Everybody Loves a Cult Story | Our Cult Exposé | Episode 1

My Sisters Take

My Sister's Take is a conversation between sisters Rose and Sefa, who were born and raised inside a high-control religious group before leaving everything they had ever known. Each week, they unpack the experiences that shaped them—from spiritual abuse, family dynamics, and life inside a controlling community to the complicated process of rebuilding identity, relationships, and purpose after leaving. Some episodes revisit stories from their own lives. Others explore the people, beliefs, and systems that influenced their upbringing.

  1. 2d ago

    The Torture Chamber of My Teens: Part 1

    Part 1 | Born Into a CultIn this episode, Sefa takes us deep into one of the most painful chapters of her childhood: the relationship she was told was her “like vibration” - the son of the ministers who held authority over her life.At just 12 years old, Sefa was already a child who felt trapped in the cult she was born into. Then came the relationship she never felt free to choose, followed by a decade of emotional torment that would shape her teenage years and slowly dismantle what little sense of self-worth she had left.In Part 1, Sefa shares what it was like to grow up feeling powerless, to carry the weight of a relationship dictated by someone else’s spiritual authority, and to live through years of confusion, pressure, and inner conflict. She reflects on the last time she remembers feeling her fight response as a child - at just four years old - and what it meant to grow up without that sense of resistance, eventually learning to survive by surrendering parts of herself.This was the torture chamber of her teens.This is a story about coercion, control, and the devastating cost of growing up without the freedom to choose your own life. It is also the beginning of a deeper look at what happens when a child learns to silence herself just to survive.This is Part 1 of Sefa’s story.Welcome to My Sister’s Take.My Sister’s Take - a story of survival, sisterhood, and finding freedom.🎧 Listen to the full episode wherever you get your podcasts.And if you’re following along with our story, like, subscribe, and share this episode with someone who might want to understand what life inside a cult can really look like.🎙️ Subscribe to follow our story as we continue uncovering what it was like growing up inside a high-control religious group- and what healing has looked like on the other side.

  2. Oct 4

    Consent, Coercion & Cults

    What happens when you finally tell the truth about what happened to you- and people decide they know your story better than you do?In this episode, Rose and Sefa have a raw conversation about sexual coercion, consent, and what it means to reclaim your story after years of silence.Recent developments in the Cornell sexual assault case brought up a lot for us- not because we’re here to decide what happened in someone else’s story, but because the conversation around coercion, victimhood, memory, and being believed felt deeply familiar.We talk about our own experiences growing up in a closed religious system where choice, obedience, relationships, and sexuality were shaped by the beliefs we were raised in- and how our understanding of those experiences has evolved as we’ve gotten older.We also unpack what happened after one of our reels reached more than 2 million people. Alongside the support from survivors and women who saw themselves in our story came hundreds of comments from men calling us liars, questioning our memories, and telling us what they believed happened to us.And we’ve been processing that.What does coercion actually look like?Why do we expect victims to tell their stories perfectly?Why is “Why didn’t you just say no?” such a complicated question?And what happens when you’ve spent your entire childhood being told what your reality is- only to finally speak for yourself and have strangers try to define it for you?This isn’t an episode about having all the answers.It’s about what happens when we finally become the authority on our own experiences.We were silenced once. We’re not staying silent now.Welcome to My Sister’s Take.My Sister’s Take - a story of survival, sisterhood, and finding freedom.🎧 Listen to the full episode wherever you get your podcasts.And if you’re following along with our story, like, subscribe, and share this episode with someone who might want to understand what life inside a cult can really look like.

  3. Sep 27

    What Is a Metaphysical Cult?

    Season two is here- and, naturally, it did not go exactly according to plan. 😂After three attempts, technical difficulties, and three episodes we had to toss into the abyss, we finally made it happen. This quick 20-minute episode is our jump back into the story, with Rose even having to rush out at the end to pick up her son. Because apparently life continues to happen while you’re recording a podcast. 😂We answer a few questions to get Season 2 moving, including:What exactly is a metaphysical cult under the larger umbrella of religious cults?Why don’t people just leave?And what does it actually feel like to grow up believing you are being watched- and ultimately judged- by a God-like being that you were expected to speak to every Sunday?It’s a quick one, but it gets us back into the conversation.One quick episode down. A whole lot more story to go.Welcome to My Sister’s Take.My Sister’s Take - a story of survival, sisterhood, and finding freedom.🎧 Listen to the full episode wherever you get your podcasts.And if you’re following along with our story, like, subscribe, and share this episode with someone who might want to understand what life inside a cult can really look like.🎙️ Subscribe to follow our story as we continue uncovering what it was like growing up inside a high-control religious group- and what healing has looked like on the other side.

