If you have your own story of being in a cult or a high control group or if you've had an experience with manipulation or abuse of power you'd like to share, leave us a message on our hotline number at 513-900-2955.

Or shoot us an email at TrustMePod at gmail.com.

Trust me, do you trust me?

Trust me, I'm like a smart person. I've never lied to you. I've never had lied.

If you think that one person has all the answers, don't!

Welcome to TrustMe, the podcast about cults, extreme belief, and the abuse of power from two supermodels who've actually experienced it, I'm Lola Blonk.

And I'm Megan Elizabeth.

And today, our guest is the endlessly fascinating Hoyt Richards. He is a producer, actor, and former supermodel who was in a cult called Eternal Values.

He's going to tell us about being approached by a mysterious older man, a nan-tucket named Fredrick von Meirers.

Meir, I actually don't remember Meirers, let's say, when he was a teenager.

This man had a lot to say about Eastern philosophy, astrology, new age thinking, and he's going to tell us about how over time, as Hoyt's career as a male model was taking off, that man indoctrinated Hoyt until he believed that the apocalypse was coming, and it had to do with a distant star called Arcturus.

We're also going to talk about how Hoyt finally escaped and began to heal, how he thinks about what he now calls cultic relationships, and how Fabio,

yes, that Fabio was involved in his recovery.

Great Fabio stories today.

Who doesn't have a good Fabio story?

Everyone except Hoyt?

I mean, probably my friend just alerted me to the fact that he was supporting Trump in 2017, so I was a little bummed about that.

But you know what?

We can't all be perfect like me.

So Megan, tell me what's the culty thing?

Oh, well mine, holy shit.

On a hike, you know how they have those little book things where people just leave books and like a little case.

...