Actress Explains Rebuilding Life With Jesus After Leaving a Cult
By Movieguide® Contributor
Bethany Joy Lentz explained how she went back to the basics after leaving a religious cult that had controlled her life for years.
“There’s no chance that I’ll fall on my face and look stupid and feel stupid and hurt myself and other people because I’m following all the rules,” Lentz told the “Rooted Recovery Stories with Patrick Custer” podcast, explaining how she felt when she was in the cult. “Which is why it was such a rude awakening when I left.”
“It’s like if I had been brought up in an environment where everything was laid out for me, I did everything everybody told me to do, I dressed perfectly, I showed up everywhere, I knew all the right things to say. And I found myself all of a sudden in the middle of my life going, ‘I don’t even know who I am,’” she continued, describing how she reset her life. “I’m going to start out in my car. I’ll live in my car.”
“I’m going to show up every day for myself, for the people I know,” Lentz added. “I’m going to peel off the costume, take off the makeup and just start from scratch and figure out who I am…I mean, I was back to bare, bare, bare bones of reconstructing, like, who am I?”
Lentz has previously shared that she left the cult after the birth of her daughter. She realized the abuse that she was enduring and did not want her daughter to go through the same experience. After leaving the group, she found hope in Christ as she started her life over.
READ MORE: ACTRESS BETHANY JOY LENZ REVEALS HOW CHILDHOOD FAITH IMPACTED HER LIFE
Being okay with making mistakes comes from her trust in God.
“I’m still finding areas in my life where I’m holding onto control so tightly and realizing this is because I don’t trust that God’s actually got me [and] that I can let go,” she told US Weekly. “And if I make a mistake, it’s a mistake and there’s a plan B. And if I don’t make a mistake, great, I made the right choice.”
Lentz has since written a memoir recalling her journey away from the cult and encourages others to leave similar situations, even if life on the other side seems overwhelmingly daunting.
READ MORE: BETHANY JOY LENZ’S MEMOIR TO RECOUNT ESCAPE FROM CULT: ‘STORY OF FORGIVENESS’