#1733 To The Moon And Back - Part 1
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Born into the Unification Church, Laurel candidly discusses growing up in a cult, mass weddings, and why she eventually left to protect her children. This is Part 1 of 2.
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Scott Benner (0:00) Hello, friends, and welcome back to another episode of the Juice Box podcast.
Laurel (0:14) Hi. (0:14) I'm Laurel. (0:15) My 14 year old son, was diagnosed with type one diabetes about a year and a half ago. (0:21) So we're still pretty new in the journey.
Scott Benner (0:24) If this is your first time listening to the Juice Box podcast and you'd like to hear more, download Apple Podcasts or Spotify, really any audio app at all. (0:33) Look for the Juice Box podcast and follow or subscribe. (0:36) We put out new content every day that you'll enjoy. (0:40) Wanna learn more about your diabetes management? (0:43) Go to juiceboxpodcast.com up in the menu and look for bold beginnings, the diabetes pro tip series, and much more.
Scott Benner (0:50) This podcast is full of collections and series of information that will help you to live better with insulin. (0:57) If you're looking for community around type one diabetes, check out the Juice Box podcast private Facebook group. (1:03) Juice Box podcast, type one diabetes. (1:06) But everybody is welcome. (1:07) Type one, type two, gestational, loved ones, it doesn't matter to me.
Scott Benner (1:12) If you're impacted by diabetes and you're looking for support, comfort, or community, check out Juice Box podcast, type one diabetes on Facebook. (1:21) Nothing you hear on the Juice Box podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise. (1:26) Always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan. (1:30) This episode of the Juice Box podcast is sponsored by Omnipod five. (1:35) Omnipod five is a tube free automated insulin delivery system that's been shown to significantly improve a one c and time and range for people with type one diabetes when they've switched from daily injections.
Scott Benner (1:46) Learn more and get started today at omnipod.com/juicebox. (1:50) At my link, you can get a free starter kit right now. (1:53) Terms and conditions apply. (1:54) Eligibility may vary. (1:56) Full terms and conditions can be found at omnipod.com/juicebox.
Scott Benner (2:01) The podcast is also sponsored today by US Med. (2:05) Usmed.com/juicebox or call (888) 721-1514. (2:11) Get your supplies the same way we do from US Med.
Laurel (2:16) Okay. (2:16) Just introduce yourself. (2:18) Me to say, hi. (2:20) I'm Laurel.
Scott Benner (2:21) That's it. (2:21) You did it, Laurel. (2:22) That was awesome. (2:22) Thank
Laurel (2:23) you. (2:24) Perfect.
Scott Benner (2:25) Laurel, why am I talking to you today? (2:26) What do you have? (2:27) What do you have? (2:27) You have a thing? (2:28) Did something in your body attack something else?
Scott Benner (2:31) Do you have a kid who had a problem? (2:33) Why are we doing this?
Laurel (2:34) I I have a kid. (2:35) My my 14 year old son, was diagnosed with type one diabetes about a year and a half ago. (2:41) So we're still pretty new in the journey.
Scott Benner (2:44) Your 14 year old son. (2:45) Now the photo of you on this machine Yeah. (2:49) Makes me think that you got pregnant when you were seven. (2:51) Is that correct?
Laurel (2:53) Not quite. (2:54) I was 25.
Scott Benner (2:56) Wait. (2:56) No. (2:57) You're 39?
Laurel (2:58) I'm 42.
Scott Benner (3:00) Is that a recent photo?
Laurel (3:02) That's, it's about five or six years old. (3:05) It's it's an older photo.
Scott Benner (3:07) Fill it up.
Laurel (3:07) That that not that old.
Scott Benner (3:09) Oh my gosh. (3:10) Good for you.
Laurel (3:12) Thank you.
Scott Benner (3:12) Yeah. (3:13) You must be thrilled. (3:16) Right?
Laurel (3:16) Thanks. (3:17) I appreciate it. (3:17) Yeah.
Scott Benner (3:18) Do you do you not look in the mirror and just go, ugh, things are going my way?
