1 00:00:00,800 --> 00:00:02,960 Speaker 1: All right. We all want to feel connected, right, and 2 00:00:03,160 --> 00:00:05,760 Speaker 1: at least most of us do. Sometimes we live for 3 00:00:05,840 --> 00:00:09,240 Speaker 1: outsiders to help us find those answers, and that's where 4 00:00:09,280 --> 00:00:13,039 Speaker 1: cults find their members. Some control you with sex, some 5 00:00:13,119 --> 00:00:17,400 Speaker 1: by gaslighting you about your past or other vulnerabilities. And 6 00:00:17,440 --> 00:00:20,040 Speaker 1: there's even one that tells you you can survive with 7 00:00:20,120 --> 00:00:23,760 Speaker 1: no food and no water just by breathing and paying 8 00:00:23,800 --> 00:00:25,920 Speaker 1: them to tell you how to do it. I'm Patty 9 00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:29,880 Speaker 1: Steele movie stars who grew up in cults. That's next 10 00:00:29,960 --> 00:00:38,120 Speaker 1: on the backstory. The backstory is back, okay. If we're 11 00:00:38,120 --> 00:00:41,520 Speaker 1: being honest, most of us have gone through times when 12 00:00:41,520 --> 00:00:45,200 Speaker 1: we feel i don't know, disconnected from family, friends, maybe 13 00:00:45,200 --> 00:00:49,640 Speaker 1: even society in general. It's a crappy feeling, right, but 14 00:00:49,800 --> 00:00:52,199 Speaker 1: we generally get over it or at least find a 15 00:00:52,200 --> 00:00:55,160 Speaker 1: way to deal with it. Maybe we even learn something 16 00:00:55,200 --> 00:00:58,160 Speaker 1: from it. But some folks look for somebody else to 17 00:00:58,200 --> 00:01:01,720 Speaker 1: fix the upset, and that's where where cults find their customers. 18 00:01:02,440 --> 00:01:05,240 Speaker 1: You need to feel a sense of belonging, a structure, 19 00:01:05,400 --> 00:01:08,400 Speaker 1: of being part of a family. Come on, hop on board. 20 00:01:09,120 --> 00:01:12,039 Speaker 1: Actress Michelle Pfeiffer was just twenty years old when she 21 00:01:12,160 --> 00:01:15,280 Speaker 1: moved to La Pretty quickly. She met a couple who 22 00:01:15,360 --> 00:01:20,040 Speaker 1: she describes as kind of personal trainers, and they believed 23 00:01:20,080 --> 00:01:24,720 Speaker 1: in breath arianism. Yeah, that's the idea that we can 24 00:01:24,760 --> 00:01:28,040 Speaker 1: all live without food or water. She says. They were 25 00:01:28,280 --> 00:01:31,920 Speaker 1: very controlling. I wasn't living with them, but I was 26 00:01:31,959 --> 00:01:34,520 Speaker 1: there a lot, and they pushed me to come more 27 00:01:35,120 --> 00:01:37,520 Speaker 1: since I had to pay every time I showed up. 28 00:01:37,840 --> 00:01:41,440 Speaker 1: It was financially very draining. She says. It wasn't until 29 00:01:41,480 --> 00:01:45,240 Speaker 1: she was helping her then husband Peter Horton do research 30 00:01:45,360 --> 00:01:48,400 Speaker 1: on another cult for a movie he was doing that 31 00:01:48,480 --> 00:01:51,720 Speaker 1: she realized what was going on. She says, I was 32 00:01:51,880 --> 00:01:57,760 Speaker 1: in one. It was total psychological manipulation. Actress Glenn Close 33 00:01:57,840 --> 00:02:01,080 Speaker 1: had a similar experience. When she was just seven years old, 34 00:02:01,080 --> 00:02:05,240 Speaker 1: her dad, doctor William Close, joined a conservative religious group 35 00:02:05,320 --> 00:02:09,640 Speaker 1: called Moral Rearmament and then moved his entire family to 36 00:02:09,680 --> 00:02:14,480 Speaker 1: the group's headquarters in Switzerland. They lived there for fifteen years. 37 00:02:15,120 --> 00:02:18,040 Speaker 1: She says it was basically a cult. There were a 38 00:02:18,080 --> 00:02:21,120 Speaker 1: lot of rules, a lot of control. It was awful, 39 00:02:21,600 --> 00:02:23,960 Speaker 1: and she says the damage it did to her psyche 40 00:02:24,280 --> 00:02:28,799 Speaker 1: has made it impossible for her to form lasting, loving relationships. 