vegan and author of The Girl with the Duck Tattoo, tells Lola & Meagan how Mr. Fox consumed her time, overwhelmed her with information, and dangled promises of financial freedom that was always JUST around the corner as a way to get her to send him more and more money. She’ll share about the fabricated online personas he created as part of the manipulation, how he always knew things it seemed like he couldn’t have known, and

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61:58

Sarma Melngailis - Part 1: Bad Vegan, Meeting Mr....

Trust Me: Cults, Extreme Belief, and Manipulation ·

2025/10/22

In part 1 with guestSarmaMelngailis, subject of the docuseries Bad Vegan and author of The Girl with the Duck Tattoo,Sarmashares about her life as the owner of a successful vegan restaurant in New York, how she met the man who called himself Mr. Fox on Twitter when he seemed to know her friend Alec Baldwin, her first impressions of Mr. Fox, and some of the initial red flags she missed.They discuss the way he slowly wormed his way into her life, how he first started asking for money in a way that

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66:25

Arabelle Sicardi - Plastic Surgery in Mormonism,...

Trust Me: Cults, Extreme Belief, and Manipulation ·

2025/10/15

This week, the girls are joined by Arabelle Sicardi, writer, image theorist, and author ofThe House of Beauty: Lessons from the Image Industry. Lola and Meagan confess the cosmetic procedures they've each had, and Arabelle explores how the beauty industry preys on our deepest fears, giving us a false sense of control and training us to worship ideals that are impossible to reach. They reflect on the high rates of plastic surgery in Utah and the LDS church, the gendered differences between the beauty

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63:43

Anthony Cesar Duncan: ChatGPT Psychosis and the...

Trust Me: Cults, Extreme Belief, and Manipulation ·

2025/10/08

This week, the girls are joined by Anthony Cesar Duncan, an artist, mental health advocate, and survivor of ChatGPT psychosis. Anthony opens up about his descent into a psychotic episode, led by an unlikely new cult figure: ChatGPT. He describes how his episode began innocently enough, how the platform’s responses started to amplify his delusions and isolate him from his loved ones, and how quickly the line blurred between reality and the AI’s suggestions. What started as curiosity

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77:18

Aaron Goldenberg - Homeschool, Conversion Therapy,...

Trust Me: Cults, Extreme Belief, and Manipulation ·

2025/10/01

Aaron Goldenberg, actor, comedian, and (hilarious) content creator, joins Lola and Meagan to talk about being gay as a Christian child, what it was like learning Bill Gothard’s IBLP homeschool curriculum as a boy, and how his parents discovered his queerness and sent him to conversion therapy. He talks about Exodus International, a now-disbanded “ex-gay” Christian ministry that taught that you could heal your gayness (until its president apologized to the gay community and said it

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73:38

Sarah Stankorb - Quiverfull, Christian Nationalism,...

Trust Me: Cults, Extreme Belief, and Manipulation ·

2025/09/24

Journalist Sarah Stankorb comes on the show to talk about her book, Disobedient Women, and the deep dive she did on why a series of evangelical women in America began to leave their communities as the internet came into prominence. They discuss patriarchal teachings within cultures like the Quiverfull movement, including stories like Vyckie Garrison’s, who was pressured into having repeated pregnancies that defied her doctors and put her life at risk.They also dive into figures like Bill

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82:30

Erika Lantz & Elin Lantz Lesser - Book Burnings,...

Trust Me: Cults, Extreme Belief, and Manipulation ·

2025/09/17

Guests Erika Lantz and Elin Lantz Lesser join to discuss season 3 of their investigative podcast The Turning, which follows the journey of a young woman named Lindsay, a former member of a Christian group in Minnesota called River Road Fellowship. They talk about the background of the leader Victor Bernard, how Lindsay’s parents moved the family to the cult compound, and what it was like living there—with rapture drills that required the members to never venture far from the compound, a

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61:56

Jane Borden - Cults Like Us: Puritans, Demagogues,...

Trust Me: Cults, Extreme Belief, and Manipulation ·

2025/09/10

Journalist Jane Borden joins the girls to discuss her book Cults Like Us, a gripping investigation into how cultic thinking is woven into the fabric of American life. Jane delves into the radical roots of early Protestant settlers, how the deep-rooted American mythology of a strong rebel cowboy who can save us from the bad guys makes us more susceptible to demagogues and authoritarians, and why pronatalism is just another form of doomsdayism.They talk about how fear of the end of the world, fear of

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77:13

Megan Elizabeth Cox - The Remnant Fellowship, Gwen...

Trust Me: Cults, Extreme Belief, and Manipulation ·

2025/09/03

Megan Elizabeth Cox–not to be confused with our Meagan Elizabeth–shares how she first started Gwen Shamblin’s weight loss program as a child, when her mom began listening to the cassette tapes in the 90s. She opens up about what it was like growing up in a family that was fixated on weight loss, how it felt meeting Shamblin, the high-haired woman behind the voice, and how the program evolved into the Remnant Fellowship, a full-fledged church centered around skinniness as

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54:23

Claire Hoffman - The Rise and Vanishing of Evangelist...

Trust Me: Cults, Extreme Belief, and Manipulation ·

2025/08/27

Journalist Claire Hoffman joins us again, this time to discuss her new book Sister, Sinner: the unbelievable true story of Aimee Semple McPherson, a glamorous Pentecostal preacher who pioneered entertainment evangelism. McPherson was so famous in the 1920s she could have been a Kardashian.Claire talks about how the early televangelist used theatrics and mass media to build an empire around her preaching–only to mysteriously disappear in 1926, leading to one of the most notorious court cases of

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39:56

Claire Hoffman - Levitation, Meditation, and a...

