Was I in a Cult?

*CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains discussions of child abuse, child sexual abuse, rape, child marriage, neglect, religious trauma, and family trauma. Please take care while listening.*
Born into the Hare Krishna Movement aka ISKCON, Vilas was supposed to be part of a "pure" new generation of devotees.
Instead, she was sent away at three years old, raised in boarding schools and temples across the world, taught that suffering was holy, comfort was indulgent, family attachment was weakness, and obedience was the only way back to God.
From Los Angeles to Iran to India, Vilas's childhood was shaped by silence, neglect, impossible rules, and adults who kept choosing devotion over protection.
Part 1 takes us behind the chanting, robes, and airport flowers into the devastating cost of growing up inside a movement that promised divine love, while denying a child the human kind.
 
FIND VILAS: 
Instagram: @vilaswright  / Facebook: @vilas.wright
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Hi faithful listeners - 
We're going to have to delay release of this episode until we get a behind the scenes technical issue sorted out. Please don't look behind the red curtain.

NOTE: This episode discusses sex, sexual exploitation, coercion, and sexual abuse. 
What happens when female empowerment, Silicon Valley startup culture, spiritual enlightenment, and clitoral stroking walk into a fluorescent-lit conference room?
You get OneTaste.
In this episode, we sit down with Bloomberg investigative journalist Ellen Huet, author of Empire of Orgasm: Sex, Power, and the Downfall of a Wellness Cult, to unpack the rise and fall of OneTaste, the orgasmic meditation company founded by Nicole Daedone that promised connection, healing, and transformation through a 15-minute partnered orgasm practice called OM (Orgasmic Meditation).
But behind the language of liberation and "turn-on" were allegations of sexual coercion, financial exploitation, sexual abuse, forced labor, and a belief system that taught members their discomfort was just something to push through on the path to enlightenment. 
Ellen walks us through how her 2018 investigation helped expose the darker side of the company, the criminal case that followed, and why OneTaste's story is not just about sex. It's about power, belonging, manipulation, and the very human longing to be seen.
 
FIND ELLEN: 
Instagram: @ehuet 
Book: Empire of Orgasm: Sex, Power, and the Downfall of a Wellness Cult 
Bloomberg: bloomberg.com/authors/ASmGayS_jTQ/ellen-huet__
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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 → info@wasiinacult.com

CONTENT WARNING: This episode discusses sexual assault. Not in graphic detail, but please listen accordingly.
For 19 years, Lizzie Ens lived in one of the most conservative Amish sects in America: the Swartzentruber Amish. Last week you learned about her upbringing and all facets of living a life off the grid with no electricity, no indoor plumbing, and very little autonomy over her own life.
In Part 2, the horse-and-buggy postcard version of Amish life disappears fast.
Lizzie takes us inside the bizarre dating ritual called "bundling," and into the darker corners of the community — sexual assault, shunning, suppression, and the impossible weight of knowing that leaving means leaving everything behind. Including her twin sister.
Eventually, she realizes something terrifying: if she doesn't escape now… she may never escape at all.
 
What follows is one of the wildest escape stories we've ever covered.
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RESOURCES:
RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network)
Bailing Out Benji
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FIND LIZZIE:
Instagram: @lizzieens_wellness / TikTok: @lizzieh_wellness
Book: Amish Renegade: The Anthropology of an Amish Girl Turned Global CEO
Website: undietyou.com
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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 → info@wasiinacult.com

Many people picture a peaceful, technology-free life of butter churning, candle making, and horse-drawn buggies. But for today's guest, the reality behind the plain dresses and pastoral image was far more restrictive, and far more dangerous.
Lizzie grew up in one of the strictest Amish sects in the country: the Swartzentruber Amish. No electricity. No indoor plumbing. No music. No photographs. No Rumspringa. And absolutely no preparation for life outside the community.
In this first part of a two-part conversation, Lizzie shares what it was like growing up under intense control, the rigid rules imposed on women, and how isolation and fear kept members obedient. She also opens up about the early cracks in her belief system—and the impossible choices that eventually led her to attempt an escape.

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FIND LIZZIE:
Instagram: @lizzieens_wellness / TikTok: @lizzieh_wellness
Book: Amish Renegade: The Anthropology of an Amish Girl Turned Global CEO
Website: undietyou.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 → info@wasiinacult.com