Brett Cooper — The Rise of Fake Gurus & Online Cults | Episode 23

So, I have a question for you all. What do a spiritual wellness influencer, cult, and White Lotus have in common. It's actually a lot more than you would expect. And if you are somebody who uses social media, actively follows influencers like celebrities, this is an episode that you need to watch. Now, maybe it is just our culture's obsession with true crime, especially from women, but over the last few years, I feel like I hear more and more stories of cults getting exposed, of celebrities and influencers using and exploiting their audiences in very cult-like ways.

And the story of a recently convicted spiritual guru influencer is no different. This woman prayed on her fans insecurities and their search for meaning for her own gain. So, the question that that leaves us with is, how do we protect ourselves from that? What is the armor against these insane individuals? Now, before we dive into the story, make sure that you like this video and subscribe to our channel if you are not already.

And of course, ring that notification bell if you want to stay up to date on every single episode of the Brett Cooper Show. And I just want to remind you I am hitting the road for a tour this spring. All of the dates and links to buy tickets are in the description below. I hope I get to see you guys out there. I think it'll be tons of fun and I hope to meet a lot of you at the meet and greets. So, the woman in question, this spiritual guru, her name is Cat Torres.

And the reason why I know her story is because there was a BBC documentary that was done on her and her life from last year that is getting a ton of publicity and press right now. It is called Like, Follow, and Traffic. And after seeing a ton of posts about the documentary, I looked into it and I learned the insane story of this influencer turned convicted felon. Now, here she is. This is Cat Torres. And basically, she is a Brazilian influencer model who gained social status and prestige over the last 15 years or so.

even rubbed shoulders and kind of dated Leonardo DiCaprio and other celebrities like him. Here they are pictured together back when she was 24 years old. And as she got older and her social influence grew, she kind of rebranded herself as a type of spiritual life coach and witchcraft guru, which is never a good sign. Obviously, she sold courses online for thousands of dollars that women would buy to get personalized life support and advice from her.

Now, I don't know about her life coaching. I don't think I would ever want to buy that. But if she was going to sell me tallow, I certainly would because her skin is glowing and that is what Tallow can do for you. Now, I personally use Tallow Skincare from Amalo Tallalow and it is the best brand I have found and I am so so proud to be a partner with them. Now, if you don't know, Beef Tallow Skincare is packed with naturally occurring essential nutrients and it mimics my skin's barrier thanks to the natural fatty acids that occur in tallow.

This means that tallow keeps me moisturized while actually working to heal my skin while not clogging my pores like other thick artificially created products do. Tallow is literally what our ancestors used on their skins for generations. And it is the perfect non-toxic switch to avoid endocrine disrupting chemicals in modern skincare. And I love getting my tallow from Amalo Tallow because it is a small family-owned business that produces this skinincare right here in the United States.

They only use the highest quality grass-fed grass-finish tallow and pure organic ingredients. They genuinely care about your skin and the quality of every ingredient they use because what you put on your body matters. So, if you are ready to try them out and make the switch to Tallow, go to amallow.com/cooper and use code cooper15 for 15% off your order. Again, that is amalo.com/bret. Use code cooper 15 for 15% off your order to get the skincare that I use morning and night.

That has completely transformed my skincare. But back to the real thing that Cat Torres was selling. One article says this. Torres's wellness website and subscription service promised consumers love, money, and self-esteem that you always dreamed of. self-help videos offered advice on relationships, wellness, and business success, and spirituality, including hypnosis, meditation, and exercise programs. For an extra $150, clients could unlock exclusive one-to-one video consultations with Torres, during which she would claim to solve any of their problems.

And one of the ways that she would solve their problems was through her voice. This voice in her head that she could use to solve any of your problems. This voice that would tell you everything that you need to know. She always claimed that she had some spiritual thing going on in her head and that is why people were so interested in her and why they trusted her so much. Now through this whole wellness website and this curricula, she created a cohort of thousands of women around her who relied on her and idolized her for this kind of support which she then exploited for her own gain in an absolutely insane way.

