A Little Bit Culty

This episode is sponsored by Betterhelp.

Hoyt Richards joins the pod to talk about the double life behind his modeling fame and his nearly 20 years in Eternal Values, the high-control group also featured in HBO’s Bring Me the Beauties: A Model Cult. He reflects on how a seemingly glamorous world of fashion, access, and status got tangled up with grooming, identity loss, and a spiritual system that kept pulling him deeper in.

Our conversation focuses on how recruitment worked: being flattered, singled out, made to feel special, and gradually separated from family, friends, and any outside perspective. Hoyt explains how Frederick von Mierers (Freddy) used charisma, mystique, and selective “truths” to make himself look enlightened while building a group that demanded loyalty, labor, and secrecy.

We also talk about the psychological cost of staying, the “matrix” framing that made leaving feel spiritually dangerous, and why survivors often need both accountability and self-compassion in recovery. The real story is not just the cult leader, but the ripple effect on everyone dragged into the orbit, and why those warning signs can show up in cults, relationships, and other power dynamics. Stay tuned for Part 2 of our convo on Thursday.

Follow Hoyt Richards at hoytrichards.com and on Instagram @hoytrichardsofficial, and Bring Me the Beauties on Instagram @bringmethebeauties.

Trigger warning: This episode contains frank discussion of cults, coercive control, grooming, manipulation, emotional and spiritual abuse, and family estrangement.

Also…let it be known that:
The views and opinions expressed on A Little Bit Culty do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast. Any content provided by our guests, bloggers, sponsors or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business, individual, anyone or anything. Nobody’s mad at you, just don’t be a culty fuckwad.

Buy the A Little Bit Culty book on Amazon or order a signed copy.
Check out our amazing sponsors
Join A Little Bit Culty on Patreon
Get poppin’ fresh ALBC Swag
Support the pod and smash this link
Check out our cult awareness and recovery resources
Watch Sarah's TED Talk and buy her memoir, Scarred

CREDITS:
Executive Producers: Sarah Edmondson & Anthony Ames
Production Partner: Citizens of Sound
Co-Creator: Jess Tardy
Audio production: Will Retherford
Production Coordinator: Lesli Dinsmore
Writer: Sandra Nomoto
Social media team: Eric Skwarzynski and Brooke Keane
Theme Song: “Cultivated” by Jon Bryant co-written with Nygel Asselin

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In Part 2 of our “Where are they now” chat with Mark Vicente, he talks about Narcissist’s Playbook and the emotional toll of spending five years documenting narcissistic abuse and expanding that work through his Instaguru series and podcast. The project keeps revealing the same pattern at different scales, from cult dynamics and propaganda to politics, performance, and the way people get triangulated against each other.

The conversation also gets more personal, with Mark and Sarah reflecting on their own susceptibility to fawning, pedestal-building, and overexcitement, plus the need to slow down, do reference checks, and trust their bodies when something feels off. Mark shares that one of his biggest lessons is not to worship people with charisma or clarity, because that’s often what lets abuse hide in plain sight.

It also touches on the film’s release strategy, funding, outreach, and why he’d rather build an audience directly than hand control to a streamer.

Watch the trailer for Narcissist’s Playbook and stay tuned for early access links and screenings near you: narcissistsplaybook.com/long-trailer-landing-page

Follow Mark at markvicente.com, on Patreon, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, X, or TikTok.

Trigger warning: This episode contains frank discussion of narcissistic and sexual abuse, coercion, manipulation, cult dynamics, and trauma bonding.

Also…let it be known that:
The views and opinions expressed on A Little Bit Culty do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast. Any content provided by our guests, bloggers, sponsors or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business, individual, anyone or anything. Nobody’s mad at you, just don’t be a culty fuckwad.

Buy the A Little Bit Culty book on Amazon or order a signed copy.
Check out our amazing sponsors
Join A Little Bit Culty on Patreon
Get poppin’ fresh ALBC Swag
Support the pod and smash this link
Check out our cult awareness and recovery resources
Watch Sarah's TED Talk and buy her memoir, Scarred

CREDITS:
Executive Producers: Sarah Edmondson & Anthony Ames
Production Partner: Citizens of Sound
Co-Creator: Jess Tardy
Audio production: Will Retherford
Production Coordinator: Lesli Dinsmore
Writer: Sandra Nomoto
Social media team: Eric Skwarzynski and Brooke Keane
Theme Song: “Cultivated” by Jon Bryant co-written with Nygel Asselin

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Mark Vicente returns for a new “Where are they now?” conversation and opens up about the five-year journey behind his upcoming film, Narcissist’s Playbook, which he describes as a way to better understand the psychology he once lived inside. We revisit how narcissistic patterns showed up in NXIVM and why they’re so hard to see clearly while you’re in it, and how the film tries to explain the mechanics of manipulation without pretending people can simply “love” abuse away.

Our conversation also digs into the documentary’s most disturbing insights, including the way narcissists can mirror people back to themselves, target vulnerabilities, and create long-game strategies of control that are hard to recognize in real time. Mark talks about what he learned interviewing self-aware narcissists and why the film is meant to be a tool for survivors, clinicians, and students alike.