Laurel (3:23) I mean, I I don't feel bad about myself in any way, but I definitely feel like when you're looking at yourself, you you notice all of the things. (3:32) I always have people say, like, oh, you you look so young. (3:35) Like, I thought you were in your twenties, and I'm like, like, I can see all my wrinkles and stuff, but it's fine. (3:40) If the woman in
Scott Benner (3:41) this photo brought me a lunch at a restaurant, I'd be like, let's tip her a little extra so she can get through grad school. (3:46) Like, that's that's how you listen. (3:48) Talk about the way you see yourself and being old. (3:51) May I Yeah. (3:52) Can we digress in the first two minutes?
Scott Benner (3:53) Let's do that. (3:54) Sure. (3:54) Also, for everybody listening, Laurel got a great story, so just hang on. (3:58) Okay? (4:00) I'm in the, the grocery yesterday, wandering about picking up a thing or two that I wanna be honest, Kelly made me go get.
Scott Benner (4:08) So but I don't mind because my day is kinda interesting. (4:11) Like, I can kinda go out for a little bit in the middle of the day sometimes and I like getting up and moving around. (4:16) So I'm out. (4:17) I'm walking around. (4:18) I think I'm coming from the vegetables headed over towards where the breads are.
Scott Benner (4:22) This lady is walking towards me. (4:26) I don't know how to put this exactly. (4:28) She looked oh god. (4:30) I am embarrassed. (4:31) She looked me up and down and then gave me the face.
Scott Benner (4:35) Do you know what I mean, Laurel? (4:36) Like Uh-huh. (4:37) Yeah. (4:37) Like, maybe if we ended up having sex in her car behind a dumpster behind the grocery store, that'd be a good way for her to spend her afternoon. (4:44) Now this is not a thing that happens to me a lot, but it happens once in a bit, so I know what it looks like.
Scott Benner (4:49) Here's the problem. (4:50) Yeah. (4:50) Well, Laurel, hold on. (4:53) No one get upset when I say this. (4:55) Okay?
Scott Benner (4:57) She was too old to look at me that way. (4:59) And it made me feel really bad about myself.
Laurel (5:03) Oh, no.
Scott Benner (5:07) I was like, what is happening right now? (5:10) Why does grandma want me to come with her? (5:13) And so so Arden first things first is I immediately text my family in a group chat. (5:19) I say, I've just been hit on by a woman so much older than me that I I really am just I feel sad for myself right now. (5:27) Because either I look her age to her Mhmm.
Scott Benner (5:31) Or I'm what passes for young and hot in her world. (5:35) And that's not true either. (5:37) I've got felt so Arden responded back. (5:39) She said, dad's got the raisins hitting on him, which I didn't know was a thing. (5:43) No.
Scott Benner (5:43) I think so. (5:44) Did you know that? (5:45) Did people do people call older people raisins?
Laurel (5:47) I knew what she meant. (5:48) Oh. (5:48) I haven't heard that, like, as a general term,
Scott Benner (5:51) but Maybe she made it up. (5:52) I have no idea. (5:54) And I thought, okay. (5:55) I'll I'll get by on this. (5:56) But, no, like, four hours later, I found myself on the phone talking with Isabelle about something for the Facebook group.
Scott Benner (6:01) And the last ten minutes of our conversation were me complaining about this older lady hitting on me in the grocery store.
Laurel (6:07) Oh my goodness.
Scott Benner (6:08) I felt I listen. (6:10) First of all, thank you. (6:11) Anybody who finds you attractive, I'm very appreciative of that, etcetera, so on. (6:15) Yeah. (6:15) But I looked at her and I thought, she's a lot older than I am.
Scott Benner (6:20) And it pushed into a part of the, like I don't know. (6:24) Like, part of me was like, hey. (6:25) Good for her. (6:25) You know what I mean? (6:26) And, like and the other part of me was like, oh god.
Scott Benner (6:29) This is the my life's over. (6:31) That's exactly how I felt.
Laurel (6:33) Listen. (6:33) Women have been out here being hit on by men forty years older than us for since the beginning of time.