  4. Sep 20

    My Sisters Take SPECIAL : The Everything Shower

    A little detour from our regularly scheduled programming… 🚿😂Before we dive into Season Two, we’re taking a breather with a very special episode we recorded almost a year ago- and this time, there are three sisters at the table.Meet Sydney, the sister you haven’t heard from yet.In this episode, we swap the heavy conversations for sister banter, ridiculous stories, and a deep dive into the TikTok phenomenon known as the Everything Shower.What exactly is an Everything Shower? What do we think about it? And, perhaps most importantly, what do our actual shower routines say about us?Let’s just say… we learned some things about each other. 😂And the contrast is not lost on us: we went from a childhood where we were literally bucketing bath water in the cult to debating the merits of an Everything Shower.This episode is just for fun. No deep dive. No heavy stories. Just three sisters laughing, catching up, and being ourselves.We’ll be back next week with the first episode of Season Two and our regularly scheduled programming.Until then… go take your Everything Shower. Or don’t. We’re not judging. 😂My Sister’s Take - a story of survival, sisterhood, and finding freedom.🎧 Listen to the full episode wherever you get your podcasts.And if you’re following along with our story, like, subscribe, and share this episode with someone who might want to understand what life inside a cult can really look like.🎙️ Subscribe to follow our story as we continue uncovering what it was like growing up inside a high-control religious group- and what healing has looked like on the other side.

  5. Sep 14

    Episode 14: The Breaking

    Rose’s 18th birthday began with an early morning wake-up and a surprise trance. What followed was a process that lasted the entire day, ending with Rose being forced into sex with her “like vibration.”This is one of the hardest stories we’ve ever shared. A raw and emotional account of control, coercion, and the breaking point of a girl who had spent her entire life being told what to believe, who to love, and who she was supposed to become.The final episode of Season One of My Sister’s Take.Whether you’re a fellow survivor, someone fascinated by the psychology of cults, or simply looking for honest conversations about resilience and healing, we’re glad you’re here.🎧 Listen to the full episode wherever you get your podcasts.And if you’re following along with our story, like, subscribe, and share this episode with someone who might want to understand what life inside a cult can really look like.🎙️ Subscribe to follow our story as we continue uncovering what it was like growing up inside a high-control religious group- and what healing has looked like on the other side.

  6. Sep 6

    Episode 12 | Sex, Shame, & Confusion

    In this episode, Sefa and Rose begin a conversation about their experiences with sex inside the cult- the confusion, the mixed messages, and the ways it could be pushed onto them while simultaneously being shrouded in shame.While this is a conversation they will both explore, this episode is mostly Sefa’s story.She shares what it was like to learn to disconnect from herself. To push past her own boundaries. To perform. And to be left carrying the belief that something was deeply wrong with her.For a long time, she didn’t have the language to understand what had happened or why so much healing was needed.But trauma doesn’t always look the way we expect it to. Sometimes it lives in the places where we learned not to listen to ourselves. In the moments we abandoned our own bodies because we were taught that our needs, boundaries, and instincts didn’t matter.Sharing this story is incredibly vulnerable. But it also exposes another layer of what it meant to grow up in that environment- and the healing that was needed afterward.This is just the beginning of this conversation.There is so much more to unpack.

  7. Sep 6

    Episode 13 | Arranged Marriage at 11

    Groomed at 11: Rose’s Fight for FreedomAt 11 years old, Rose was being groomed for an arranged relationship.She fought it. She resisted. She tried to find a way out.At 16, she enrolled in beauty school, hoping it might give her a path to a life of her own. Instead, she faced ridicule, abuse, and consequences for wanting something as simple as freedom.This episode is heartbreaking, raw, and deeply honest about what happens inside a child who knows they need to get out- but has no idea where “out” actually is.And this is only the beginning. Whether you’re a fellow survivor, someone fascinated by the psychology of cults, or simply looking for honest conversations about resilience and healing, we’re glad you’re here

  8. Aug 24

    My Sisters Take Episode 11: Cult Soul Mates

    What if the person you were told was your “soul mate” wasn’t someone you chose- but someone chosen for you?In our cult, like vibration was the belief that certain people were spiritually matched to one another. But for us, this concept went far beyond a belief system.Young girls were told who they would marry- sometimes as young as 10, 11, or 12 years old. Our futures were decided before we were old enough to understand what choice, love, attraction, or partnership even meant.And this is where we begin to unpack one of the deepest wounds of our childhood.What happens when someone takes your ability to choose your own life?What happens when your own desires, instincts, and voice are overridden by someone else’s version of what your soul is supposed to want?In this episode, we talk about like vibration, the marriages that were mandated for us, and the moment we began to understand what had really been taken from us.This is just the beginning of this conversation. Whether you’re a fellow survivor, someone fascinated by the psychology of cults, or simply looking for honest conversations about resilience and healing, we’re glad you’re here.🎧 Listen to the full episode wherever you get your podcasts.And if you’re following along with our story, like, subscribe, and share this episode with someone who might want to understand what life inside a cult can really look like.🎙️ Subscribe to follow our story as we continue uncovering what it was like growing up inside a high-control religious group- and what healing has looked like on the other side.

See All (18)

4.9
out of 5
14 Ratings

About

My Sister's Take is a conversation between sisters Rose and Sefa, who were born and raised inside a high-control religious group before leaving everything they had ever known. Each week, they unpack the experiences that shaped them—from spiritual abuse, family dynamics, and life inside a controlling community to the complicated process of rebuilding identity, relationships, and purpose after leaving. Some episodes revisit stories from their own lives. Others explore the people, beliefs, and systems that influenced their upbringing.

Information

You Might Also Like