River Phoenix In 1973, John, Arlyn and River Phoenix left Texas for South America in order to do missionary work for Berg's Children of God. Favorite Answer. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. River, who starred in 24 movies, first gained critical and popular acclaim when he starred in the 1986 film Stand by Me.Two years later, he costarred in Running on Empty, which landed him his first and only Oscar nomination. Past subjects have included the Jonestown Massacre, Nation of Yahweh and the Tony Alamo Ministries, among others. And what's the gist of this Children of God religion movement? To recruit new converts, he advocated that women of the church proposition men, which Berg’s daughter Deborah Davis described in her autobiography, The Children of God: The Inside Story, as a “world-wide prostitution network” that brought “dad unwanted publicity and attention from the law”. NEW BOOK ON RIVER PHOENIX DETAILS HIS SHORT LIFE, Mattis said she and Phoenix met when they were teenagers and remembers him as being “sensitive and obsessive.”. Members lived in large communes, typically with four or five families under one roof, as they waited for the impending apocalypse. Fellow cult survivors may draw lessons from Phoenix’s childhood in the Children of God and the sexual abuse he suffered as a result of its doctrines. His message was relatively simple, if not terribly original: God would soon be returning to Earth to hand down judgment. We talked about art, music, dancing,” he says. Dr Marlene Winell, a psychologist who studies religious indoctrination, says it can take a long time for former members of cults or extreme religious groups to feel comfortable in their new reality. “They’ve left a bunch of people that they’ve damaged struggling to try and cope and find out ‘how do I move on?’”. Clusters of the Family appeared in places like Houston, Texas, and San Diego, California, according to interviews with former members. Berg was on the run. The late actor River Phoenix, who grew up in the Children of God, told Details Magazine in 1991 that he was four when he first had sex while in the group. Samantha Mathis opens up about River Phoenix's death, Sacheen Littlefeather, who rejected Marlon Brando’s Oscar in 1973, says she was blacklisted by Hollywood, 93rd Academy Awards leaves viewers unhappy over new format, late Chadwick Boseman snub, Frances McDormand howls during viral 'Nomadland' acceptance speech, Tyler Perry’s Oscar speech goes viral, ‘My mother taught me to refuse hate’, Oscar-winner Daniel Kaluuya jokes about parents’ sex life during speech: Mom is ‘not going to be very happy’, Oscars 2021 sees 'Nomadland' receive best picture as celebs rip Derek Chauvin, police brutality. Once, a hostess asked him out on a date at work. He couldn’t find a job, with no experience other than missionary work. Walker spent most of his childhood on the outskirts of the Niger Delta in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, where his French and German parents moved in 1997 to preach Berg’s gospel to the locals. The New York attorney general found an estimated 120 Children of God communes in 1974, many of whose members were required to surrender their personal belongings and money to leaders of local homes. ... River Phoenix … Walker was very candid about his life in the Family and their unconventional beliefs. This sounds incredibly cheesy but I knew I would be with him one day. The Children of God, now known as the Family International is this weird sex cult. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. Queer Muslim women from the south: 'We exist and we’re fierce', Kansas town reels months after foiled mosque bombing: 'I'm still scared'. However, he did tell Details Magazine in 1991 that he was allegedly 4 years old when he first had sex while in the group. Phoenix was born on August 23, 1970 in Madras, Oregon, the first child of Arlyn Dunetz and John Lee Bottom. And should I have left? According to The Guardian, the Children of God started in 1968 by a small group of runaway teens and hippies who, under the orders of self-described prophet David Berg, dedicated their lives to worshipping Jesus Christ and engaging in promiscuous sex. “Ultimately, I still want to serve the Lord,” he says. And deceased actor River Phoenix, who — along with his siblings — spent a few years of childhood in Children of God, gave a 1991 interview to Details claiming that he … In a 1984 after-school TV special called Backwards: The Riddle of Dyslexia, 13-year-old River Phoenix played a child crushed by his secret reading impairment. “It’s a common thing to feel like you have to adjust to the secular world because there are so many expectations and behavior patterns that you’re not familiar with,” says Winell. 