Scott Benner (6:41) So I mean, like, so I was all for feminism. (6:43) I didn't realize this is what it meant, that I'm that I've gotta go outside and feel like, oh, why does this old lady wanna touch me? (6:52) And, like and but that's what it feels like. (6:54) Oh, gosh. (6:54) I didn't even think of it this way.
Laurel (6:56) There you go.
Scott Benner (6:57) Is this what happens when I say hi to a 30 year old girl? (7:00) They're like, no. (7:01) I'm not doing it with you, you old like, do you think even if I'm being nice.
Laurel (7:07) Being creepy about it.
Scott Benner (7:08) Listen. (7:09) I try not to I I don't imagine I'm being creepy. (7:11) But,
Laurel (7:11) like Right.
Scott Benner (7:12) But do you think, oh, maybe she wasn't being creep maybe she had gas. (7:16) Maybe that was the look on her face. (7:18) Or maybe maybe she was, like, looking at me and then, like, her brain was like, oh, I think our depends needs to be changed. (7:25) And, like and then it made her make a face and I mistook it for for lust. (7:29) Is that possible?
Laurel (7:30) Anything's possible.
Scott Benner (7:32) Okay. (7:34) Alright. (7:34) That's enough of me. (7:35) By the way, this is the last time I talk. (7:37) Wait till you guys hear what happened to Laurel.
Scott Benner (7:41) We'll get back to your kid with the diabetes later.
Laurel (7:43) Oh, really? (7:44) Okay. (7:44) Oh, yeah. (7:44) That's not the most interesting part of that's like the most normal part of the story.
Scott Benner (7:48) No kidding. (7:49) Let's like, I usually I'd I'd backload your story, but I love this too much. (7:52) So and sorry about your life. (7:54) But why don't you tell me how old you were when when what happened happened to you and walk me through it a little bit?
Laurel (8:03) Okay. (8:04) So I was actually born into a cult. (8:07) I my parents joined the Unification Church in the seventies. (8:12) Have you ever heard of us?
Scott Benner (8:13) And But I'm gonna find out all that.
Laurel (8:15) Known as the Moonies.
Scott Benner (8:17) Oh, my god. (8:18) Really?
Laurel (8:19) Yeah. (8:19) Yeah.
Scott Benner (8:20) Your parents, how old were they when you were born?
Laurel (8:22) I think my mom was, like, 30 in her early thirties. (8:28) But but my parents both joined in the seventies, like, in their twenties. (8:34) And then they were, you know, fundraising around the country, selling flowers and all kinds of things on the side of the road and living in vans. (8:44) And then then they were matched by reverend Moon, who was the leader, where he basically he's he's famous for the mass weddings for people who don't know.
Scott Benner (8:54) Sun Mang Moon. (8:56) Is that right?
Laurel (8:57) Sun Mang Moon.
Scott Benner (8:57) Yes. (8:57) Sun Man Moon. (8:58) Okay. (8:58) Go ahead. (8:59) Yeah.
Scott Benner (9:00) Yeah. (9:00) Yeah. (9:00) So
Laurel (9:01) and he would just basically, like, match people up. (9:05) My parents literally were in a giant ballroom, and he, like, pointed to my mom and then pointed to my dad and was like, you two. (9:15) And that was it. (9:16) And so then they were technically, like, engaged for about three years, and then they, you know, got married in a big mass wedding at Madison Square Garden in 1982. (9:29) And then I was born in 1983.
Scott Benner (9:32) So Do you think they played that music? (9:34) Hey. (9:37) Like, they all came out, like, you know, the basketball games? (9:40) Great.
Laurel (9:41) No. (9:42) I don't think so.
Scott Benner (9:43) Okay. (9:43) So let's see if you I'm gonna ask you a question. (9:45) We'll see if you have the answer to
Laurel (9:47) it. (9:47) Okay.
Scott Benner (9:47) What was wrong with your parents? (9:48) How did they end up in that situation?
