Are malignant narcissists born or made? How do you recover after narcissistic abuse? In this episode, licensed clinical psychologist Dr. Ramani Durvasula tackles our burning narc-y questions. She’s the author of two books on the subject: “Should I Stay or Should I Go: Surviving A Relationship with a Narcissist” and “Don’t You Know Who I Am?: How to Stay Sane in an Era of Narcissism, Entitlement, and Incivility.” Her work has been featured at SXSW, TEDx, the Red Table Talk, the Today Show, and In...
Oct 24, 2022•1 hr 14 min•Season 5Ep. 7
In this weekly-ish host huddle, Sarah and Nip talk about the latest culty news, and respond to your voicemails. They also accept and integrate your best and worst reviews, and take it all into consideration for future episodes. No muss, no fuss…just two married podcasters having a date night in the early to mid-afternoon. Hear Ye, Hear Ye: The views and opinions expressed on A Little Bit Culty do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast. Any content provided by our ...
Oct 20, 2022•30 min•Season 5Ep. 6
Here’s part two of our chat with Eckhart Tolle , who is widely recognized as one of the most inspiring spiritual leaders in the world. And judging from audience response to part 1, he’s either the best or the worst thing to ever happen to our pod. Let us know what you think at alittlebitculty.com/voicemail Hear Ye, Hear Ye: The views and opinions expressed on A Little Bit Culty do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast. Any content provided by our guests, bloggers...
Oct 17, 2022•49 min•Season 5Ep. 5
This show/episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. In this weekly-ish host huddle, Sarah and Nip talk about the latest culty news, and respond to your voicemails. They also accept and integrate your best and worst reviews, and take it all into consideration for future episodes. No muss, no fuss…just two married podcasters having a date night in the early to mid-afternoon. CREDITS: Executive Producers: Sarah Edmondson & Anthony Ames Production Partner: Citizens of Sound Producer: Will Retherf...
Oct 13, 2022•35 min•Season 5Ep. 4
Where’s the healthy happy medium between radical presence and reality-based pragmatism in a world that’s off the rails? Can cynics be sages? Is culty behavior inevitable once you’ve reached rockstar levels of social influence as a spiritual teacher? In this first of two episodes with Eckhart Tolle, we did our best to not shit our pants a little while asking him about what separates ‘good’ teachers from the scary ones, and how to cultivate an awakened state without falling down a cult rabbit hole...
Oct 10, 2022•54 min•Season 5Ep. 3
Hey Culty listeners, here’s part 2 of our chat with Evan Rachel Wood . If you haven’t listened to part one of our chat, stop what you’re doing and back that ass up. And while you’re at it, make sure you watch the HBO Max mini-series Phoenix Rising if you haven’t already. It chronicles Evan’s fight to break away from an abusive relationship with the rocker formerly known as Brian Warner, who categorically denies being a love bombing, gaslighting, controlling, rapey, Nazi-obsessed nightmare. (FWIW...
Oct 06, 2022•50 min•Season 5Ep. 2
We’re kicking off Season 5 with none other than actor, activist, and epic badass Evan Rachel Wood whose impressive AF resume also includes: “Most likely to be hideously trolled by the Marilyn Manson stans of the world.” If you’ve seen the HBO Max mini-series Phoenix Rising which chronicles her fight to break away from the rocker formerly known as Brian Warner, you’ve already seen the culty wafting off that dude like a bad cologne. We caught up with Evan to talk about her journey to hell and back...
Oct 03, 2022•46 min•Season 5Ep. 1
Oh hai. No biggie but…we are COMING BACK, baby. New episodes, new word salads, and other new-fangled podcasting treats are coming your way on Monday. Actually who are we kidding… it’s a biggie. Support the ALBC Pod: We’ve made a link where you can support A Little Bit Culty with a one-time, weekly, or monthly contribution. Your support will be repaid in cosmic love and light. To make a contribution, smash this link . Check out our Linktree to sign up for our mailing list. We’ve got some fun thin...
Sep 30, 2022•1 min•Season 5Ep. 59
If you’re in the mood for a breezy little summer check-in with Sarah and Nippy, you have arrived at the right episode. They answer some recent audience questions about NXIVM, and do some critical podcast housekeeping. Plus, they chat about the highs and lows of leaving Vancouver for Atlanta. Hear Ye, Hear Ye: The views and opinions expressed on A Little Bit Culty do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast. Any content provided by our guests, bloggers, sponsors or a...
Aug 15, 2022•27 min•Season 4Ep. 19
It’s another summer bonus episode, and you’re all invited to put this in your ears and enjoy it from your favorite pool floatie. This time, we’re chatting with the righteous Rachel Bernstein, LMFT, on her Indoctrination Podcast about our trip in and out of that thing we did for a while that turned out to be a notorious cult. Just some light summer listening about sex cults, trauma, and coming back from hell. Pairs well with watermelon frosé. About Rachel: She’s an OG cult awareness and recovery ...