For example, she had one of her fans, whose name was Anna, literally fly across the world and move in with her to work as her personal assistant, which was apparently a horror story in and of itself, and the only way that Anna was able to get away was by moving in with her boyfriend. But apparently, Cat was incredibly abusive. Her life was a mess. She was selling this idea that she was this rich and successful and healthy influencer, but her life was actually a mess.

She literally would not shower or take care of herself if Anna did not force her to do so. Now, in another situation, she had a different woman that she also coairs to move in with her. This woman's name was Desiree, and she literally confiscated Desire's passport and pimped her out, forcing her to go earn a certain amount of money every single night as a sex worker in order to live at the house. So, she got her to come and live with her, took her passport so she could not go back to her home country, but then said, "Actually, you can only live here if you make this much money, and I'm going to make you sleep on the street if you do not do so."

And when Desiree pushed back and said that she didn't want to be a sex worker, Cat threatened her with a certain witchcraft curse. Now, on top of that, she also convinced two other women to move into this house. This is a house in Austin, Texas, where she was apparently living with her husband, who she was with for a while. So, it was like all of these women plus her husband and her cat and her dog. Very, very weird, very dysfunctional.

These two women were named Soul and Leticia. And she also forced them into prostitution. And the way that she did all of this was through guilt and by praying on all of their insecurities and their needs. That same article from earlier wrote, "Desire says that in her case, Torres had bought her a plane ticket from Germany, having told her that she was suicidal and needed Desiree's support." Torres is also accused of persuading Leticia, who was 14 when she started doing life coaching sessions with her, to move to the US for an OPAIR program and then drop out to live and work with her.

As for Soul, she says that she agreed to move in with Torres after becoming homeless and was hired to carry out tarot readings and yoga classes, which I don't think ever happened. Obviously, this woman, Anna, like I said earlier, was able to escape. Soul was also able to escape with the help of one of her sex work clients, but Desiree and Leticia were not as fortunate. Here's a photo of the two of them with Cat. In addition to Cat holding literal witchcraft over their head, she also set up accounts on sugar baby and prostitution websites, which is illegal in the state of Texas.

And then she threatened to call the police on these two women to tell the police that they were sex workers if they ever tried to leave her and stop working. And Desiree even recounts nights when she had to go sleep on the street because she did not earn enough to take home to Cat. Now, over time, these two women became increasingly cut off from the outside world. They were not communicating with their family or friends.

Their families got very, very concerned and reported them missing. And very soon, the FBI got involved. Soon after, Cat got arrested and she is now serving 8 years in prison in Brazil. Here is one of her mug shots, which I'm sure she treated like one of her Instagram photo shoots. Now, that new BBC documentary that I mentioned at the top of this episode, it covers all of that, but goes into obviously far more insane detail.

I highly recommend watching it if you need something crazy for your next movie night, maybe while you're snuggled into your amazing Helix mattress because that is my favorite way to watch a movie. Now, you guys know that I take relaxing seriously. I take my sleep seriously. Like, there is very little that I love more than being horizontal in bed watching a movie or napping. And the key to that is my Helix Dusk Lux mattress.

And guys, this mattress is so good that we actually got additional ones for our guest rooms because everyone who comes to our house deserves to have the perfect night's sleep. And what I love about Helix and their company is that they make it super easy to find the right mattress for you. Because I love the Dusk Lux, but you might need something else. Their Innovative Sleep quiz matches you to the best fit based on your preference, whether you are a side sleeper, a back sleeper, whether you want a firm mattress or a soft one.

And we ended up with the Dusk Lux because it gives us that perfect balance of support and comfort. And we have never slept better. And the best part is that Helix delivers the mattress right to your door in a box. You just unbox it, you let it expand, and you are good to go. Plus, they offer a 100 night sleep trial so you can make sure you love it before you're fully committing. So, if you are ready to upgrade your sleep with Helix, head to helixleep.com/bret for 25% off sitewide.

This is an offer you should not refuse your back and your naps, your horizontal time. Well, thank you again, guys. That is helixleep.com/bret for 25% off for your perfect mattress. Now, back to the documentary. The thing that really makes this BBC piece stand out is that they have an exclusive interview with Cat tacked on to the end of the movie. And shocker, this woman believes that she did nothing wrong. And it is completely unsettling.