4 Answers. For Young, who recently started his master’s degree at Penn State University, there is nothing about the old days of the Family to be nostalgic about. (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images). In 2018, McGowan spoke of spending the first 10 years of her life in Italy, where her father headed a Children of God chapter. The Gladiator and Walk The Line star was born into the Children of God, where brainwashed adults slept with kids, and women used sex to lure in new male members. (Getty). Young was unaware that his parents’ church was labeled as a sect by the FBI . (Courtesy of the author.). She says it can take them a long time to leave those groups, especially if they were born into them. According to the outlet, the Phoenix family often busked on the streets to raise money for the cult. “A 14-year-old runaway who spent nine days at a COG commune testified that she was raped and because of her refusal to cooperate with the elders, was held in solitary confinement on no less than three separate occasions,” the report states. Flor Edwards and her sister. As his star rose, he rarely spoke about his time in the Children of God. “Obviously, they were searching for something.”. More than a year and a half after leaving the Family, Young joined a community college honors program, which helped students get scholarships and transfer to a four-year college. “It looks like they were just trying to stem the flow of members out of the movement,” says Laura Vance, a sociology professor at Warren Wilson College who studies the Family and other new religious movements. To avoid His wrath, Berg advised his followers, they should live an austere life and abandon all their possessions. ... As missionaries for the Children of God… Young’s parents, devout American missionaries who moved to Mexico in 1998, told him that such work was his destiny and duty. The Reboot didn’t seem to affect the Walkers who were far removed in the mission field. And is Jesus real?” he says. n a series of phone conversations, Young told me how he struggled to leave the group. “It was a bit disconcerting seeing that other branches were closing down or other people, even friends, were deciding that perhaps the missionary work was no longer for them,” he says. But in 2009, the organization started to crumble. RELATED: How River Phoenix’s Childhood in the Children of God Cult May Have Led to His Death Children of God: Jemima FarrisCredit : Courtesy Jemima Farris Jemima Farris while she … The Family’s 15,000 members were free from the oppressive rules that dictated their lives. And they did. "Although many young people who grew up in the Children of God did die by suicide or a drug overdose, I think there are many more complex factors involved, and it would be a hasty generalization to draw such a conclusion that a childhood in the Children of God caused his death.”, Actor River Phoenix, star of "Stand By Me," playfully poses during a 1988 Los Angeles portrait session. “While it’s hard to ignore the fact that a childhood within the Children of God was indeed damaging for some, it would be a stretch to say that the few years River Phoenix spent in the Children of God may have led to his death," she continued. The Viper Room the day after the death of actor River Phoenix. But it remains a peculiar upbringing. “I felt instantly like I belonged with these people.”. In 2015, Walker moved to Berlin, Germany, discovering life outside the missionary world. Phoenix’s parents joined the Children of God when he was 3 years old. “That was the first time that I felt like I had friends. Relevance. “You’re wondering if you’re going to be the only one left for a while.”. McGowan's father ran the Italian chapter of Children of God, and McGowan spent much of her childhood traveling through in the sect's European communes with him, her mother and two siblings. "You had no contact with the outside world," McGowan told People. But Young was unaware that his parents’ church was labelled as a sect by the FBI and hounded by child abuse allegations. Children of God is a religious group that originated in California in 1968. “All of a sudden, we started thinking about the tomorrow,” says one missionary member who asked to be identified as Clara. Legal Statement. Inside River Phoenix's Childhood in the Children of God. Oh, gosh, wouldn’t that be nice?”. They stayed in Nigeria and continued on with their work. But he doesn’t know if he’ll go back to mission work anytime soon. The Children of God and its history is the subject of a new docu-series titled... ALAMO CULT SURVIVOR TELLS ALL. “Even though River Phoenix’s death was by overdose, having grown up in the same cult he was born into, the Children of God, I talk about my own attempt at suicide in my book,” Edwards, who penned a 2018 memoir about her turbulent childhood titled “Apocalypse Child: A Life in End Times," explained. The group’s practices drew investigations from the FBI and Interpol, which were on the hunt for its leader, David Berg. The alternative was an afterlife spent in the slums of heaven, a place only slightly better than hell. “I knew something was wrong that night, something I didn’t understand. In 2004, the Family changed its name again to the Family International. “Now I feel like