Aug 01, 2022•1 hr 14 min•Season 4Ep. 18
We loved chatting with our friends Jeremie, Taylor, and Brian over at the Sickboy podcast , and these three literal princes among men were nice enough to let us borrow the episode for your summer listening pleasure. They’re a trio of Halifax-based best friends, and they started the podcast after recognizing that when faced with difficult situations, illnesses and diseases, people tighten up, they get awkward, and they simply don't know what to say. Taking the lead from Jeremie’s life-long battle...
Jul 18, 2022•1 hr 13 min•Season 4Ep. 17
Content Warning: Discussions of child abuse and sexual assault. Listener discretion advised. Here’s the second part of our conversation with Sarah Landry who shares what it’s like to face down the very online army she helped create for the so-called guru Nithyananda after going wide with explosive accusations of rape, child abuse, and a whole sordid cornucopia of culty shit. Show notes: Sarah Landry on YouTube , Instagram & Twitter Nithyananda - Wiki My Daughter Joined a Cult: 3-part VICE Do...
Jul 11, 2022•54 min•Season 4Ep. 16
Content Warning: Discussions of child abuse and sexual assault. Listener discretion advised. At just 24 years old, Sarah Landry found herself drawn to Hindu avatar Nithyananda’s teachings like a fly to honey. Moldy, toxic honey. She quickly became an apt pupil, and then his top recruiter via a steady stream of stylized YouTube videos and camera-ready social content. But after learning that the rape and child abuse allegations dogging the organization were just too credible to simply swat away, s...
Jul 04, 2022•53 min•Season 4Ep. 15
“We were invisible. We had to be. We took an oath of absolute secrecy. We never even told our immediate families who we were. We went about our lives in New York City. Just like you. We were your accountants, money managers, lawyers, executive recruiters, doctors. We owned your child’s private school and sold you your brownstone. But you’d never guess our secret lives, how we lived in a kind of silent terror and fervor. There were hundreds of us.” That’s a snippet from Spencer Schneider’s compel...
Jun 27, 2022•1 hr 19 min•Season 4Ep. 14
Dear Teal Swan: You continue to be a mystery wrapped in a riddle wrapped in wrap-around Oakleys. Are you okay? For reals, we’re getting some super hinky vibes from all seven layers of your auric field. Dear Everyone Else: In case you haven’t watched all four installments of The Deep End, you might want to catch up before you listen to this ALBC conversation with the filmmaking duo behind the series. In this episode, director/cinematographer Jon Kasbe and producer/writer Bits Sola join Sarah and ...
Jun 20, 2022•1 hr 9 min•Season 4Ep. 13
Finding a therapist can be mission critical when you’re recovering from a culty situation, but the process of finding a clinician with basic cult awareness can be a total cluster. In this episode, Sarah and Nippy chat with Dr. Natalie Feinblatt about why more therapists need to get cult-informed and the Venn diagram overlap between trauma and addiction. She also chats with Sarah and Nippy about tangible techniques for getting unstuck when fight/flight/freeze mode takes over. Dr. Feinblatt is a l...
Jun 13, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Season 4Ep. 12
Surprise! We loved chatting with Will Allen so much that we let the tape keep right on rolling. Keep on listening for more about the Holy Hell filmmaker’s journey back from Buddhafield’s clutches. Oh, and here’s that My Favorite Murder episode we mention. Oh, and dear listener please be advised that just like the first part of our chat with Will, this episode contains some potentially triggering conversations. Please listen safely, and seek help if you or someone you know has been sexually assau...
Jun 09, 2022•45 min•Season 4Ep. 11
Sarah and Nippy watched Holy Hell closely when they were exiting NXIVM back in 2016. It hit close to home: The documentary is an intimate look at the implosion of Buddhafield, a mysterious self-help cult formed by a charismatic character with an iffy backstory. In this episode, Sarah and Nippy welcome the film’s director Will Allen to talk about what it was like to shine a light on Jaime Gomez, the so-called spiritual guru at the twisted heart of the group. Will didn’t just film it all: he lived...
Jun 06, 2022•1 hr 4 min•Season 4Ep. 10
[Content Warning: This episode contains references to suicide, mental illness, and sexual assault. Listener discretion advised.] And…we’re back for an extra helping of conversation with investigative journalist Jennings Brown . If Part One’s exploration of creepy AF Youtube spiritual guru Teal Swan didn’t freak you out enough, there’s more Teal talk for you in this episode. Be sure to watch The Deep End docuseries and binge The Gateway podcast to learn more about how each new layer of the Teal T...
May 30, 2022•52 min•Season 4Ep. 9
[Content Warning: This episode contains references to suicide, mental illness, and sexual assault. Listener discretion advised.] Youtube spiritual guru Teal Swan says she saves lives. Others say she’s dangerously death-obsessed. We say she’s serving strong “9 Perfect Strangers” villain vibes with a side order of night terrors. But that’s just us. We wanted an expert’s perspective, so we called on investigative journalist Jennings Brown for this episode to help us understand more about Teal’s wor...