Just take a look at these clips. How does it make you feel when you're hearing that former clients are traumatized? I don't believe it. I have to say they are absolutely ridiculous and that they need to run back to their parents. Great. Yes, of course you do. Here's the next one. Did you believe in the advice you were giving these women? Oh, yeah. I believe a thousand%. I will look in their eyes and I will go to sleep and I will wake up in the morning thinking about the advice I give it to them.

In jail, I still I think about the advice I give it to them. I never ever was wrong. Ever. I don't I don't regret one single one single word I said. I don't regret. She was never wrong once. Now, in this interview, they also talk about posts that she made and messages that she sent on Instagram, messages inviting these women and coercing them to come and move in with her. And her response to all of that is somebody else sent them.

She has no idea how it happened to all of these incredibly incriminating messages coming from her own social media, not her. She has had no idea how it happened. That wasn't me. No one actually lived with me. She literally says not a single woman lived with her other than her female cat and her female dog. And this woman just continues to live in a state of delusion, saying that everything she did was totally permissible and totally right.

As I was scrolling through all of the posts and the comments about the documentary in this story, they all honed in on one thing. Like basically every single comment had a universal theme, and that was how horrifying it was that so many people trusted her, idolized her, paid her thousands of dollars, and how easy this was for her to do. The way that she was able to convince all of these people to move across the world and move in with her within just a couple of years.

But unfortunately, if you look at the landscape of social media and of our culture, it completely makes sense. I mean, just last week, we were talking about the dangers of kids being online due to the risk of trafficking and the fact that the majority of victims meet their abusers online. And this stands true in this story. And if you combine that fact with the high levels of trust that consumers and audiences place in influencers and celebrities over experts and even their family and friends, you have an incredibly dangerous equation that is very easy to prey upon.

And Cat Torres is far from the only or first example. I mean, Teal Swan is another person that you guys might have heard of. She is another one of these spiritual guru travel influencers who has not been convicted, but she has been consistently accused of abusive and cultlike behavior by her followers and her fans. She's even had a documentary made about her. It was on Netflix back in 2022. It is also very weird and disturbing.

And in one of the articles that was written about Teal, they honed in on this issue really well. This is from Refinery 29. and they said from her blog Teal Swan, "It appears that she wants the influence and power over her followers, but not the responsibility that comes with it. So, is she dangerous?" That answer isn't clear. Obviously, she has not been convicted. But in Brown's words, that's somebody who did a podcast about her.

Quote, "Teiel probably wouldn't have the influence or the global reach and following that she has if it weren't for the internet. She could have been a charismatic spiritual leader, but I think that she thrives around people who are suffering and afraid to get help." And she had and still has a very similar business model to Cat Torres. People pay for her courses. They pay for these coaching sessions for her to pay attention to them and to help fix their lives.

Another example, albeit very controversial, especially in the conservative media space, is Andrew Tate. And he has attracted both men and women into his fear who are desperate for meaning and money and or attention. And he provides that. He literally built an entire empire based upon that and has faced subsequent accusations very much like these other two women. And so as I am reading all of this and diving into all of these stories, it just feels so culty even though these are not cults.

These are not cult organizations. Like these are just single influencers with a huge very impressionable audience. However, the tactics that they employ feel very similar to something like Keith Reneer's Nexium where people were promised better lives and success and happiness if they would just give up everything and join this group. Now, if you guys have not heard of Nexium, there is an incredible podcast that dives into the entire story of how this cult operated.

It is literally so crazy. Again, this is like my female true crime tendencies, but it is actually so interesting and it is very illuminating to how our culture and society operates and what drives the people to join these groups. And the common denominator in all of these stories and all of these organizations is that the people who join or choose to buy the courses or buy the one-on-one support sessions or fly around the world to be near these individuals is that they are all in search of healing and they are in search of meaning in their lives.

