Glenn Close discussed being raised in a “cult” with Oprah Winfrey as part of Apple TV+‘s new series from Prince Harry and Winfrey, The Me You Can’t See. The Oscar-nominated actress emotionally discussed her childhood trauma stemming from her childhood in the conservative religious group Moral Re-Armament and its effect on her mental health.
Speaking on the multi-part docuseries that explores mental health and emotional well-being, Close said her late father, Dr. William Taliaferro Close, joined the group in 1954 when she was just 7 and moved the family to the group’s headquarters in Switzerland. Close said the group “was basically a cult” and that “everyone spouted the same things and there’s a lot of rules, a lot of control.” She said that “because of how we were raised, anything you thought you’d do for yourself was considered selfish” and said her family “never went on any vacations or had any collective memories of stuff other than what we went through, which was really awful.”
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Close has spoken out about her time growing up in the cult before, sitting with Andy Cohen for SiriusXM above. According to the Daily Mail, controversial international spiritual movement Moral Re-Armament was founded by the Rev Frank Buchman, an evangelical fundamentalist from Pennsylvania, in 1938. It revolved around the idea that changing the world begins with change in the individual. Close and her family remained part of the MRA for 15 years. The actress previously opened up about how she has lived with nightmares about her time with MRA. On The Me You Can’t See, Close described her life in the MRA as a “trauma” that has continued to affect her “psychologically.”
“It’s astounding that something you go through at such a young stage in your life still has such a potential to be destructive. I think that’s childhood trauma, because of the devastation, emotional and psychological, of the cult,” she said, adding that the trauma has impacted her relationships. “I have not been successful in my relationships and finding a permanent partner and I’m sorry about that. I think it’s our natural state to be connected like that. I don’t think you ever change your trigger points but at least you can be aware of them and at least you can maybe avoid situations that might make you vulnerable, especially in relationships.”
Available to stream on Apple TV+ beginning Friday, The Me You Can’t See finds Harry and Winfrey guiding honest discussions about mental health and emotional well-being with stories from people around the world. Along with Close, the series features a number of other high-profile guests, including Lady Gaga, chef Rashad Armstead, NBA’s San Antonio Spurs’ DeMar DeRozan and Phoenix Suns’ Langston Galloway, and several others.
