Was I In A Cult?

Four hours into a hostage situation between a man and a woman, the man walks out the door. In that moment, the woman's primal instinct kicks in: "Grab your kids and RUN." 
Later, she learns that action may have saved her life. He wasn't just leaving. He was going to get a gun. And the man? It was her husband.

At 33-years-old, Tia Levings walked away from the Christian Patriarchy system that dictated her body, her voice, and her life for 13 years.
If there were ever a guest who embodies the entire ethos of this show, it's Tia Levings. A badass is an understatement.
Now a New York Times bestselling author of "A Well-Trained Wife" and featured in "Shiny Happy People," Tia joins us to unpack: 
'Trad wives' and how this movement is far from just churned butter on Instagram. The wedding night she finally has language for. The daughter she lost. How, and more importantly why, the Christian Patriarchy movement has surged over the past decade.

And her new book. "I Belong to Me." The survival guide she wishes she had access to when she first got out. It's now our #1 recommendation for anyone leaving a high-control group. A non-judgmental, non-preachy, non-guru self-help book? Who knew?!
Tia is brilliant, funny, and unflinchingly honest. And if you leave with one thing, let it be her words: "If you can't speak in your power, you can't f*ck in your power." 

NOTE to our Patreon subscribers:
You can watch the full, unedited two-and-a-half-hour interview with Tia now on our Patreon. Thank you for being on this journey with us.
FIND TIA:
Website: tialevings.com
Socials @TiaLevingsWriter: Instagram, TikTok, Facebook
Substack: tialevings.substack.com — where she does real-time religious deconstruction
TIA'S BOOKS:
"I Belong to Me: A Survivor's Guide to Recovery and Hope After Religious Trauma"

"A Well-Trained Wife: My Escape from Christian Patriarchy" (now in paperback)
 

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Join our Patreon! Get ad-free episodes, bonus content, and behind-the-scenes conversations. (And our forever gratitude)
 
HAVE A CULTY STORY?
Email us → [email protected]

**PLEASE NOTE: This episode originally aired in Oct 2024. Since, there have been quite a few updates to both the cult and story. Tune into the episode to hear more.**
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When her mother fell sick, young Angela had no idea that she would spend her childhood growing up in a dangerous cult. Falun Gong, a Chinese spiritual movement-slash-religion-slash-cult, known for its Shen Yun dancers and its ties to 'The Epoch Times' entangled her family in its facade of meditation and enlightenment. In this two-part episode, Angela recounts her experience in a world where karma is not just a bitch, but a force that can dictate life and death… with suffering seen as a path to salvation and modern medicine demonized as an obstacle to spiritual purity. And just when you think it can't get any wilder, the Capitol Insurrection storms into the story… 


This is Part 1 of Angela's powerful story. 
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FOLLOW US  → For more culty content — follow us on Instagram & TikTok → @wasiinacult
SUPPORT THE SHOW
Join our Patreon! Get ad-free episodes, bonus content, and behind-the-scenes conversations. (And our forever gratitude)
HAVE A CULTY STORY?
Email us → [email protected]

**PLEASE NOTE: This episode originally aired in Oct 2024. Since, there have been quite a few updates to both the cult and story. Tune into the episode to hear more.**
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In Part 2 of Angela's story, the realities of Falun Gong's grip on her family deepen. Angela reflects on the emotional toll of a cult that prioritized spiritual salvation over physical health—even as her mother's condition worsens. But escaping isn't easy when your family remains deep in the cult's ideologies… Angela's journey out of this cult is filled with heartbreaking revelations and the resilience that defines a true "surthirver."
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FOLLOW US  → For more culty content — follow us on Instagram & TikTok → @wasiinacult
SUPPORT THE SHOW
Join our Patreon! Get ad-free episodes, bonus content, and behind-the-scenes conversations. (And our forever gratitude)
HAVE A CULTY STORY?
Email us → [email protected]

As a young teenager, Darls Centola was searching for something steady in a chaotic world. What she found was the Jehovah's Witnesses—a religion that felt warm, structured, and safe.
What she didn't expect to find… was him.
Not the King of Pop. Not the global icon. Not Michael Jackson. 
Just Michael. 
A shy, curious, thoughtful teenage boy looking to her for religious guidance. 
What unfolds is almost impossibly pure. Two kids hiding behind their school not to smoke pot, but to talk about faith and opening orphanages one day—all while trying (and failing) to suppress feelings they aren't allowed to feel. 
Because inside their dogma, a crush isn't just a crush. It could get you killed at Armageddon. And as their bond deepens... so does the control. 
Until the belief system that brought them together… is the very thing that tears them apart.
This isn't a story about fame. It's not a takedown. And it's not a defense.
It's about first love. 
And a deeply human, intimate look at a version of someone the world thinks it already understands, set against the very real, very damaging impact of cult abuse.
And the uncomfortable truth that both light and darkness can exist at the same time.
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Today, Darls Centola is a licensed clinical social worker, educator and EMDR consultant with a focus on the impact of spiritual abuse and high control systems. 
She has written a memoir about the innocent and heartbreaking time in her life inside a cult with teenage Michael Jackson from the POV of that young girl. A time that didn't just change her life... but may have quietly shaped his too.
Purchase Darls' memoir here: "Finding Truth with Michael: A Memoir of Friendship, Faith and First Love"
Find Darls' workbook and other resources on her website: findingtruthwithmichael.com 
FOLLOW US  → For more culty content — follow us on Instagram & TikTok → @wasiinacult
SUPPORT THE SHOW
Join our Patreon! Get ad-free episodes, bonus content, and behind-the-scenes conversations. (And our forever gratitude)
HAVE A CULTY STORY?
Email us → [email protected]

If Part 1 was the seduction… this is the unraveling.
By now, Celeste is fully in - the "true believer" phase we like to call it. The relationships feel real. The stakes feel real. And the consequences for questioning it? Also very real.
Because inside this world, there are rules. Rewards for loyalty. Punishments for doubt. And what once felt magical begins to shift. The cracks start to show. And Celeste is forced to confront a terrifying possibility:
What if none of this is real?
What follows is a slow, psychological tug-of-war between belief and reality - until one discovery changes everything.
After all, the most shocking part wasn't that there were vampires on the internet.
It was who was pretending to be them. 
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FOLLOW CELESTE → Instagram @celestemott | Tiktok @celestemoth
FOLLOW US  → For more culty content — follow us on Instagram & TikTok → @wasiinacult
SUPPORT THE SHOW
Join our Patreon! Get ad-free episodes, bonus content, and behind-the-scenes conversations. (And our forever gratitude)
HAVE A CULTY STORY?
Email us → [email protected]