Sarah Edmondson

The views and opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business, individual, anyone, or anything.

[singing] I'm Sarah Edmondson.

And I'm Nippy Ames.

And this is A Little Bit Culty, the podcast where we unpack cults, control, and coercion.

Well, I was invited to speak on a panel with a number of ex-members of, ex-guests, I should say [laughs] of A Little Bit Culty.

So we had Priya Hutner.

We had Melissa Deuke Spears, Harrison Hill, who wrote The Oracle's Daughter, which is the book about Sarah Green, which is the episode that's about to drop.

Sarah Green was the daughter of the cult leader that was covered in that book, The Oracle's Daughter.

The views and opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business, individual, anyone, or anything.

[singing] I'm Sarah Edmondson.

And I'm Nippy Ames.

And this is A Little Bit Culty, the podcast where we unpack cults, control, and coercion.

Hello, everybody, and welcome back to A Little Bit Culty.

If you haven't subscribed, you know what to do.

Do they, Sarah?

I think they do.

And then so that's what you're, that as an actor, you get the breakdown and then you get the sides, the script for that character, so you don't get the others.

So people were telling me they were getting sides and breakdowns for the character of Sarah Edmondson.

[laughs] So that's first of all trippy.

Um, secondly, we, I watched it-

Some were branded with a symbol that it later emerged contained his initials.

One of those women was Sarah Edmondson.

Sarah is a Canadian actress.

She spent twelve years in NXIVM, helped build its Vancouver center, and enrolled more than two thousand people, and she believed in it.

They help survivors heal, and they help the rest of us recognize the red flags before it's too late.

So today, I wanted to catch up with Sarah and talk about her new book, A Little Bit Culty: Navigating Cults, Control, and Coercion, what she's learned, what she's still processing, and what she wants you to know.

Here is my conversation with Sarah Edmondson.

[upbeat music] So much has happened since we've spoken last.

The views and opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business, individual, anyone, or anything.

[singing] I'm Sarah Edmondson.

And I'm Nippy Ames.

And this is A Little Bit Culty, the podcast where we unpack cults, control, and coercion.

To avoid it.

I didn't pay it.

But- Ultimately, you're right, Sarah, it, it really was a triumphant exit.

Like, I felt I triumphed over everything he had tried to do.

The views and opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business, individual, anyone, or anything.

[singing] I'm Sarah Edmondson.

And I'm Nippy Ames.

And this is A Little Bit Culty, the podcast where we unpack cults, control, and coercion.

You might remember us talking with Jules Hartley about 3HO, the Healthy, Happy, and Holy Organization, back in season seven.

Bhajan arrived in the West in 1969.

This guy won't leave us alone, will he, Sarah? Founded 3HO and grew a multi-million dollar empire of ashrams, businesses, and Sikh Dharma institutions while presenting himself as a celibate saint and master of white tantric yoga.

Wait.

And then I flew to Chicago for the Printer's Row Lit Fest.

And I don't know, I was with Sarah Edmondson, who wrote the book A Little Bit Culty and Scarred.

And I also spoke with a woman named Beth Granger.

And she was born and raised in a Christian community.

The views and opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business, individual, anyone, or anything.

I'm Sarah Edmondson.

And I'm Nippy Ames.

And this is A Little Bit Culty, the podcast where we unpack cults, control, and coercion.

really fucking hard.

I have a parallel kind of anecdote that I think hits on what I think you're articulating.

Sarah and I did something at MIT about three years ago.

It was like a think tank thing that we were invited to.

The views and opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business, individual, anyone or anything.

I'm Sarah Edmondson.

And I'm Nippy Ames.

And this is A Little Bit Culty, the podcast where we unpack cults, control, and coercion.

Thanks for listening and catch you next time on Season 9.

A Little Bit Culty is a Trace 120 production.

Executive produced by Sarah Edmondson and Nippy Ames in collaboration with producer Will Rutherford at Citizens of Sound.

Our co-creator is Jess Temple-Tardy and our production coordinator is Leslie Dinsmore.

You know, I interviewed Mark Vicente.

I'm interviewing Sarah Edmondson.

And one of the things that, that I had said to Mark Vicente is like, I, I, I really, I don't understand how Sarah let, like had the, what is it? They seared her skin.

Thank you.