I’ve wasted a lot of my life. The now-49-year-old told the UK-based publication she believed they were just dropping off Phoenix’s brother and sister at The Viper Room. “Forty-five minutes later, he was dead," she added. The Children of God (1968–1977) Members of The Children of God (COG) founded communes, first called colonies (now referred to as homes), in various cities. The Children of God had communes in small and big cities as dispersed as Staten Island, Tucson and Coachella, the report shows. This article was amended on 17 December 2020 to remove some personal information. On Wednesday, People magazine reported Phoenix’s friend Joshua Greenbaum revealed that he had wondered if the actor’s involvement in Children of God might have played a part in his shocking demise. Fans have left flowers, candles and notes at the spot where he collapsed on November 1, 1993 in Los Angeles, California. “The whole cult was built on the theory that the antichrist was coming so you didn’t have to save for retirement. Interpol launched an investigation into Berg’s activities in Argentina and, according to documents obtained by the Guardian through a Freedom of Information Act request, the FBI was investigating him as well. Joaquin, whose brother, River Phoenix, died of an overdose at age 23, has three sisters: Rain, Summer, and Liberty. The church disintegrated and Young was suddenly forced to forge himself a new life, along with thousands of other isolated missionaries who had to assimilate into a society that they had long rejected. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. That your body is not your own –you’re supposed to give it up to God.”. In the following year, he made Surviving, a compelling movie-of-the-week about teen-age suicide. Young says he … Today, they’re adjusting to society and letting go of the strange beliefs that had dictated their lives since birth. He was 23. “So, in practice, it’s rare but it certainly is still allowed.”. “We met when we were both 19, and he bummed a cigarette off me in an LA club. Phoenix died there of a drug overdose on Oct. 31, 1993. The “Little Women” star said she ran inside the club to find Phoenix’s siblings. I don’t think one can draw a conclusion based on either. “I was spiritual in a way that was kind of very obsessive and very determined,” he says. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. He fled to Portugal, where he died in 1994. Because its leaders have historically limited members' access to the outside world and asked them to give up their money and worldly possessions, Children of God is generally considered a cult. It just felt fated between us, and there was such chemistry,” Mathis said. Berg’s philosophy, which he called the Law of Love, was a blend of Christian dogma and the free love ideals of the 1960s’ sexual revolution. Members were free to enroll their children in school or to find regular jobs, which had previously been known as “system jobs” held by “systemites”. But to many members, it was devastating. More than three decades later, in 2006, there were over 1,400 communes in more than 100 countries, according to the group. The Children of God were to eschew the world. The Children of God was started in … By: Mike McPadden. How can that even happen?!?! ... River Phoenix … “Because they’re not living communally, there are not as many opportunities to engage in sexual sharing,” says Vance. Michael Young: ‘I had panic attacks where I thought I’m going to hell.’. It was there where the family launched entertainment careers for all five children: River, Joaquin, Rain, Summer and Liberty. Leaders within COG were referred to as The Chain. In 1993, allegations of sexual abuse finally caught up with Berg. According to Family materials, they told their followers that if Jesus wasn’t going to come earlier to take them to heaven, they needed to worry about financing the care of aged Family members and the future of their children. He’d ask them, in broken Spanish, if they wished to go to heaven. He studied the Bible from cover to cover in search of God’s meaning. What are you on?” Mathis recalled shouting at a man. “You can’t go through that trauma at such a young age and not be affected by it for the rest of your life.”. “What I worried about the most when I left was, will I ever find friends, a girlfriend, fit in, a place where I belong,” he says. All rights reserved. If they said no, he would ask for at least a donation to The Family International, a church formerly known as the sex cult The Children of God. And what about the many young artists who die by overdose or suicide who did not grow up in a cult? When contacted by phone, she said she was trying to distance herself from the group and would only speak on condition of anonymity. Answer Save. (Courtesy of the author.). Phoenix, a rising young film star, tragically died in 1993 outside a Sunset Strip nightclub of a drug overdose. “It definitely wasn’t a safe place to grow up, especially if you were a girl,” he says. Rose McGowan’s