These celebrities have been very open about their time in cults
Niamh Spence
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Now, we're no stranger to what cults can do and the brainwashing effects some of them can have.
In fact, it makes for pretty good Netflix documentary series, and we're not against hearing about them through our own TV, but it turns out they're not as far fetched as you might think - and more people have fallen prey to them than you'd think, too.
Some celebrities have been victims of cults, with them controlling everything from finances to marriages and their daily lives. We've looked at which celebrities have opened up about their experiences of being in a cult...
The Hollywood icon Glenn Close was part of a cult in childhood, after her father joined a conservative religious group called Moral Re-Armament.
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The group was based in Switzerland, with Glenn's family relocating to its headquarters for 15 years, which had a lasting effect on the actress.
Speaking in Apple TV+ series The Me You Can't See, Glenn opened up: "It was basically a cult.
"Everybody spouted the same things and there was a lot of rules, a lot of control. It was really awful."
She added that the lasting impact of the cult affected her in relationships, and she blames it for her struggling to settle down permanently.
She explained: "Because of the devastation, emotional, and psychological of the cult, I have not been successful in my relationships and finding a permanent partner, and I am sorry about that."
The Joker actor has also revealed his own experience of cults, which happened in his early years before he was just three years old.
His family joined religious group Children of God, which was exposed in recent years for sex recruitment tactics.
Speaking in an interview, Joaquin later opened up how his family's involvement in the cult "was really innocent on my parents' part" and that when they "realised there was something more to [Children of God], they got out."
He added: "I think they were idealists, and believed that they were with a group who shared their beliefs, and their values. I think they probably were looking for safety, and family."
Charmed actress Rose McGowan was also connected to Children of God like Joaquin Phoenix, and her experience also happened during childhood.
She told PEOPLE: "Like in most cults, you were cut off from your [outside] family. There were no newspapers, no television. You were kept in the dark so you would obey.
"I remember watching how the [cult’s] men were with the women, and at a very early age I decided I did not want to be like those women.
"They were basically there to serve the men sexually; [men] were allowed to have more than one wife."
After Rose's father heard about the darker side of the group, they fled and escaped.
The actress who shot to fame as Haley James Scott in TV series One Tree Hill has been one of the most recent celebrities to open up about her experience in a cult, as part of a small ultra-Christian group.
While part of the cult, her cast mates on One Tree Hill expressed concern as Bethany tried to brush the idea of her group being 'a cult' off.
She told PEOPLE: "I was like, 'No, no, no. Cults are weird.
"'Cults are people in robes chanting crazy things and drinking Kool-Aid. That's not what we do!'"
She revealed that the group controlled not only her finances, but also the work she would do, and who she would eventually get married to.
Actress Michelle Pfeiffer had her own experience of a cult when she moved to Los Angeles at just 20 years old.
She told The Sunday Telegraph's Stella magazine: "They were very controlling. I wasn't living with them but I was there a lot and they were always telling me I needed to come more.
"I had to pay for all the time I was there, so it was financially very draining."
Actress India Oxenberg was indoctrinated into the NXIVM cult, which she revealed came with extreme controlling tactics of physical and mental abuse that included branding, forced sex, and starvation.
She explained: "I used exercise to punish myself: ‘I ate a lot, so now I have to walk 20 miles’."