Surprising Celebrities That Were Linked to Cults
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One word that’ll instantly get a reaction out of anyone, no matter the context, is the word “Cult.” It’s a loaded word, with an intense meaning and history behind it. Per the New Yorker, a cult is simply defined as a small group run by a self-appointed leader who controls its members in rather disturbing ways. These ways can range from taking drugs to drastic forms of showing devotion to the cult. For centuries, people have created and been a part of cults — including some of your favorite celebrities.
There are a lot more cults than people want to acknowledge, with people thinking there are only a few out there, like the Manson family or NXIVM. But the truth is, there are many that are still heavily active to this day.
Quite a few celebrities have opened up about their experiences with these groups, with some explaining how they had to go to great lengths to escape the cult and how others were in them until they were in their 20s. Along with that, there have been plenty of celebrities merely linked to cults but managed to avoid becoming too deeply immersed.
From Bachelor Nation alums to one Kardashian member, it seems cults and Hollywood go together more than people may have originally thought. So whether they were born into these cults or were linked to past members, we have it all here.
Check out which celebrities have been in or been linked to cults over the years.
A version of this article was originally published on July 2023.
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Kehlani
Singer Kehlani was accused of being a member of a cult by her daughter’s father in court filing revealed by People on August 5.
Javaughn Young-White filed for full custody of daughter Adeya, who was born in a 2019 home birth which Young-White claims was orchestrated by “what I would describe as a cult.”
He claimed that the leader of the alleged cult has “numerous accusations of committing sexual assault” against women and young girls. He also alleged that his daughter is often left to sleep in a bed with and by bathed by “random” members of the cult.
He further claimed that the leader, a woman Kehlani allegedly calls the “Messiah” has taken baths with his daughter while under the influence of drugs.
Bethany Joy Lenz
One Tree Hill alum Bethany Joy Lenz first revealed that she was in a cult for 10 years in a July 2023 podcast before opening up about it more the following month in an interview with Variety.
She revealed that what started as a Hollywood-based Bible study group progressed to something much more sinister during her time on One Tree Hill.
“I mean, it was like a secret life. I’m on this TV show. I’m living this glamorous, celebrity life — as people see it — and I have a total secret life going on,” she told the outlet. “It was so painful.”
In March, Lenz revealed more about the alleged cult in the description of her October 2024 memoir, Dinner for Vampires.
She identified the name of the group as a church covenant called The Big Family House and revealed that the book will recount her move to the group’s Pacific Northwest compound and her experiences with a “domineering minister who would convince Lenz to marry one of his sons” and, she alleges, “steadily drained millions of her TV income,” per Entertainment Weekly.
Andrew Keegan
10 Things I Hate About You star Andrew Keegan was once accused of being the leader of a cult-like group in a 2014 Vice article. The article revealed details about Full Circle, a California-based group Keegan helped form in an abandoned church in Venice.
Keegan addressed the allegation in a February 2024 episode of the Pod Meets World podcast and claimed the group was simply a hangout spot for spiritual “hippie types,” per Variety.
“[It] was kind of looking back, was insane. I was putting down thousands of, tens of thousands of dollars, and we opened it up, and we spent three years and we did build an amazing friend group,” he added. “We really just got together, and we did a Sunday thing and did almost a thousand events in three years and it was actually really hard, and it was really beneficial to a lot of people.”
Full Circle was closed in 2017.
Miley Cyrus
A theory that Miley Cyrus was a member of alleged cult Modern Mystery School originated on social media in August 2023.
Surfacing first on Twitter after Cyrus was repeatedly pictured with alleged members of the group, the claim became popular among fans on TikTok.
According to Dazed, Modern Mystery School describes itself as an organization that “trains and certifies healing practitioners and teachers in the tradition of the lineage of King Salomon.”
A 2021 investigation by Vice claimed that members of the group spend upwards $20,000 to reach the group’s upper ranks. Former students described the group as a “cult” and a “spiritual pyriamid scheme” and alleged that they experienced “financial and sexual exploitation” in the group.
Cyrus has never addressed her alleged involvment in the group.
Michelle Pfeiffer
As a young actress in Hollywood, Michelle Pfeiffer was previously linked to breatharianism, a cult who believe the only source of nourishment should be sunlight.
She said in 2013, “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. They believed that people in their highest state were breatharian.”
Pfeiffer revealed that then-husband Peter Horton, to whom she was married from 1981 until 1988, “saved” her from the group by opening her eyes to the dangers of the group.
Winona Ryder
Winona Ryder looks back fondly on her time in a California commune known as the Rainbow Commune, which she lived in with her parents for several years as a child. “The place we lived at was 380 acres of redwoods. It was beautiful,” she told Parade in 2019.
While the group might sound cult-like to some people, Ryder has always defended it.
Shirley MacLaine
While she’s never spoken publicly about it, multiple sources linked Shirley MacLaine to NXIVM, claiming she attended workshops hosted by the group, per Vice.
Keira Maguire
Bachelor alum Keira Maguire was also born into a cult: a polygamist cult called The Seaside Sect that was founded by her father. “I didn’t know who my mum was until I was five. It sounds strange, but it just is what it is. I didn’t even have birthdays,” she said in 2016 after the story broke. “I think I had my first birthday when I was seven. For other people, it might be really sad. But it’s not, because it’s my story.”
Patricia Arquette
Actress Patricia Arquette was partially raised in a Virginia commune called Skymont Subud along with her siblings.
