Glenn Close Opens Up About Surviving A Cult: ‘I Didn’t Trust Any Of My Instincts’

She’s become a household name by playing a wide variety of roles, from Fatal Attraction’s psycho homewrecker to a long-subservient spouse in her new film, The Wife. And Glenn Close’s achievements are even more impressive considering she grew up as part of a cult in which, she said, according to The Daily Mail, “everybody was supposed to say the same things and act the same way.”

When Glenn was seven, her parents — pioneering surgeon William Close and former socialite Bettine Moore — forced their family to join the Moral Re-Armament (MRA), a right-wing religious group that was “devastating to a child,” said Glenn. “It meant that at a time when you’re trying to figure out who you are, you’re being told instead who you’re supposed to be.”

Glenn and her father, Dr. William. (Photo Credit: Getty Images)

Glenn found an escape when she started to study acting at Virginia’s College of William & Mary. “By the time I got out [of the MRA], I didn’t trust any of my instincts because I thought they’d all been dictated to me instead of being my own,” she added. “When I walked into the theater school, ironically it was the act of becoming someone else that helped me find my own voice,” Glenn has said.

Her mom and dad have both passed away, and Glenn has managed to forgive them for the damage they caused her as a child. “I’ve made my career figuring out the whys of behavior, and I did the same thing with my parents,” she said in a recent episode of The Jess Cagle Interview. “They had their reasons for doing what they did, and I understand them,” Glenn added to The New York Times.

At 71, Glenn has endured four divorces but is now happily single — and closer than ever to her daughter, Annie Starke, 30, who plays the younger version of her character in The Wife. 

Glenn and her daughter, Annie. (Photo Credit: Getty Images)

“I’ve never felt more alive or more eager for what’s coming next,” Glenn said, according to The Mail. “A lot of it has to do with figuring out who you are and knowing it’s OK to be that person. I guess you could say I’m a very late bloomer.”

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