When people say, “Hollywood is a cult!”, it’s usually meant as hyperbole. But when Michelle Pfeiffer tried to make her name in Tinseltown, she found herself actually falling in with a cult, even if she didn’t realize it at the time.
Although Michelle Pfeiffer grew up in California, she knew to make it in movies she would have to move to Hollywood. Soon after she made her small screen debut on a 1978 episode of Fantasy Island, Pfeiffer landed the role of The Bombshell on Delta House, a terrible spin-off of Animal House. And it was that character name that Pfeiffer felt compelled to live up to, becoming close with a group that she thought was just trying to help her stay fit. “They worked with weights and put people on diets. Their thing was vegetarianism.” She added that this was far from being a standard weight loss group, saying, “They were very controlling. I wasn’t living with them but I was there a lot and they were always telling me I needed to come more. I had to pay for all the time I was there, so it was financially very draining…They believed that people in their highest state were breatharian,” the belief that one can go without food, which, after consulting with JoBlo.com’s crack team of scientists, we can confirm is just plain not true…or we just love nachos too much.
The revelation for Michelle Pfeiffer came when she was helping her future husband Peter Horton – who she married in 1981 – nail his character for Split Image, which centers around a college athlete (played by Michael O’Keefe) falling in with a cult. “We were talking with an ex-Moonie and he was describing the psychological manipulation and I just clicked.” Of interest, Horton’s debut – out a few years before Split Image – found him playing Cult Member 4.
Outside of Pfeiffer, there are a number of actors with links to cults. While not everybody fesses up to it, some – like Joaquin Phoenix, Rose McGowan and more – have been open with their experiences. One surprising actress with ties to one of the most infamous cults in history is Angela Lansbury, who moved her family to Ireland after her daughter started hanging around with the Manson Family.
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