Was I in a Cult?
Hosted by Tyler Measom and Liz Iacuzzi, Was I In A Cult? is a documentary-style podcast showcasing individuals who have been in, and most importantly, successfully left a cult. Told first-hand by the experiencer themself, these are raw, riveting and inspirational tales of what it means to be a survivor. Using levity and info-tainment, the show humanizes the cultic experience and may leave some of our listeners asking themselves "Wait, Was I In A Cult?" If you or someone you know has been in a cult and want to share your story, contact us at info@wasiinacult.com. We'd love to hear from you.
Episodes
*CONTENT WARNING: *This episode contains discussions of child marriage, sexual assault, domestic abuse, homelessness, parental abandonment, and religious trauma. Please take care while listening.*
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*CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains discussions of child abuse, child sexual abuse, rape, child marriage, neglect, religious trauma, and family trauma. Please take care while listening.*
Born into the Hare Krishna Movement aka ISKCON, Vilas was supposed to be part of a "pure" new generation of devotees.
Instead, she was sent away at three years old, ...
NOTE: This episode discusses sex, sexual exploitation, coercion, and sexual abuse.
What happens when female empowerment, Silicon Valley startup culture, spiritual enlightenment, and clitoral stroking walk into a fluorescent-lit conference room?
You get OneTaste.
In this episode, we sit down with Bloomberg investigative journalist Ellen Huet, author of Empire of Orgasm: Sex, Power, and the Downfall of a Wellness Cult...
CONTENT WARNING: This episode discusses sexual assault. Not in graphic detail, but please listen accordingly.
For 19 years, Lizzie Ens lived in one of the most conservative Amish sects in America: the Swartzentruber Amish. Last week you learned about her upbringing and all facets of living a life off the grid with no electricity, no indoor plumbing, and very little autonomy over her own life.
In Part 2, the horse-and-buggy postcard...
Many people picture a peaceful, technology-free life of butter churning, candle making, and horse-drawn buggies. But for today's guest, the reality behind the plain dresses and pastoral image was far more restrictive, and far more dangerous.
Lizzie grew up in one of the strictest Amish sects in the country: the Swartzentruber Amish. No electricity. No indoor plumbing. No music. No photographs. No Rumspringa. And absolutely no prepa...
Four hours into a hostage situation between a man and a woman, the man walks out the door. In that moment, the woman's primal instinct kicks in: "Grab your kids and RUN."
Later, she learns that action may have saved her life. He wasn't just leaving. He was going to get a gun. And the man? It was her husband.
At 33-years-old, Tia Levings walked away from the Christi...
**PLEASE NOTE: This episode originally aired in Oct 2024. Since, there have been quite a few updates to both the cult and story. Tune into the episode to hear more.**
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In Part 2 of Angela's story, the realities of Falun Gong's grip on her family deepen. Angela reflects on the emotional toll of a cult that prioritized spiritual salvation over physical health—even as her mother's condition worsens. But e...
**PLEASE NOTE: This episode originally aired in Oct 2024. Since, there have been quite a few updates to both the cult and story. Tune into the episode to hear more.**
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When her mother fell sick, young Angela had no idea that she would spend her childhood growing up in a dangerous cult. Falun Gong, a Chinese spiritual movement-slash-religion-slash-cult, known for its Shen Yun dancers and its ties to 'The Epoc...
As a young teenager, Darls Centola was searching for something steady in a chaotic world. What she found was the Jehovah's Witnesses—a religion that felt warm, structured, and safe.
What she didn't expect to find… was him.
Not the King of Pop. Not the global icon. Not Michael Jackson.
Just Michael.
A shy, curious, thoughtful teenage boy looking to her for religious guidance.
What unfolds is ...
If Part 1 was the seduction… this is the unraveling.
By now, Celeste is fully in - the "true believer" phase we like to call it. The relationships feel real. The stakes feel real. And the consequences for questioning it? Also very real.
Because inside this world, there are rules. Rewards for loyalty. Punishments for doubt. And what once felt magical begins to shift. The cracks start to show. And Celeste is forced to con...
At 16, Celeste Mott was alone, grieving, and searching - for meaning, for connection, for something that felt bigger than her small, suburban life.
And then she found them.
An online world inspired by Anne Rice.
Dark. Seductive. Intelligent.
A place where vampires weren't just characters… they were real.
Or at least—that's what they lead her to believe.
This was the early 2000s internet— before social media, befo...
Michelle Dowd was born into a cult that was literally training boys to fight in God's army when the apocalypse came.
It started in sunny Pasadena, California when her grandfather - a former Boy Scout leader - decided the Scouts weren't strict enough and built his own organization. Boys were recruited young, drilled like soldiers, and raised to believe they were preparing for the end of the world.
Michelle grew up inside the group k...
Star Stone walked into a fluorescent-lit room on Market Street in San Francisco where a man who looked like Mark Zuckerberg stroked a woman's clitoris in business casual while thirty people watched. "This is it. This is what I need," she thought. It wasn't.
See, Star didn't join a cult (newsflash, no one does). She joined a sex-positive, orgasm-as-spiritual-practice kind of movement founded by a woman, for women. It was called OneT...
In Part 1, David Archuleta was the church's golden boy - the voice, the fame, the perfect Mormon billboard. In Part 2, that billboard comes down.
David goes on a two-year Mormon mission to Chile post fame, confronts the darkest chapter of his life, and finally faces the one thing he spent decades praying would go away. Tyler gets personal about his own loss. And David sings for us again.
David Archuleta was seventeen years old, Mormon to his core, and singing in front of thirty million people on American Idol. America saw the golden boy - the angel voice, the humble smile, the kid who made grown adults cry on national television. What they didn't see was the father who controlled every note, every decision, every version of David he was allowed to be. "I basically was his puppet."
Behind the fame was the swe...
When you're numbered among the Lord's anointed, you're supposed to feel special, but for Jeremy Tucker, he was just another mindless cog in the machine of the Kingdom of God. It didn't matter though, he would work hard to do his part, until that hard work nearly cost him his life...
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Her stepfather told her: "Your child will be a fourth generation Scientologist whether you like it or not." That was the threat. This is the fight.
In Part 2, Liz Gale tells us what happened to her brother - and what finally made her walk away from everything. Her family. Her inheritance. Land her ancestors homesteaded on the Oregon Trail. All of it. Gone. Because she finally said… Oh, hell no. You got me, but you don't get...
This week we're back on Scientology. And until they stop destroying families and draining bank accounts, we'll keep talking about it.
Liz Gale, a third generation ex-Scientologist and author of Confessions of an Ex-Scientologist Pothead, grew up privileged in the church in the 80s and 90s - Scientology royalty, some could say, connected to the Miscavige family, boarding schools, the works. But privilege doesn't protect you whe...
So… remember that acting class? Well, turns out this "human behavior expert" has her eyes on a much larger prize. I mean, you can't be the next Tony Robbins while just teaching scene analysis.
In Part 2 of Liz's story, Sandy's world shifts into trying to become what it's been after all along: a spiritual self-help empire. Except this one is built on word salad, public humiliation, and the slow, steady squ...
Either Liz finally stepped up to the mic to tell her own story… or Tyler finally cornered her and hit record. Either way — it's happening.
After moving to Los Angeles with a toxic boyfriend, Liz leaves behind the Chicago comedy scene and finds herself nudged into a Hollywood acting class — one he introduces her to via a "free" class that's anything but. What starts as a supposedly legit acting class quickly earn...
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