41 00:02:29,600 --> 00:02:32,360 Speaker 1: But now we come to an even more disturbing group, 42 00:02:32,760 --> 00:02:36,240 Speaker 1: with several other well known Hollywood types who were dragged 43 00:02:36,240 --> 00:02:39,560 Speaker 1: into it as children. By the time Joaquin Phoenix was 44 00:02:39,600 --> 00:02:43,160 Speaker 1: born in the mid nineteen seventies, his parents, Arlen and 45 00:02:43,240 --> 00:02:47,000 Speaker 1: John Lee Phoenix, were already members of the religious cult 46 00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:51,359 Speaker 1: Children of God. The Phoenix family constantly moved with the cult, 47 00:02:51,720 --> 00:02:56,360 Speaker 1: living in communes in Latin America, including Venezuela and Puerto Rico. 48 00:02:57,000 --> 00:02:59,280 Speaker 1: By the time he was three years old, his parents 49 00:02:59,280 --> 00:03:03,639 Speaker 1: were considered archbishops of Venezuela and Trinidad for the group. 50 00:03:04,360 --> 00:03:08,639 Speaker 1: Joaquin says his parents joined innocently, that they were idealists 51 00:03:08,720 --> 00:03:11,760 Speaker 1: looking for a sense of safety and family, but that 52 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:15,000 Speaker 1: when they realized there was something more sinister going on, 53 00:03:15,240 --> 00:03:18,400 Speaker 1: they got out. He said they decided to jump ship 54 00:03:18,760 --> 00:03:22,639 Speaker 1: after they found out about the group's sex recruitment tactics. 55 00:03:23,120 --> 00:03:25,760 Speaker 1: But what damage had been done to the Phoenix kids. 56 00:03:26,440 --> 00:03:30,600 Speaker 1: Joaquin's older brother, River Phoenix, talked about the terrible impact 57 00:03:30,639 --> 00:03:33,200 Speaker 1: of those early years, and when he died of a 58 00:03:33,280 --> 00:03:37,200 Speaker 1: drug overdose in nineteen ninety three, it prompted more media 59 00:03:37,320 --> 00:03:40,920 Speaker 1: interest in the family's past with the Children of God. 60 00:03:41,440 --> 00:03:44,560 Speaker 1: The movement originally started out in the nineteen sixties, led 61 00:03:44,640 --> 00:03:47,760 Speaker 1: by this guy named David Berg who grew up in 62 00:03:47,800 --> 00:03:50,840 Speaker 1: a very religious Christian family. But again, it was the 63 00:03:50,920 --> 00:03:54,320 Speaker 1: sixties and he saw a chance to incorporate his Christian 64 00:03:54,360 --> 00:03:59,000 Speaker 1: beliefs into a more modern, loving, free spirited lifestyle movement. 65 00:03:59,640 --> 00:04:04,360 Speaker 1: It grew like wildfire, and he re christened the group 66 00:04:04,400 --> 00:04:08,160 Speaker 1: from Teens for Christ to the Children of God. In 67 00:04:08,240 --> 00:04:13,320 Speaker 1: his eyes, it was all about a community that emphasized love, acceptance, 68 00:04:13,840 --> 00:04:17,719 Speaker 1: and a utopian vision of communal living. But you know 69 00:04:17,760 --> 00:04:21,719 Speaker 1: where this is going, right, It got really dark. Actress 70 00:04:21,800 --> 00:04:25,440 Speaker 1: Rose McGowan also spent some of her childhood in Children 71 00:04:25,440 --> 00:04:29,080 Speaker 1: of God. She says, like in most cults, you're cut 72 00:04:29,120 --> 00:04:32,480 Speaker 1: off from your outside family. Plus there were no newspapers, 73 00:04:32,680 --> 00:04:35,920 Speaker 1: no TV. You're kept in the dark, so you'll obey. 74 00:04:36,640 --> 00:04:39,120 Speaker 1: But you went on to say, I remember watching how 75 00:04:39,160 --> 00:04:42,000 Speaker 1: the men were with the women, and even at a 76 00:04:42,120 --> 00:04:44,760 Speaker 1: very young age, I decided I didn't want to be 77 00:04:44,960 --> 00:04:48,200 Speaker 1: like those women. They were basically there to serve the 78 00:04:48,240 --> 00:04:51,200 Speaker 1: men sexually, and the men were allowed to have more 79 00:04:51,240 --> 00:04:55,159 Speaker 1: than one wife. How did she finally escape, Well, when 80 00:04:55,160 --> 00:04:58,240 Speaker 1: she was nine, her dad heard that the group was 81 00:04:58,279 --> 00:05:02,560 Speaker 1: starting to advocate sex between adults and children, and they 82 00:05:02,600 --> 00:05:06,599 Speaker 1: literally fled the scene. Thank God. Berg says he was 83 00:05:06,640 --> 00:05:10,440 Speaker 1: being directed by divine revelations, and by the early nineteen 84 00:05:10,520 --> 00:05:15,360 Speaker 1: seventies he was advocating something called flirty fishing, which involved 85 00:05:15,440 --> 00:05:19,600 Speaker 1: women in the group seducing outside men to