childhood was spent on a former duke’s property, just outside of Florence, Italy, living under the oppressive thumb of 50 to 60 other hippies who belonged to the polygamous Children of God sect. (Photo by The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images). Still a proud Family member, he sends a donation every month to the Family and remains fond of his childhood years in Nigeria. It shouldn't come as a surprise that Joaquin Phoenix's origins were peculiar, especially for someone so steeped in mystery. Anonymous. In a series of letters to their followers, the two leaders admitted they really couldn’t be sure when Jesus would return, and that the Lord showed them that they needed to “set goals up to 30 years or even farther into the future”. “I knew he was high that night, but the heroin that killed him didn’t happen until he was in the Viper Room. “When we arrived he said to me: ‘Oh, there are some people playing music tonight in the club who want me to play with them — that’s OK, right?’” Mathis recalled. “People Magazine Investigates: Cults” airs Monday, June 3 at 9 p.m. on ID. He spoke to strangers on the streets and often went door-to-door. River Phoenix was an Academy Award-nominee and promising young actor who died at the young age of 23 from a drug overdose. As a child growing up in Monterrey, Mexico, he preached up to 10 hours a day, three to four days each week. "Things that are completely unacceptable became normal. Faced with growing disillusionment among members, Zerby and Kelly decided it was time for a change. “What have you done? They remained in the group for about six years in the ‘70s. ©2021 FOX News Network, LLC. Tragic star River Phoenix was a member when he was just a child, along with Hollywood actress Rose McGowan. Young says he never personally experienced sexual abuse from members of the church, but witnessed it. Flor Edwards and her sister. In February 2009, they made the surprise announcement that the world would not be ending after all, at least not imminently. After Phoenix found fame in “Stand By Me,” he co-starred in “Running on Empty” two years later, which resulted in his first and only Oscar nomination. “There are many more complex factors involved, I’m sure.”, Former Children of God member Flor Edwards penned a memoir about her turbulent childhood titled “Apocalypse Child: A Life in End Times.” Raping little kids, children witnessing their parents participating in orgies, constant physical and emotional abuse, etc is SOP for the Children of God. They traveled frequently until they landed in California. Samantha Mathis opened up about the day her then-boyfriend River Phoenix died at a Hollywood nightclub nearly 25 years ago. Karen Zerby, Berg’s widow, assumed leadership of the group, along with her new husband, Steve Kelly. Phoenix’s brother, Joaquin, called 911. Phoenix's parents named him after the river of life from the Hermann Hesse novel Siddhartha, and he received his middle name from the Beatles' song "Hey Jude". I don’t regret our missionary work but I regret not having a proper education and being so restricted with what we chose to do with our lives.”. But most communes collapsed. When he was eight years old, in 2000, Young’s family moved to Texas and started their missionary work anew in mini-malls and Walmart parking lots, handing out theological tracts about the imminent apocalypse that would soon wipe out the unbelievers. It was the same cult that River Phoenix grew up in. n 1993, allegations of sexual abuse finally caught up with Berg. He fled to Portugal, where he died in 1994. “I’m looking at a photo of him now, oh, wow …” she said. They could seek relationships with nonbelievers, an activity they’d been told for decades was reprehensible. Michael Young grew up immersed in the Children of God church, which was labelled as a sect by the FBI and dogged by child abuse allegations, Last modified on Thu 17 Dec 2020 10.20 EST. By the time of the Argentinian raid on the Children of God compound, River Phoenix had become a well-known movie star. Market data provided by Factset. In a series of phone conversations, Young told me how he struggled to leave the group. "It would be a causal fallacy with not enough information to infer that a few formative years were damaging enough to cause a drug overdose as a young adult. Phoenix rarely spoke about his time in the Children of God. Back in October 2018, Samantha Mathis opened up about the day her then-boyfriend passed away to The Guardian. His family had sometimes discussed the Law of Love, Walker said by phone, and read some of the literature on the subject, but people mostly kept their sex lives private. 