288: What if you didn't know you were in a cult?
This Is Actually Happening
Audible
4.6 • 10.4K Ratings
🗓️ 25 July 2023
⏱️ 78 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Going from a highly privileged family to college at Princeton to a career as the first male supermodel, Hoyt Richards was truly living the dream, but as he fell deeper under the influence of magnetic mentor, he started living a secret life that threatened to consume him.
Today’s episode featured Hoyt Richards. If you want to dive deeper into many of the elements Hoyt touched on in this episode, and hear more from him, he also has his own incredible podcast called WhaTheFlok?! – Cult Survival Stories, co-hosted by Chele Roland, where they feature experts, guests and speak to their personal histories, sharing cult survival stories and exposing the underbelly of how cults use indoctrination to kidnap the mind and hijack the soul. You can check out the podcast wherever you listen or on whatheflok.com. You can also find out more about Hoyt on Instagram @hoytrich and if you would like to contact him, you can email him through his manager Rebecca Kitt at rebeccakitt@mac.com.
Producers: Whit Missildine, Andrew Waits, Jason Blalock
Content/Trigger Warnings: verbal abuse, religious trauma, cult experience, death and dying, explicit language
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Intro Music: ""Illabye" – Tipper
Music Bed: “Cylinder Four” – Chris Zabriskie
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Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Imagine you're walking down the street and you see someone famous. |
| 0:04.6 | Really famous. What do you do? |
| 0:07.0 | Play it cool or stop and stare? |
| 0:10.0 | Play it cool. |
| 0:11.0 | But also, yes, stop and stare. |
| 0:13.4 | Now, others have spotted this a-lister. |
| 0:15.8 | They're staring too and some of them aren't playing it cool at all. |
| 0:19.8 | Now imagine you're not the one staring at the celebrity. |
| 0:22.8 | You are the celebrity, staring back. |
| 0:25.8 | Oh! |
| 0:26.6 | You've got pots of money, adoring fans and a big house. |
| 0:29.8 | But look, you've also got all of us watching, judging. |
| 0:34.0 | Being really, really famous, it's not easy. |
| 0:37.4 | They say be careful what you wish for. |
| 0:41.0 | From Wondery, I'm Anne Leong-Bruffy. |
| 0:43.2 | And I'm Emily Lloyd-Sainey. |
| 0:45.2 | And this is terribly famous. |
| 0:47.0 | Our new podcast with Shakespeare writes inside the lives of our most dazzling celebrities |
| 0:51.4 | to find out what it's like to walk in their shoes. |
| 0:55.0 | Tin tin tin tin tin tin-Blue famous. |
| 0:57.2 | Listen to terribly famous from August 1st, wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 1:01.6 | Who knows Emily, you may even gain a newfound appreciation for being nobody. |
... |
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