Laurel (9:50) So my dad was he had gotten married, like, right out of high school. (9:58) He was really, really young. (9:59) He had had a kid. (10:00) So I have an older brother who's, like, eleven years older than me. (10:04) And and then they very quickly, like, got divorced.
Laurel (10:07) And so he was kind of, like, wandering and lost, and he was out hunting in Montana. (10:15) And then, you know, some you know, ended up meeting some people that, like, invited him to a thing and you know?
Scott Benner (10:23) Your half brother went with the mom? (10:26) Yeah. (10:26) We call him Lucky. (10:27) Right?
Laurel (10:28) Yeah. (10:29) Yes and no. (10:30) You know? (10:31) It it's yeah. (10:32) Different circumstances, but he, sure, did not grow up in in the cult.
Laurel (10:36) So
Scott Benner (10:36) Tell everybody. (10:38) Why are you comfortable calling it a cult?
Laurel (10:40) Sure. (10:40) Sure.
Scott Benner (10:40) Yeah.
Laurel (10:41) Yeah. (10:42) I mean, that wasn't always the case. (10:44) Obviously, growing up, it was it was really difficult even, like, hearing the word, I felt like was painful because it it was sort of this reminder of, like, how other people viewed us. (10:58) And, you know, as a kid, I didn't know that it was a cult. (11:02) It was just you know, you believe your parents.
Laurel (11:04) You believe everybody around you that tells you that this is normal and this is good and everybody else is wrong. (11:10) Okay. (11:11) So hearing that word was, like, you know, accusatory and and felt really bad.
Scott Benner (11:17) Mhmm.
Laurel (11:18) It took several years after I had really left and processed it to to to start using the word. (11:28) And and and and part of that was really, like, going through the process of deconstructing all of the things that I had grown up with and, like, learning about how cults work and learning about other types of coercive control and and things like that and and looking at sort of the different scholarly writings about it and stuff and and sort of understanding that.
Scott Benner (11:54) Accusations, like, ran the gamut with him. (11:56) Right? (11:56) Like, authoritarianism being Mhmm. (11:59) Brainwashing people, like, Yeah. (12:01) Taking money.
Scott Benner (12:02) Right? (12:02) There was, like, financial exploitation. (12:04) Yeah. (12:04) He ended up he landed in jail in
Laurel (12:07) In the eighties.
Scott Benner (12:08) In the eighties. (12:09) Yeah. (12:09) Okay. (12:09) For Yeah. (12:10) You know, for what?
Laurel (12:10) Tax evasion.
Scott Benner (12:11) Tax evasion. (12:12) Okay.
Laurel (12:12) And and then some sort of misappropriation of of funds and stuff. (12:16) I mean, my parents, along with all of the other, you know, first generation members, were fundraising on the streets. (12:23) And all of that money was going back to him, going back up to the top. (12:28) You know?
Scott Benner (12:28) He wasn't donating that to a higher, situation. (12:31) I don't imagine.
Laurel (12:32) No. (12:32) He was build he was, like, buying mansions and running businesses. (12:36) And also a lot of those businesses were, you know, employed, the church members. (12:41) They called it the I always called it the church growing up. (12:43) So if I say the church, the cult I use it interchangeably, but
Scott Benner (12:47) Sure.
Laurel (12:47) That's what that is.
Scott Benner (12:48) So tell me how old you were when you left, and then explain to me what it was like growing up there.
Laurel (12:56) Sure. (12:57) It's hard to pinpoint an exact time of when I left because it was it was a really some people have, like, a a really sort of drastic cutoff where they just say, like, no. (13:11) I'm done and leave. (13:12) For me, it was much more of, like, as I grew up and
Scott Benner (13:18) Kinda gradually?
Laurel (13:19) Little by, yeah, little by little. (13:21) It was like yeah. (13:23) It was like, you know, death by a thousand cuts, sort of like chipping away at at things. (13:28) But for sure, there was a major shift when my kids were born.
Scott Benner (13:32) Oh, wow. (13:33) Went that far. (13:34) Okay.