May 23, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Season 4Ep. 8
Tova Mirvis frequently writes characters who are living in Orthodox Jewish communities and struggling with their faith. But in 2017, she turned the page from fiction to memoir, by publishing The Book of Separation : a searing look at her divorce, her exit from the Orthodox community, and her experience navigating the new terrain of single motherhood. She joins us to talk about her spiritual journey, the surprising outreach she’s received from ex-Mormons, and the similarities between strict relig...
May 16, 2022•1 hr 22 min•Season 4Ep. 7
Back when Sarah and Nippy were in NXIVM, asking questions wasn’t exactly welcome. Fuck that. In this episode, they answer your questions on everything from Keith Raniere’s raging creep factor to what helps them keep it light after deep, dark podcast conversations about culty shit. Also covered: What has most surprised them about the episodes they’ve hosted so far; whether they’ve had to get re-acquainted since leaving NXIVM, and their perspectives on protecting yourself from retaliation when you...
May 09, 2022•43 min•Season 4Ep. 6
If you’re familiar with ‘The Way Down’, the HBO Docuseries that chronicles the rise and fall of conservative Christian diet guru Gwen Shamblin (Lara), who died in a plane crash in May of 2021, you may remember today’s guest: Gina Wilson. As a devoted member of the Remnant Fellowship, the Brentwood Tennessee church founded by the big-haired, charismatic Shamblin, Gina spent over a decade inside the group as a part of the music ministry team and as a poster child of sorts for the church’s ‘Weigh D...
May 02, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Season 4Ep. 5
As the voice of iconic cartoon characters, major TV networks, and national brands, Ian James Corlett has been heard by millions of people. But until now, he’s never publicly rocked a mic to share his own story as an ex-Jehovah’s Witness. Ian joins Sarah and Nippy for a rollicking ride through the denomination’s history, and his journey from born-and-raised JW and church elder, to unapologetic apostate. He has a few choice things to say about why JWs appear to be leaving the denomination in drove...
Apr 25, 2022•1 hr 19 min•Season 4Ep. 4
How and when does a healthy corporate culture go off the rails? What are some red flags to be aware of when you’re sizing up a potential workplace? Before you spring for that lower back tattoo of your company’s logo, be sure to take a listen to this A Little Bit Culty episode featuring Cameron Herold. As a successful entrepreneur and in-demand CEO Whisperer, he’s coached dozens of companies globally and is known for creating world-class company cultures. Once upon a time, he also used this talki...
Apr 18, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Season 4Ep. 3
As a first year student at the University of Maryland, Lucy Taylor welcomed the sisterhood and built-in community that Greek life promised. But after accepting a bid into a ‘top-tier’ sorority, she left after seven months inside a toxic stew of rampant sexual assault, slut-shaming, misgogny, and racism. Lucy shared her experience in season one of her podcast, SNAPPED, and after an outpouring of responses she’s continuing to use the series to help other former sorority and fraternity members shar...
Apr 11, 2022•1 hr 17 min•Season 4Ep. 2
A Little Bit Culty – We took zero breaks between seasons because we need you to hear this episode. Erin Robbins wasn’t featured in Wild Wild Country, the 2018 Netflix Docuseries about Bhagawan Shree Rajneesh, also known as Osho. She lived it in real-time. She discovered the controversial guru’s teachings at age 23 in 1977, and by the time he summoned her to his bedroom a year later for a ‘special and secret’ meeting that quickly devolved into a vile and violating encounter (the first of many) sh...
Apr 04, 2022•1 hr 23 min•Season 4Ep. 1
A Little Bit Culty – A Little Bit Culty took the show on the road, and brought you back this season 3 finale from Texas as a souvenir. In this episode, Sarah and Nippy host a live panel with Sarah Berman and Amanda Montell, in front of a real, actual human crowd of SXSW-certified cool kids. But first, the hosts celebrate the birthday of a certain golden boy, and respond to all the “Bad Vegan” hullaballoo. Lots to cover in this one, so let’s hit it. About Our Guests: Amanda Montell is a writer, l...
Mar 28, 2022•1 hr 16 min•Season 3Ep. 12
A Little Bit Culty – If the producers of Tiger King decide to make their next true crime show about you, you’ve got a helluva story. Sarma Melngailis is the woman at the heart of “Bad Vegan” the buzzworthy Netflix docu-series that chronicles her meteoric rise to fame, and her disturbing crash and burn from celebrity chef to fugitive. It’s the stuff of clickbait gold, but beyond the headlines, there’s usually more to it. And Sarma’s story is, you guessed it: More than a little bit culty. We don’t...
Mar 21, 2022•1 hr 28 min•Season 3Ep. 11
A Little Bit Culty – There’s a dark cloud hanging over the Independent Fundamental Baptist movement, and our guest today wants you to know about it. Eric Skwarczynski is the host and creator of the Preacher Boys podcast, which is a platform for survivors’ stories and the basis of an upcoming documentary film about a deeply disturbing pattern of sexual predation and abuse claims within the IFB. Eric joins us to talk about blowing the whistle on the IFB, what sucks about purity culture (hint: ever...
Mar 14, 2022•1 hr 17 min•Season 3Ep. 10
