Glenn Close has said she is still suffering trauma from her childhood growing up in a conservative religious group.
The actress (74) said she is still dealing with the “devastation, emotional and psychological” of her upbringing in Moral Re-Armament (MRA), which was founded by American minister Frank Buchman in 1938.
Close, who is best known for roles in Fatal Attraction, 101 Dalmatians and the TV series Damages, said she believes that is why she has not had successful relationships in her adult life.
Because of the devastation, emotional and psychological, of the cult, I have not been successful in my relationships and finding a permanent partner and I am sorry about that
Speaking in Prince Harry and Oprah Winfrey’s Apple TV+ series The Me You Can’t See, Close said: “From when I was seven until I was 22, I was in this group called MRA and it was basically a cult.
“Everybody spouted the same things and there was a lot of rules, a lot of control. It was really awful.
“Because of how we were raised, anything that you thought you would do for yourself was considered selfish.
“We never went on family vacations, we didn’t have any collective memory of stuff other than what we went through, it was really awful.
“We were so broken up, it’s astounding that something you went through at such an early stage in your life still has such potential to be destructive. I think that is childhood trauma.
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“Because of the devastation, emotional and psychological, of the cult, I have not been successful in my relationships and finding a permanent partner and I am sorry about that.
“I think it is our natural state to be connected like that. I don’t think you ever change your trigger points, but at least you can be aware of them and at least you can maybe avoid situations that might make you vulnerable, especially in relationships. That is probably why we all have our dogs.
“But here I am at this point in my life, after 45 year that I’ve been an actress, getting comfort and companionship on a regular basis from my family, I’ve come home to them.
“That for me has psychologically grounded me in very important ways.”