Laurel (13:34) Yeah. (13:34) I was actually married in the church as well. (13:37) Like, I my husband grew up in, the same, and and so we were married and had kids. (13:44) We're still, like, part of the community, but not kind of I guess, you would call it, like, if it it was, like, a cultural Catholic type of thing if you were you know, it was like, oh, we still hang out with the community, but we're not, like, super into all of the dogma and stuff. (14:00) But, yeah, when when my kids were born so I have an older son too, and my younger one's the one with type diabetes.
Laurel (14:06) But, yeah, when my kids were growing up, it really just switched of, oh, I don't wanna put my kids through the things that I went through. (14:15) I don't want them to grow up the same way that I did.
Scott Benner (14:18) What what would you say are some of the, I guess, lowlights of what you mean by that, how you grew up? (14:25) I used to hate ordering my daughter's diabetes supplies. (14:29) I never had a good experience, and it was frustrating. (14:33) But it hasn't been that way for a while, actually, for about three years now because that's how long we've been using US Med. (14:40) US Med dot com slash juice box or call (888) 721-1514.
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Laurel (16:42) I grew up I went to public school, which is there's a there's a huge range of of people. (16:49) Some kids were you know, did homeschooling and other there's a huge gamut, but I I went to public school.
Scott Benner (16:56) Mhmm.
Laurel (16:56) And there was nobody else in my town. (16:58) My parents we we lived in, like, a really small town, rural area, and there were no other, like, church families around. (17:05) So I had this really weird experience of sort of, like, having this split personality of where I was in in school, I had to, like I felt like I had to, like, lie about all of the church stuff and, like, pretend to be and fit in there. (17:23) And then when I would go to church events, I would have to, like, pretend to be what they needed to be and and not associate with sort of the the way that I was with my friends there. (17:38) And so, like, I had this really sort of split sense of identity where I didn't feel safe in either place.
Scott Benner (17:46) Right.
Laurel (17:46) And then, you know, there were also you know, as I got older too, the demands of the cult itself. (17:55) You know, I grew up with in really strict purity culture, which a lot of other people in sort of fundamentalist religions grew up with. (18:05) I wasn't, allowed to date at all. (18:09) I wasn't, you know, allowed to have premarital sex, any of that. (18:12) There was also a really toxic sort of relationship with sort of, like, mind and body stuff.
Laurel (18:21) Part of the theology was, like, that you it's mind over body. (18:27) Right? (18:28) So your body is evil, and you should be able to, like, suppress your body's needs and stuff. (18:37) And so a lot of like, I went to camp as a kid. (18:39) They they used to do summer camps.
Laurel (18:41) We would have to do things like wake up at 06:00 in the morning and go do exercises before breakfast. (18:49) And they would have us do these exercises where we had to do everything exactly the same, like a military type of drill. (18:55) Mhmm. (18:56) And if anybody messed up, we'd have to start all over again until we got it right. (19:00) And this was all before breakfast.
Laurel (19:03) Like, we weren't allowed to have breakfast
Scott Benner (19:04) Yeah.
Laurel (19:04) Until we got these drills right. (19:06) You know?
Scott Benner (19:07) Your parents are all in the whole time, or did you ever feel them waning, or were they
Laurel (19:14) So my parents are interesting. (19:15) They they've always been all in on, like, believing in the theology and stuff and and in reverend Moon and all of that. (19:31) But they haven't always agreed with sort of how things are run or, like, what's happening with the organization. (19:37) And because my parents live because we grew up, like, a little bit outside of the central area where Moon was living at the time and where there was a lot of, members, they could sort of, like, get away with stuff without anybody really caring. (19:55) So there there were plenty of times where my parents would just be like, you know, some sort of order would come down.
Laurel (20:02) Oh, all the families have to go do this or all of the the parents have to so one example is so this was right before I was born. (20:11) My mom worked at a a church nursery school.
Scott Benner (20:16) Mhmm.
Laurel (20:17) But the nursery school is basically reverend Moon at one point said, all of the the moms have to leave and, like, go on foreign missions and go to other countries. (20:28) So they would leave their babies in these nursery schools, and, basically, they became, like, orphanages.