Trust Me: Cults, Extreme Belief, and Manipulation ·

2025/08/20

In Part 1 of our interview with journalist Claire Hoffman, Claire shares what it was like growing up in an Iowa trailer park community built around the Transcendental Meditation (or TM) movement and its charismatic leader, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi–whose followers included The Beatles. Claire shares what the daily routine was like in the TM community, how it felt believing every adult she knew could levitate, and the powerful mystique of Maharishi.Plus, she tells how the fall of the Berlin Wall

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71:50

Carol Merchasin - The Cult Assassin: Suing...

Trust Me: Cults, Extreme Belief, and Manipulation ·

2025/08/13

Attorney Carol Merchasin didn’t set out to expose cults, but after investigating allegations about a high-control Buddhist organization and discovering that the abuse had run more rampant than she’d imagined, she became a lawyer and focused her practice on getting justice for survivors of cults and abusive groups. Carol discusses the legal ins and outs of suing cults and spiritual leaders, where American law stands in recognizing coercion and human trafficking, and why the differences in

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53:11

Akina Cox - Part 2: The Moonies, ICE, and the Cult...

Trust Me: Cults, Extreme Belief, and Manipulation ·

2025/08/06

Artist and writer Akina Cox returns to share more about her experience growing up in the Unification Church (also known as the Moonies), its physical punishment rituals, and where the church stands now. The girls then transition from the topic of her particular cult to a discussion on the cult-like patterns of the current American political landscape, and how to approach political disagreements with loved ones. Akina also reflects on her article for Salon, where she explores how the Trump

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63:31

Akina Cox - Part 1: Unification Church, Mass...

Trust Me: Cults, Extreme Belief, and Manipulation ·

2025/07/30

Artist and writer Akina Cox shares about her childhood growing up in the Unification Church, also known as the Moonies. They discuss the background of the church and its late leader Reverend Moon, how her parents both joined after hitchhiking in the 70s, and what it was like growing up in the group. She shares how it felt participating in a mass wedding ceremony, moving to the border of North and South Korea, and the stark contrast between Reverend Moon’s lavish lifestyle and the unpaid labor

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1:24

Introducing Trust Me: Cults, Extreme Belief, and...

Trust Me: Cults, Extreme Belief, and Manipulation ·

2025/07/16

Trust Me is the podcast that pulls back the curtain on cults, high-control groups and the psychology of belief. Hosted by cult survivors Lola Blanc and Meagan Elizabeth, the show features raw, first-hand accounts from people who’ve been manipulated, love-bombed and pulled into systems of control—and lived to tell the tale. Each week, Lola and Meagan talk to people who’ve escaped, those still inside and the experts to unpack how extreme belief works. Listen to voices from inside the

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66:36

REWIND: Dianne Lake - The Manson Family, Part 1:...

Trust Me: Cults, Extreme Belief, and Manipulation ·

2025/07/09

Trust Me has joined Exactly Right Media. Hosts Lola Blanc& Meagan Elizabethwill be back with new episodes on Wednesday, July 30th. You’re a teenage girl in the late 60s, bouncing between communes, when a charismatic man and his group of young women welcome you with open arms. You were looking for a family, and now you’ve found one. In part one of an incredible interview, Dianne Lake, aka “Snake,” and her co-author Deborah Herman discuss growing up in 1960s

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57:59

REWIND: Glynn Washington - The Worldwide Church of God

Trust Me: Cults, Extreme Belief, and Manipulation ·

2025/07/02

Trust Me has joined Exactly Right Media. Hosts Lola Blanc& Meagan Elizabethwill be back with new episodes on Wednesday, July 30th. End time prophecies? Memorizing the bible? Required church vacations your family can't afford? Snap Judgment host and creator Glynn Washington shares his experiences growing up in the apocalyptic religion the Worldwide Church of God. He tells the girls about believing the end of the world was imminent, the white supremacist roots of the group and how he was forbidden

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79:50

REWIND: Hoyt Richards - From Supermodel to Cult Member

Trust Me: Cults, Extreme Belief, and Manipulation ·

2025/06/25

Trust Me has joined Exactly Right Media. Hosts Lola Blanc& Meagan Elizabethwill be back with new episodes on Wednesday, July 30th. What do you model your life after? For producer, actor, and former supermodelHoytRichards, it was the teachings of a charming man from Nantucket who spoke about the impending apocalypse and a distant star named Arcturus.Hoytshares how he was indoctrinated into the Eternal Values cult as his modeling career was taking off, what he describes as "cultic relationships,"

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73:39

REWIND: Lola's Mom - Mormon-Offshoot Cult

Trust Me: Cults, Extreme Belief, and Manipulation ·

2025/06/18

Trust Me has joined Exactly Right Media. Hosts Lola Blanc & Meagan Elizabeth will be back with new episodes on Wednesday, July 30th. In their first ever episode, Lola and Meagan interviewed Christine Marie, Lola's mom, about her and Lola's experiences believing in a self-proclaimed Mormon prophet. They discuss how they came to believe in him, their separation from each other, Christine's harrowing trafficking experience, and Lola's childhood memories of Keith Raniere from NXIVM. Original

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0:35

An Exciting Update from Lola and Meagan!

Trust Me: Cults, Extreme Belief, and Manipulation ·

2025/06/11

The rumors are true—Trust Me is coming back this summer on the Exactly Right podcast network! This teaser has everything you need to know about our next chapter.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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