Kriti Mehrotra
With Netflix’s ‘How to Become a Cult Leader’ delving into the rise of six individuals who managed to garner unconditional devotion from others, we get a documentary series unlike any other. After all, each of its episodes focuses on different such authoritarians, amongst whom was none other than The Unification Church’s (aka The Moonies) founder/first president Sun Myung Moon. Yet for now, if you simply wish to learn more about the two former second-generation followers of his to have featured in this original to help move the narrative along, we’ve got the details for you.
Lisa Kohn Has Evolved Into an Award-Winning Author
While it’s true Lisa herself didn’t initially step into the new religious movement group in question, she was partly raised in it considering her mother’s active participation since around the mid-1970s. She thus joined and has always been aware of its theologies, inner workings, as well as apparent power structure in the form of hierarchy, only to ultimately step away for good following a few 1980 summers. The truth is she absolutely loved the church for its structure and promise of a better world with leader Sun Myung Moon as the second coming, but it changed once she went to music camp.
“[1980] was the first time I knowingly had friends who were gay or bisexual, and that is a sin in the church,” Lisa candidly revealed to Today in 2018. “Sin. Bad. And for the first time — this was the first time — I was like, it doesn’t make sense. These people are wonderful.” She hence began questioning this organization’s beliefs from the core, though her breaking point was actually her mother’s bizarre second marriage at Madison Square Garden alongside 2000 other couples in 1982 — all these pairs had been hand-matched by Moon.
Lisa admittedly faced her fair share of internal struggles while trying to leave this cult behind for good, but it was all worth it because she has since found true comfort, peace, and joy. In fact, from what we can tell, she currently resides in Wayne, Pennsylvania, where she’s surrounded by her loving husband of over 20 years as well as their two adult children whenever possible. Moreover, this MBA graduate has even evolved into an entrepreneur, executive coach, leadership consultant, public speaker, and award-winning author of the memoir, ‘To the Moon and Back: A Childhood Under the Influence’ (2018).
Teddy Hose is a Motion Graphic Designer Now
Under the Unification Church’s umbrella, Lisa was a “Sinful Child” as she was not born into the movement, yet Teddy was a “Blessed Child” as the son of a couple matched by Moon himself. He was thus treated rather special growing up in the local village of Terrytown, New York, where he essentially knew nothing but the church, its goals, and the way to eventually achieve the same. “I believe [this hierarchy] was used to coerce us to stay in the church,” he expressed in the Netflix production, just to then add his own experiences of how the leader ensured the “Blessed” kids didn’t go astray.
Teddy said, “[We had Camp Sunrise, which] was kind of like the Bible Camp of the Unification Church. It was for second-generation kids. We had things like swimming, archery, hiking. [But then, every morning] we had to do unity jumping jacks. You had to count your jumping jacks, skip a number. If anyone forgot to skip a number, we had to start all over again. We couldn’t even eat until we got it right.” Then there were eight hours of church theology lessons, often followed by “movie time” involving videos touching upon the horrors of deprogramming for them and lectures on the perils of premarital or sinful sex.
“It was to keep us believing in the church, and it gave us these fun childhood experiences mixed with a lot of indoctrination,” Teddy stated. However, he still decided to leave for good around the time he was 20 as he’d been garnering some real-world experiences by attending college and was then stumped by the way Moon blamed his followers for one of his son’s alleged suicide. Therefore, today, the University of Bridgeport as well as the School of Visual Arts Graphic Design/Animation graduate is simply trying to lead a peaceful life well away from the church.
Teddy does often speak publicly to shine a light upon the actualities of his former cult, yet his primary standing at the most is as an animator, artist, filmmaker, and published writer in the world of entertainment/motion-based multimedia design. In fact, this Huffington Post, McSweeney’s, plus The Bold Italic contributing writer is presently employed at advertising/public relations company Dentsu Creative as a Motion Graphic Designer in Brooklyn, New York. Teddy’s specialty is hence his experience and empathy, which is honestly only bound to improve with each passing day as he’s now in special ex-cult therapy and advocating for the same.
Read More: Sun Myung Moon’s Net Worth at the Time of His Death