1 decade ago. A former Children of God member doesn’t believe River Phoenix’s childhood with the apocalyptic sex cult was solely to blame for his death at age 23. Berg renamed his movement the Family of Love shortly after the mass suicide at Jonestown in 1978, which brought negative media attention to other fringe Christian sects. He studied the Bible from cover to cover in search of God’s meaning. Communes were disbanded as dazed members began planning for the future, something completely foreign to Family members who grew up in isolation and thought that they’d never reach adulthood (because the world would end long before their 21st birthday). He said he grew disillusioned with the Family after the Reboot but he didn’t immediately turn away from the church. f his eight siblings, Michael Young was the most zealous street missionary. At the age of 15 he starred in Stand by Me. “It was not a healthy situation,” Greenbaum told the outlet. While he didn't talk about it much, what he did reveal was truly haunting. Michael Young and his family. Born as Joaquin Rafael Bottom in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the talented actor lived his early days as a member of the religious cult Children of God, led by rogue preacher David Berg. A few moments later she saw the actor being pushed out of the club by a bouncer, then “drop to the ground and go into convulsions on the pavement.”. His mother was born in New York to Jewish parents whose families had emigrated from Russia and Hungary. They're … “I was pretty freaked out and I had panic attacks where I thought I’m going to hell.”. “I found people I connected with once I found people who shared my values and goals, rather than trying to fit in.”. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, On the night of his death, Mathis said she was aware Phoenix was high. He’d ask them, in broken Spanish, if they wished to go to heaven. Samantha Mathis opens up about River Phoenix's death FORMER CHILDREN OF GOD MEMBER TELLS ALL. The Children of God The Children of God was founded in 1968 by California-born minister David Berg who advocated free love attitudes and the second coming of … The late actor River Phoenix, who grew up in the Children of God, told Details Magazine in 1991 that he was four when he first had sex while in the group. “We were always fundraising for cash, using that cash to pay rent and then fundraising the next month so there was a lot of anxiety,” Young recalls. or redistributed. “I’ve blocked it out,” said Phoenix at the time. “There are many factors here at play, including psychological, genetic, social, etc.,” Edwards stated. As a child growing up in Monterrey, Mexico, he preached up to 10 hours a day, three to four days each week. “Was it the Children of God that caused his death, or the Hollywood industry that led to his demise? All rights reserved. The Children of God and its history is the subject of a new docu-series titled “People Magazine Investigates: Cults,” which airs on Investigation Discovery (ID) on June 3. They would proselytize in the streets and distribute pamphlets. I have my suspicions about what was going on, but I didn’t see anything,” she said. After the Reboot, many former missionaries landed where the movement originated four decades earlier. FORMER NATION OF YAHWEH FOLLOWER TELLS ALL, River Phoenix seen here second from left with the cast of "Stand By Me." You didn’t know how long you were going to live so nobody looked ahead,” says Angel Yamaguchi, a former member who was born in the group and left at the end of 2009. “I think if River was still here, I think he’d be acting, directing, saving the environment, just living and hanging out. State Chief Inspector Rebolio, leader of the 1993 raid, claimed to have found evidence that the Children of God church was being funded by a global cabal of influential people. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Berg was on the run. The drama is slight, but River's portrayal is subtle, uncompromisingly real. Interpol launched an investigation into Berg’s activities in Argentina and, according to documents obtained by the Guardian through a Freedom of Information Act request, the FBI was investigating him as well. “The Law of Love is a doctrine that’s meant to justify and conceal sexual exploitation,” Young says. “They started giving us more freedom to think about things and maybe ask questions without just trying to force ourselves to believe things,” Young says. He enrolled in a soccer club and went to school to learn German. The Children of God is a cult founded by David Berg, now known as Family International. The Children of God started in 1968 as a small group of runaway teens and hippies who, under the direction of Berg, a charismatic evangelical preacher, devoted themselves to the worship of Jesus Christ and promiscuous sex, according to the New York attorney general’s office. