Eternal Values with Hoyt Richards

About this episode

Hoyt Richards discusses his experiences in the cult Eternal Values and his journey towards educating others about the dangers of cults.

Hoyt Richards spent over two decades in Eternal Values, after first meeting the man who called himself Frederick von Mierers on a beach at the age of 16. Bring Me the Beauties: A Model Cult , out now on HBO Max with episodes releasing weekly, explores Hoyts’ journey alongside other actors and models of the era, and Hoyt has spent the years since his exit dedicated to educating people about the red flags to watch out for so that they don’t ever have to go through the experience that he did. When Hoyt finally left Eternal Values, at the age of 37 and years after Freddie himself had died, it wasn’t because he had realised it was a cult; he had hit rock bottom, felt like he wasn’t up to the group’s work and was letting everyone down. Until he reconnected with fellow former member, actor and filmmaker Dar Dixon, and they started examining their experiences more deeply together, he really didn’t know exactly what had happened to him – even though cult accusations had been brought against the group for years. Links Bring Me the Beauties: A Model Cult — HBO Max Hoyt Richards — official website, including Hoyt's cult education work East Side Alien — by Marie Brenner, Vanity…

People in this episode

Host: Sarah Steel

Guest: Hoyt Richards

Topics covered

• cult education
• personal journey
• red flags
• mental health
• documentary

Keywords

• Eternal Values
• cult
• Hoyt Richards
• HBO Max
• cult education
• red flags
• mental health

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Eternal Values, HBO Max, Cult Information and Family Support

Books & works: Bring Me the Beauties: A Model Cult

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