They are looking for something to tether themselves to. And right now that seems like something that our society is severely lacking. I mean think about it. A significant portion of adults especially in America are now unmarried without kids. And as we discussed last week, that is a huge driver and provider of meaning and fulfillment in one's life. And additionally, and possibly more importantly, Americans and Westerners in general are more secular than ever.

One headline reads, "US church membership falls below majority for the first time." And as you can see on this graph, it is a pretty clear decline. It is just going straight down since 2007. But I mean, it goes far beyond that. For more clear numbers, Gallup reported that Americans membership in houses of worship continued to decline last year, dropping below 50% for the first time in Gallup's 8 decade trend. In 2020, 47% of Americans said that they belong to a church, synagogue, or mosque, down from 50% in 2018 and 70% in 1999.

And in Europe, the trend is similar. Belief is down about 10% across all of Europe. And it is lowest in Western European countries like France and Switzerland where only 11% of citizens say that they believe in God with absolute certainty. So why do I bring this up? Cuz this is not supposed to be a religious episode. We are talking about a crazy influencer. We are talking about cults. Well, if people lack meaning in their lives, if they lack a foundation of a strong family and children and community or faith, they are going to have to search for it elsewhere because you can't just wander through the world without something to tether yourself to.

And in a lot of my videos, if you guys have followed me for a while, we have joked about the religion of politics and people turning to environmentalism or some kind of political ideology instead of religion and basically treating that as a god. But that is a real thing because it gives somebody's life meaning and that is a very fleeting meaning and it's kind of insane and a bit ridiculous but they feel like it tethers them to something.

I mean like just last week in the finale of White Lotus and now I'm talking about White Lotus for the second time this week but it really was just like a crazy season. But in the finale one of the lead characters had an entire monologue about the search for meaning and about the fact that this is why her life felt so dysfunctional. Just take a listen. I have no belief system and I well I mean I've had a lot of them but I mean work was my religion for forever but I definitely lost my belief there and then and then I tried love and and that was just a painful religion just made everything worse and then even for me just like being a mother that didn't save me either but I had this epiphany today I don't need religion or God to give my life meaning because time gives it meaning.

So she is basically saying that she has never found true lasting meaning in her life and she has basically attached religion to a lot of very fleeting things. She's tried to make work her religion. She has tried to make her daughter her religion. She has tried to make love with a failed marriage her religion. And then she immediately says, "I don't need God or religion." Which is very contradictory because she is in search of it.

She's still kind of like missing the point. But at least what she is settling upon at this point in time, you know, time and friendships is healthier than other vices. But still, she is showing that as human beings, we all do need to worship and rever something. TV magazine, who you guys know I love, they wrote about this monologue and they said, "Rewind a few lines and the truth is there. Li, who is that character, has already tried to find meaning.

She tried work, she tried love, she tried motherhood. None of them saved her. None of them gave her lasting peace." That's the real revelation of the scene. Not her epiphany about time, whatever that means, but the quiet confession of disappointment that came before it. She has been burned by her idols and now stands in the ashes, insisting that the smoke smells like salvation, which is just such a great line. This article was written so well.

What Li's monologue and the White Lotus itself accidentally reveals is that people are hungry for transcendence. We know that our lives have weight, that our love matters, that our pain must mean something. But we are told to reject the one thing that makes those beliefs coherent, God. And here's the uncomfortable truth. People who give their lives to aesthetics, ambition, and romance are often left empty. Kind of like the people we're talking about today.

But people who earnestly worship God, study after study shows that they are happier, healthier, and more grounded. They're not perfect, but they are anchored. Their meaning isn't just made up. It is received. So, how does all of this tie back to cats tour? Well, it goes back to the idea that in a secular materialist society, which is certainly what we are living in today, we are constantly in search of meaning because that is just part of human nature and we misplace our idolatry.

And often in 2025, like we just talked about, people will put this in politics or social issues, but even more frequently in our modern world is that they place it in celebrities and influencers and pop culture, which they feel like fills that void and gives them belonging and purpose because they are feeling a connection with somebody. somebody is giving them attention. They're part of a fandom. It gives them a sense of community.

