Glenn Close opened up over her ‘traumatizing’ childhood where she grew up inside a conservative religious cult for 15 years.
The movie star bravely spoke about her experiences in Oprah Winfrey and Prince Harry‘s mental health series, The Me You Can’t See. Glenn Close said what she went through as a child while in the cult still has the “potential to be destructive” decades later. The celebrity explained her father became involved with the group when she was only seven years old, and they moved to Switzerland to live in the headquarters for two years. The family wouldn’t have vacations, and she said there were a lot of “rules” and control.
Glenn Close opens up over growing up inside a cult
“It was basically a cult,” the Hollywood star said in the 2021 docuseries.
“Everyone spouted the same things, and there’s a lot of rules, a lot of control.
“Because of how we were raised, anything you thought you’d do for yourself was considered selfish. We never went on any vacations or had any collective memories of stuff other than what we went through, which was really awful.”
Her father, William Close, became involved in the Moral Re-Armament when she was young, but it still affected her years later, the 77-year-old said. They joined in 1954 and lived on the group’s communal grounds with the other members.
Before this, they lived at her grandfather’s estate in Connecticut.
William worked as a doctor for Congolese leader Mobuti Sese Seko.
The ‘Wife’ star said: “It’s astounding that something you go through at such a young stage in your life still has such a potential to be destructive.”
She added: “I think that’s childhood trauma, because of the devastation, emotional and psychological, of the cult. … I am psychologically traumatized.”
The leaders would dictate all aspects of members’ lives, from what they could say to the clothes they wore.
Glenn Close was eventually able to escape the MRA ‘cult’ aged 22. The Hollywood star then attended William and Mary college in Virginia to study drama. But she didn’t go into detail on how she was able to get out of the cult.
However, it didn’t stop there. She would have “dreams” that haunted her afterward.
The star said: “I would have dreams because I didn’t go to any psychiatrist or anything. I had these dreams, and they started with betrayal, a sense of betrayal, and then they developed into me being able to look at these people and say, ‘You’re wrong. You’re wrong.’
“And then the final incarnation of those dreams was my being able to calmly get up and walk away. And then I didn’t have them anymore.”
‘I didn’t trust my instincts’
The celebrity also opened up over her upbringing with ABC News in 2014.
The MRA cult, which the Close family signed up to when Glenn was a child, started in the 1930s. Led by Reverend Frank Buchman it started as an anti-war group.
She explained: “I wouldn’t trust any of my instincts because [my beliefs] had all been dictated to me.”
“You basically weren’t allowed to do anything, or you were made to feel guilty about any unnatural desire,” Glenn 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,” she continued.
“It’s something you have to [consciously overcome] because all of your trigger points are [wrong].”
It affected her relationships
The star believes growing up in the MRA plagued her future dating life, and she has been married three times.
She said: “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.”
Glenn then quipped: “It’s probably why we all have our dogs!”
The actress still struggled after leaving, and needed therapy after she cut ties with the group.
Glenn Close also explained some other family members have struggled with mental health as well, with her sister Jessie being diagnosed with bipolar disorder and her nephew having schizophrenia. But her sister wasn’t diagnosed properly until aged 50.
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