join, a 86 00:05:19,600 --> 00:05:23,640 Speaker 1: lot of times trading sex for money or influence. He 87 00:05:23,760 --> 00:05:26,160 Speaker 1: said this was the best way for them to spread 88 00:05:26,200 --> 00:05:30,240 Speaker 1: their message of love. Even more disturbing was the evidence 89 00:05:30,279 --> 00:05:34,080 Speaker 1: of systematic child abuse. He said it was all about 90 00:05:34,160 --> 00:05:39,479 Speaker 1: spiritual enlightenment and breaking societal taboos. But what Burg advocated 91 00:05:39,520 --> 00:05:43,280 Speaker 1: in the way of abuse left lifelong scars on scores 92 00:05:43,320 --> 00:05:46,839 Speaker 1: of children in the cult. So how did Berg's reign 93 00:05:47,080 --> 00:05:50,760 Speaker 1: end well? As members began to leave, a lot of 94 00:05:50,800 --> 00:05:54,280 Speaker 1: them spoke out and gave horrific, detailed accounts of what 95 00:05:54,320 --> 00:05:59,560 Speaker 1: they'd been through. Berg was totally paranoid and extremely strategic. 96 00:06:00,240 --> 00:06:03,680 Speaker 1: He managed to hide in locations like Portugal away from 97 00:06:03,760 --> 00:06:08,800 Speaker 1: extradition treaties. As law enforcements stormed and raided communal homes 98 00:06:08,839 --> 00:06:13,919 Speaker 1: around the world, they arrested some adults and temporarily removed children, 99 00:06:14,400 --> 00:06:17,240 Speaker 1: but Berg made sure he was never in a location 100 00:06:17,400 --> 00:06:21,440 Speaker 1: that turned hot, so he was never arrested. David Berg 101 00:06:21,520 --> 00:06:25,760 Speaker 1: finally died in nineteen ninety four, still secluded in Portugal, 102 00:06:26,160 --> 00:06:30,359 Speaker 1: never facing justice. What happened to the group, It's still 103 00:06:30,400 --> 00:06:34,120 Speaker 1: out there. After David's death, his wife, Kim Zurbi took 104 00:06:34,160 --> 00:06:38,640 Speaker 1: over and renamed the group The Family International. She's going 105 00:06:38,720 --> 00:06:40,760 Speaker 1: to be seventy nine years old this month, and she 106 00:06:40,960 --> 00:06:44,440 Speaker 1: says the group has renounced their old ways, that they're 107 00:06:44,440 --> 00:06:47,880 Speaker 1: now simply a loose network of religious communities that are 108 00:06:47,960 --> 00:06:52,279 Speaker 1: all about humanitarian and spiritual work. From their peak of 109 00:06:52,320 --> 00:06:55,479 Speaker 1: about ten thousand members in one hundred and seventy countries, 110 00:06:56,040 --> 00:07:00,159 Speaker 1: they're down to just fourteen hundred in eighty countries. But 111 00:07:00,320 --> 00:07:05,200 Speaker 1: where's the accountability for that past? People want what cults 112 00:07:05,240 --> 00:07:10,240 Speaker 1: claim to offer community, meaning and purpose, structure and comfort, 113 00:07:10,840 --> 00:07:14,600 Speaker 1: but at what cost. Hope you're enjoying The Backstory with 114 00:07:14,680 --> 00:07:18,240 Speaker 1: Patty Steele. Please leave a review and follow or subscribe 115 00:07:18,240 --> 00:07:22,440 Speaker 1: for free to get new episodes delivered automatically. Also feel 116 00:07:22,440 --> 00:07:24,200 Speaker 1: free to dm me if you have a story you'd 117 00:07:24,200 --> 00:07:27,280 Speaker 1: like me to cover. On Facebook, It's Patty Steele and 118 00:07:27,440 --> 00:07:35,720 Speaker 1: on Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele. The Backstory 119 00:07:35,840 --> 00:07:40,040 Speaker 1: is a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, the Elvis Durand Group, 120 00:07:40,120 --> 00:07:43,880 Speaker 1: and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser. Our 121 00:07:43,920 --> 00:07:48,040 Speaker 1: writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes every Tuesday and Friday. 122 00:07:48,440 --> 00:07:50,640 Speaker 1: Feel free to reach out to me with comments and 123 00:07:50,720 --> 00:07:54,640 Speaker 1: even story suggestions on Instagram at Real Patty Steele and 124 00:07:54,720 --> 00:07:57,720 Speaker 1: on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening to the 125 00:07:57,760 --> 00:08:01,480 Speaker 1: backstory with Patty Steele, the piece of history you didn't 126 00:08:01,560 --> 00:08:02,680 Speaker 1: know you needed to know.