We also revisit NXIVM’s bizarre intake questionnaires, Nancy Salzman’s role, Keith Raniere’s manipulation tactics, and the relief that comes from speaking openly once you’re out. Stay tuned for Part 2 of our conversation on Thursday.

Watch the trailer for Narcissist’s Playbook and stay tuned for early access links and screenings near you: narcissistsplaybook.com/long-trailer-landing-page

Follow Mark at markvicente.com, on Patreon, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, X, or TikTok.

Trigger warning: This episode contains frank discussion of narcissistic and sexual abuse, coercion, manipulation, psychological control, and cult dynamics.

Also…let it be known that:
The views and opinions expressed on A Little Bit Culty do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast. Any content provided by our guests, bloggers, sponsors or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business, individual, anyone or anything. Nobody’s mad at you, just don’t be a culty fuckwad.

Buy the A Little Bit Culty book on Amazon or order a signed copy.
Check out our amazing sponsors
Join A Little Bit Culty on Patreon
Get poppin’ fresh ALBC Swag
Support the pod and smash this link
Check out our cult awareness and recovery resources
Watch Sarah's TED Talk and buy her memoir, Scarred

CREDITS:
Executive Producers: Sarah Edmondson & Anthony Ames
Production Partner: Citizens of Sound
Co-Creator: Jess Tardy
Audio production: Will Retherford
Production Coordinator: Lesli Dinsmore
Writer: Sandra Nomoto
Social media team: Eric Skwarzynski and Brooke Keane
Theme Song: “Cultivated” by Jon Bryant co-written with Nygel Asselin

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sharp, compassionate, and clarifying as ever, this replay episode from our second convo with Dr. Ramani finds her fresh off the release of her book It’s Not You: Identifying and Healing from Narcissistic People. She reframes narcissism away from labels and toward impact, helping listeners understand why these relationships can be so destabilizing and why recovery is absolutely possible.

She also dug into the patterns that keep people stuck in narcissistic relationships, why self-blame is so common, and how healing starts with seeing the dynamic clearly instead of internalizing the damage. If this episode resonates, it’s the perfect warm-up for next week’s episodes with Mark Vicente, who’ll be talking about his new film, Narcissist’s Playbook.

Follow Dr. Ramani on Instagram, Facebook, or X @doctorramani.

Also…let it be known that:
The views and opinions expressed on A Little Bit Culty do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast. Any content provided by our guests, bloggers, sponsors or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business, individual, anyone or anything. Nobody’s mad at you, just don’t be a culty fuckwad.

Buy the A Little Bit Culty book on Amazon or order a signed copy.
Check out our amazing sponsors
Join A Little Bit Culty on Patreon
Get poppin’ fresh ALBC Swag
Support the pod and smash this link
Check out our cult awareness and recovery resources
Watch Sarah's TED Talk and buy her memoir, Scarred

CREDITS:
Executive Producers: Sarah Edmondson & Anthony Ames
Production Partner: Citizens of Sound
Co-Creator: Jess Tardy
Audio production: Will Retherford
Production Coordinator: Lesli Dinsmore
Writer: Sandra Nomoto
Social media team: Eric Skwarzynski and Brooke Keane
Theme Song: “Cultivated” by Jon Bryant co-written with Nygel Asselin

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

To prep for next week’s “Where are they now?” chat with Mark Vicente, we’re replaying our first convo with licensed clinical psychologist Dr. Ramani Durvasula from Season 5. Are malignant narcissists born or made? How do you recover after narcissistic abuse? Dr. Ramani tackles our burning narc-y questions. She’s the author of two books on the subject: Should I Stay or Should I Go: Surviving A Relationship with a Narcissist, and Don’t You Know Who I Am?: How to Stay Sane in an Era of Narcissism, Entitlement, and Incivility. Her work has been featured at SXSW, TEDx, the Red Table Talk, the Today Show, and Investigation Discovery.

Check out Dr. Ramani’s program on healing from narcissistic relationships and follow her on Instagram, Facebook, or X @doctorramani.

Also…let it be known that:
The views and opinions expressed on A Little Bit Culty do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast. Any content provided by our guests, bloggers, sponsors or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business, individual, anyone or anything. Nobody’s mad at you, just don’t be a culty fuckwad.

Buy the A Little Bit Culty book on Amazon or order a signed copy.
Check out our amazing sponsors
Join A Little Bit Culty on Patreon
Get poppin’ fresh ALBC Swag
Support the pod and smash this link
Check out our cult awareness and recovery resources
Watch Sarah's TED Talk and buy her memoir, Scarred

CREDITS:
Executive Producers: Sarah Edmondson & Anthony Ames
Production Partner: Citizens of Sound
Co-Creator: Jess Tardy
Audio production: Will Retherford
Production Coordinator: Lesli Dinsmore
Writer: Sandra Nomoto
Social media team: Eric Skwarzynski and Brooke Keane
Theme Song: “Cultivated” by Jon Bryant co-written with Nygel Asselin

SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS:
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See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.