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. I didn’t see anyone doing drugs but he was high in a way that made me feel uncomfortable — I was in way over my head,” she said. Learning what River went through as a young child might help us to understand his much-troubled later life and allow us all to come to terms with his tragically early death. On second thoughts though, maybe we should have done. Children of God. It recruited among disgruntled teenagers from school dropouts to draft dodgers, who would end up giving all their money to the group. The report documented Berg’s proclivity for incest and witnesses testified that child rape was used as an excuse to “increase the tribe”, leading to many pregnancies in various communes. The Children of God evolved into a cult of free love. Berg discouraged members from working and sending their children to school, according to interviews with 10 former members who were born in the group. The “American Psycho” star said she felt “something was wrong that night.”. The star was pronounced dead at the hospital from an overdose of cocaine and heroin. Children are seen as small adults and made to beg for money and supervise still younger kids. Some younger members, like Jeff Walker (not his real name), 28, have kept one foot in the Family. If I’m not a cult member or a member of this religion, then who am I?”. But he was good at making balloons for kids and blew them up in restaurants in exchange for tips. One anonymous informant spoke of rape, incarceration, kidnapping and incest inside the group. Over the next year, Zerby and Kelly told Family members that they weren’t required to live in communes or devote themselves entirely to the organization. Founded by David Berg in 1968, … To the public, the Children of God cult seems to be best known for the claims of child abuse leveled against it by Hollywood actors Rose McGowan and the late River Phoenix. “I’m just not sure how.”. They went home to her roommates and talked about video games and TV shows. His father was a lapsed Catholic from Fontana, California, of En… “I think growing up in such a sheltered and psychologically confusing environment can lead to vulnerabilities and instabilities not experienced by most people, and the temptation to succumb to damaging tendencies such as drugs, alcohol, sex and suicide can be greater, but I can’t say for sure if it may have led to his death,” Edwards -- who has never met the Phoenixes or McGowan -- told Fox News. “They also are reconstructing who they are. (aka the Family International) Advertisement. But she said she felt more comfortable talking about the late actor after she recently watched the 1993 film they starred in together, “The Thing Called Love.”. He spoke to strangers on the streets and often went door-to-door. River Phoenix -- Children of God? ©2021 FOX News Network, LLC. Zerby and Kelly framed it in terms of giving the group a fresh start. Today, the Family counts only about 2,500 members in some 80 countries. Karen Zerby, Berg’s widow, assumed leadership of the group, along with her new husband, Steve Kelly. Market data provided by Factset. “I was just paralyzed with not knowing how to say anything and just sitting around being weird,” Michael recalls. Phoenix, who rose to fame with the 1986 film “Stand By Me,” collapsed in front of The Viper Room in West Hollywood, a nightclub then owned by fellow actor Johnny Depp. Of his eight siblings, Michael Young was the most zealous street missionary. The proclamation came to be known as “the Reboot”. “They went in the direction of stricter enforcement of the rules first, and then when that didn’t work, within a few years, they went in the opposite direction.”. The Children of God River said that the controversial religious movement (or cult depending on who you ask) known as The Children of God is "ruining people's lives." “I liked her a lot and I was really devastated because she never called me back after that.”. “Close friends of mine growing up were abused and raped.”. However, Phoenix told her he was asked to stay. (Getty Images), “They wanted to make a good life for their kids that wasn’t the typical ‘white picket fence’ kind of life,” Greenbaum shared in the show, per People. “It’s made to make other people feel obligated to give up their bodies to others’ so-called sexual needs. I don’t think one can draw a conclusion based on either. She bought a balloon, gave him a kiss and her number. It says that he lost his virginity at age 4. If they said no, he would ask for at least a donation to The, Michael Young: ‘I was spiritual in a way that was kind of very obsessive.’. “I was definitely still working through what I was supposed to do and why did I leave. Legal Statement. After all, it does say on the Rio's Attic logo - "Celebrating the life of River Phoenix". The investigations ended in 1994, with Berg’s death. Phoenix’s family removed themselves from the Children of God when he was just three years old. In an interview with People, Phoenix described his parents as "hippieish". That must colour his attitude to religion. In a 1974 report, The New York attorney general’s office had also called the Children of God a “cult”. She said she thinks if Phoenix were still alive, he would still be in the entertainment industry. He said he grew disillusioned with the Family after the Reboot but he didn’t immediately turn away from the church. River Phoenix starting acting at the age of ten. 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