“They started it with a bunch of their friends, and they wanted to kind of build this utopian society,” she said during an appearance on Oprah in 2011. “David was born there.” She said the commune had no electricity or bathrooms, and, “I don’t think there was running water.”
Arquette claimed she and her siblings were victims of physical abuse at the hands of their parents throughout their childhood.
Older sister Rosanna defended the group in a 2021 interview with The Daily Beast, calling it “a way of worshipping God in any way you feel, but it wasn’t a cult thing at all.” She did, however, acknowledge that having “a lot of dysfunctional human beings … in one compact place” may have resulted in some abuse by “some yucky adults.”
David Arquette
Scream actor David Arquette was born during the Arquette family’s time living on the Subud commune but he has never spoken about it in depth.
Kylie Jenner
Kylie Jenner fans briefly speculated that she and her teen friend group were getting involved in a cult-like group when she and celebrity friends like Jaden and Willow Smith began posting photos of themselves with orgonite crystals back in 2014.
According to Refinery29, the controversial so-called “healing” crystals that the teens were photographed with have ties to a “secret” group called “A Secret Society Of Individuals Who Create And Place Orgonite To Balance Gaia’s Energies,” or “The Orgonite Society.” However, there is no actual evidence that Jenner is linked to the group.
Jaden Smith
Jaden Smith, who was dating Kylie Jenner at the time that she was taking interest in orgonite crystals, was also seen shopping and even making his own crystals alongside sister Willow.
Willow Smith
Like her brother, Willow Smith was also the subject of a fan theory that she was linked to the “The Orgonite Society.”
The theory was heightened when she posted a photo of herself reading a book by “Osho,” another name for the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh of Rajneeshpuram whose controversial cult was explored in Netflix’s Wild, Wild Country.
Megan Marx
Bachelor alum Megan Marx revealed in 2017 that she was brought up in a religious group that banned drinking and watching television, but she stands firm that it wasn’t exactly a cult. She told Elle, “I don’t like to call it a sect or a cult, although many people would regard it as such. Its main purpose was to save individuals from hell — a perspective obviously I disagree with now.”
Neil Young
So Neil Young was never in a cult, but he was definitely linked to the Manson Family. He spent quite a bit of time with the leader Charles Manson and even wrote a song about him, per Far Out.
“We just hung out,” Young said of Manson, according to a 2013 biography. “I think I met him maybe two, three times.”
“He was an angry man. But Brilliant. Wrong, but stone-brilliant. He sounds like Dylan when he talks,” Young added. “He seemed a little uptight, a little too intense. Frustrated artist. Spent a lot of time in jail.”
Joaquin Phoenix
Joaquin Phoenix, along with his siblings River, Rain, Liberty, and Summer, were raised in Children of God, which is a group with an extensive history of making members give up their money and contact with the outside world.
In a 2014 interview with Playboy, via Entertainment Tonight, Phoenix revealed his parents left soon after he was born, saying, “I think my parents thought they’d found a community that shared their ideals. Cults rarely advertise themselves as such. It’s usually someone saying, ‘We’re like-minded people. This is a community,’ but I think the moment my parents realised there was something more to it, they got out.”
Rose McGowan
Another celebrity who grew up in the Children of God group was Rose McGowan. In McGowan’s memoir Brave, she detailed how she started to separate herself from it when she was nine and saw how the women were treated.
“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—you were allowed to have more than one wife,” she said. “My dad and I escaped with my dad’s other wife in the middle of the night,” she said. “I remember running through a cornfield in thunder and lightning, holding my dad’s hand and running as fast as I could to keep up with him…[The cult] sent people to find us. I remember a man trying to break in with a hammer.”
Glenn Close
As a child, Glenn Close and her family entered the movement Moral Re-Armament and she revealed to Hollywood Reporter per NowtoLove that it had a serious impact on her formative years.
“You basically weren’t allowed to do anything, or you were made to feel guilty about any unnatural desire,” she said. “If you talk to anybody who was in a group that basically dictates how you’re supposed to live and what you’re supposed to say and how you’re supposed to feel, from the time you’re 7 till the time you’re 22, it has a profound impact on you.”
And per Listverse, she revealed she uses her experiences in that to contribute to the powerful feelings with her characters.
Allison Mack
Probably the most well-known instance of a Hollywood star being in a cult is Allison Mack, who was charged with on charges of sex trafficking, sex trafficking conspiracy and forced labor conspiracy for her involvement with NXIVM.
Per AP News, she was sentenced to three years in prison, three years of probation, 1,000 hours of community service, and a fine of $20,000.
George Harrison
One group called the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Hare Krishnas) has been called a cult, but not as criticized as others for what they do with members. Per NPR, their biggest controversy was making members take acid, and apparently, Beatles alum George Harrison was allegedly in it for a bit, according to Listverse.
Michelle Phan
Beloved businesswoman and OG YouTuber Michelle Phan has been at the center of numerous cult accusations. After a long break from social media, Phan came back, claiming she had the ability to see angels and heal paralyzed men.
While she has denied the allegations, she has spoken fondly of Dr. Joe Dispenza and his healing methods, which many have considered his retreats to be cultish, per Distractify.
Alyx Weiss
The latest instance of worry surrounding a celebrity in a cult was with YouTuber Alyx Weiss. Back in 2022, fans grew worried when Weiss hinted she may go to a potluck run by a cult, and then months later, she revealed she was a part of a different cult, per her YouTube video.
