Hoyt Richards: Top Male Model and Secret Cult Member

Check Your Bias

Hoyt Richards was the first male "super model" travelling the world for shoots with the likes of Naomi Campbell and Cincy Crawford, while at the same time returning to New York to live in a cult leader's New York apartment where he slept in a closet and handed over all his earnings. Hoyt joins us to tell his tale of nearly 20 years enmeshed in a powerful cult, how he was recruited, how and why he escaped, and the work he's done in the decades since to help others recognize their own cultic behaviour, and to pull themselves out of abusive groups and relationships if necessary. Hoyt also generously touches on the humility it takes to admit to yourself that you've been fooled, then to go back and reframe a life through a clearer lens.