What do a spiritual wellness influencer, cults, and White Lotus have in common? As it turns out, a lot more than you would expect.The Brett Cooper Show on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bbrettcooperBy joining Cooper Confidential you are directly supporting me and my team. You’ll get ad-free episodes, exclusive ‘Dear Brett” videos, and a private newsletter Sign up now: https://cooperconfidential.supercast.com/Use code COOPER15 for 15% off your Amallow order at https://amallow.com/pages/cooperHelix Sleep: Head to https://helixsleep.com/brett for 25% sitewideAn Evening With Brett Cooper Tickets Now on Sale!Austin: https://www.capcitycomedy.com/events/111681Atlanta: https://atlanta.heliumcomedy.com/events/111709Irvine: https://www.ticketweb.com/event/brett-cooper-irvine-improv-tickets/14302563?pl=irvineimprovHuntsville: https://www.ticketweb.com/event/brett-cooper-huntsville-levity-live-tickets/14302583?pl=sul-huntsvilleAddison: https://www.ticketweb.com/event/brett-cooper-addison-improv-tickets/14305563?pl=addisonimprovHouston: https://www.ticketweb.com/event/brett-cooper-houston-improv-tickets/14305603?pl=houstonimprovPhoenix: https://phoenix.standuplive.com/shows/309839Miami: https://www.miamiimprov.com/shows/309840FTL: https://www.daniaimprov.com/shows/309841#BrettCooper #TheBrettCooperShow #BrettCooperShow
Chapter 1: What do a spiritual wellness influencer, cults, and White Lotus have in common?
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 preyed 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 this story, 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.
Chapter 2: How did Cat Torres exploit her followers?
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 in press right now. It is called Like, Follow, and Traffic.
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. She 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 Tallow, and it is the best brand I have found, and I am so, so proud to be a partner with them.
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Use code cooper15 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 Kat Torres was selling, one article says this. Torres' 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 Suarez, 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.
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Chapter 3: What led to Cat Torres's arrest?
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 cult-like 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 Refinery29, 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, Teal 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 Kat 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 sphere 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 Raniere's NXIVM, 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 NXIVM, there's 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
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.
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Chapter 4: Why are online influencers potentially dangerous?
What Laurie'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 cat stories?
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,
we'll 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.
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Chapter 5: What are the similarities between Cat Torres and Teal Swan?
For example, one of these studies basically just sums up everything they found and said that the results suggest that the adolescents 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 celebrity's 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 seven. 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 Raniere 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 the shining 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.
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