But study after study after study shows us that those who worship celebrity, worship pop culture end up having higher levels of depression and anxiety and lower self-esteem because it really doesn't tether you to anything. It is an incredibly fleeting and superficial feeling. For example, one of these studies basically just sums up everything they found and said that the results suggest that the adolescence perceive celebrities as role models and have strong emotional attachments and identification with them.

Also, it was evident that social media plays a significant role in increasing the prevalence of celebrity worship with users having access to constant updates about their favorite celebrities lives. However, excessive celebrity worship was found to be strongly linked to various mental health concerns including depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem. I obviously want to address the elephant in the room here because I don't think I could talk about the subject without acknowledging the fact that I am a person on the internet with a show with a very very large audience and people with eyes on me 24/7.

And I want you to know that I think about this on a daily basis. I think about my impacts on all of you. And I also think about this as a consumer of content as I am watching and following other people. But I do hope you know that I never want to come on this show and try to convince you of something and change your mind or control you, but that I genuinely just want to provide you a new way to think about things like alternate perspectives and challenge the status quo.

And that is really what I think about when I sit down to record the show because of studies like this because I know how important this is in our modern society. And that is also why I encourage you all to get offline and go touch grass and go listen to a ton of other people and expand your viewpoints. It shouldn't just be me because like that White Lotus character said, nothing actually fills that void. No creator or celebrity or me is going to give you a sense of purpose and belonging.

That is something that you have to create on your own. And this depression and this anxiety and this low self-esteem that creates a weakness then that people like Cat Torres or Keith Reneer can exploit in their own search for meaning and power. It is a vicious cycle because those are broken people that are trying to find meaning. But they do that at the expense of audience members. Take Japan for example, which we also just talked about last week.

I feel like Japan is kind of becoming this shiny example of a great society in my mind, but their levels of celebrity worship and social media idolization are incredibly low because it is a very interconnected and collective society. And it's not because religion is so paramount in Japanese culture. It's actually a more secular culture. But the foundation and the backbone of their society is built on trust. It is built on collective interests and community and family.

And while yes, they might also love pop stars and engage on social media, the obsession when you actually look at the numbers of how young people are following people on social media and the obsession, it is nowhere near the levels of the UK and the United States. Now, similarly, research shows that in Scandinavia because again of their highly connected, cohesive society, there is less of a need to turn to these external obsessions or cultlike groups.

And so both of these cultures are deeply rooted in their communities and their shared identities that provides people a foundation even if they are not the most secular countries. So obviously I do believe that a lack of religion plays a role in figures like Cat Torres gaining power and influence. But she is also just an extreme example and I think that this conversation is more widespread than just her or just being about religion.

Because right now in America and in the West in general, we live in a time where trust in our institutions is low, where trust in each other, our neighbors are low, where we lack a unified shared identity, where belief in God is rapidly declining, and where more and more people are choosing childlessness and singleness because it's fun and makes them more money. So in a world like that, where do people turn? When we go online, we chase meaning in political movements and influencers.

We chase money and material goods that are fleeting. None of that is healthy. None of that is stable. Our mental well-being and the fulfillment that we feel in our lives should not be based on an influencer noticing you or a celebrity doing something. It should not be dependent on who won the last election. I'm sorry, man. It also should not be dependent on a sports team winning a championship. It is about your community and the people that you love and your values that go deeper than just the news cycle, whether that includes faith or not.

And guys, this is something that I have to remind myself of and I think about all the time because I did do a twice daily news show for three years. I talk about the news online. I am obviously somebody that is engaged in politics that was super engaged leading up to the last election. And even during that entire campaign, I had to remind myself that this is not the end. Like it's not the end of the world if Trump didn't win.

I'm married to a great guy. I have a great life. We have an amazing community. That is what brings me joy. meeting you guys in person and talking about the things that are interesting, talking about things that matter. That brings me joy because it's my purpose in my career. That is longer lasting than wins online or political wins or anything else that we're talking about today. And so, focusing on tethering yourself to something good, something deeper, whether that is family or God or whatever you see fit, that will certainly strip the cat Tauruses of the world of any power or control.

But more importantly, it will make us stronger and healthier and more resilient people. And that is always what we should be striving for.