Rude Awakening: Sarah Landry On Nithyananda & Other Nightmares (Part 1)
A Little Bit Culty
Sarah Edmondson & Anthony “Nippy” Ames
4.6 • 3K Ratings
🗓️ 4 July 2022
⏱️ 54 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Content Warning: Discussions of child abuse and sexual assault. Listener discretion advised. At just 24 years old, Sarah Landry found herself drawn to Hindu avatar Nithyananda’s teachings like a fly to honey. Moldy, toxic honey. She quickly became an apt pupil, and then his top recruiter via a steady stream of stylized YouTube videos and camera-ready social content. But after learning that the rape and child abuse allegations dogging the organization were just too credible to simply swat away, she stepped down as its propagandist-in-chief and stepped up as one of its harshest critics. The fallout since she blew the whistle on the godman’s shady ways in a series of incendiary 2019 Facebook posts and Youtube videos has been steep. (If you’re labeled as a double-agent for the Vatican by loyalists of a guy who is on the lam after being charged with rape and abduction: You’ve officially reached Remini-levels of cult busting.) In this episode, and the next—there’s just too much to cover to make it a one-parter—Sarah shares what it’s like to be on the other side of an army she helped build, and why she won’t stop working to deplatform culty characters like Nithyananda no matter how many self-proclaimed island nations they pull out of their asses. Learn more about Sarah Landry on her YouTube or Instagram or Twitter.
Show notes:
My Daughter Joined a Cult: 3-part VICE Doc Trailer (Discovery+, Amazon Prime)
Republic World Article by Pooja Prasanna: “Former Nithyananda Aide Narrates Horrifying Brutality Against Children”
Gizmodo Article by Jed Oelbaum: “She Built a Shady Guru’s YouTube Army. Now She’s His Fiercest Critic—But Who Will Believe Her?”
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The views and opinions expressed by a little bit culty are those of the hosts |
| 0:04.1 | and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast. |
| 0:08.1 | Any content provided by our guests, bloggers, sponsors or authors are of their opinion |
| 0:13.2 | and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, |
| 0:17.6 | business individual, anyone or anything. |
| 0:19.8 | Welcome to a little bit culty, a podcast about what happens when something that seems like a great thing at first |
| 0:35.6 | goes to the dark side and takes you with it. I'm your host, Sarah Edminson. |
| 0:40.0 | And I'm also your host, Anthony Ames, aka Nippy. Sarah and I met, fell in love and a, quote, |
| 0:45.2 | self-help organization that turned out to be a mega cult cult nexium. |
| 0:50.3 | Heard of it? We got out of there together and on our way out we helped shut it down. |
| 0:54.6 | Our journey as nexium whistleblowers was captured in detail in a docu-series called the VAL on HBO |
| 0:59.6 | and also on the front page of a newspaper. New York Times, babe. |
| 1:03.6 | Right. Have you heard of it? Each week on a little bit culty we talk with other former cult members |
| 1:08.4 | and whistleblowers plus experts in things like cultic abuse and coercive control. |
| 1:13.6 | We also turn the mic over to advocates and clinicians with wisdom to share on |
| 1:17.3 | recovering from everything from MLMs and toxic religion to bad romances with raging narcissist. |
| 1:22.8 | There's always something to learn about the cultiverse. Be sure to subscribe to a little bit culty |
| 1:27.6 | so you don't miss an episode. Find us on Instagram and at a littlebitculty.com. |
| 1:44.0 | Welcome back everyone. Sarah. Yes, maybe. Another doc, another cult. Another day, another day in the |
| 1:54.8 | life of a little bit culty. I look forward to this summer when we take a little break from the cult |
| 2:00.1 | content. I've got some other shows I need to watch. I have nothing to do with cults. Even when we |
| 2:05.0 | tried to watch Yellowstone and take a little break, remember that we're branding the ranchers? |
... |
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