Scott Benner (20:36) Where was he sending the women to?
Laurel (20:38) To other countries to go witnessing, and fundraising and, like, spread the providence.
Scott Benner (20:44) Mhmm.
Laurel (20:45) And and my mom worked at one of these places, and she was, like, taking care of all of the babies and stuff. (20:52) And then from that experience, she was like, I don't wanna I don't wanna do that with my own kids. (20:58) You know? (20:59) So she, like, had a friend or so when she was pregnant with me, she had a friend, like, in, like, the head office and that helped her, like, get her name off of some list or something, and then she was able to, like, avoid it somehow. (21:13) So, like, you know, the
Scott Benner (21:15) For you.
Laurel (21:16) Done stuff like that.
Scott Benner (21:17) Yeah. (21:17) She did For you, you did she did it. (21:19) Yeah. (21:20) Are they in still, or are they alive? (21:22) I'm sorry.
Scott Benner (21:22) They
Laurel (21:23) are. (21:24) They are. (21:24) And they're, you know, as
Scott Benner (21:26) because didn't like, parts of like, he maintained some control from prison, but his family kinda took over the family business at some point. (21:33) Right?
Laurel (21:34) Well, he was only in prison for about eighteen months.
Scott Benner (21:37) Oh, that's not bad.
Laurel (21:38) And yeah. (21:39) And then he got released and and then, you know, continued on for years after that. (21:45) You know, the prison thing only really made everybody double down and actually got a lot of
Scott Benner (21:50) Oh, because he's being persecuted, they thought. (21:53) Yeah. (21:53) Exactly. (21:54) Exactly. (21:54) Gotcha.
Laurel (21:55) And he even got a lot of, like, other Christian ministers and stuff, rallying around him saying, like, this is religious persecution. (22:04) You know? (22:05) And, you know, he's built up business empires. (22:08) He bought the Washington Times. (22:10) A lot of people don't know that the Unification Church owns the Washington Times newspaper.
Laurel (22:15) True World for food, which is, like, The Americas. (22:19) That's where, like, all the sushi restaurants get their fish is True World Foods. (22:23) That's a Mooney owned business as well. (22:26) Oh. (22:27) Yeah.
Laurel (22:28) So it's a huge empire. (22:30) Now, though, there's so much stuff that's happening. (22:33) Like, you go down so many rabbit holes with you.
Scott Benner (22:35) Just whatever you think is most interesting. (22:37) So you're fine.
Laurel (22:38) Mean, after so he so reverend Moon actually died in 2012.
Scott Benner (22:43) Mhmm.
Laurel (22:43) And then after he died, the church splintered into a few different groups. (22:49) So two of his sons are, like, splinter groups now. (22:54) One of whom is has been in the news before as well. (22:59) He's in Pennsylvania. (23:01) He it's like the gun church called Sanctuary Church.
Laurel (23:05) Sean Moon is his name. (23:08) And they, like, they they got in the news because they had, like, a blessing ceremony with AR fifteens, and it happened right after the Parkland shooting, I believe.
Scott Benner (23:18) Okay.
Laurel (23:19) And so they ended up in, like, national newspapers after that.
Scott Benner (23:22) The wrong kind of attention.
Laurel (23:24) Actually, that when that happened in god. (23:28) That that was probably 2017, 2018, some somewhere around there. (23:34) That was, like, my final straw. (23:36) So I had for years and years sort of just been, like, receding into the background and and, like, you know, stop going to church on Sundays and and and slowly sort of talking to myself and being like, I don't believe in this anymore, and I don't wanna do this and, you know, and just sort of going through that process on my own. (23:55) And then that during during that, when that that all happened and and that blew up in the news, I was like, I don't even want to be in any way associated.
Laurel (24:06) Like, that's when I started being loud and saying, like, I am out and telling other people Yeah. (24:11) I am out.
Scott Benner (24:12) So how do you well, how do you decide to do that when your husband well, actually, let me ask one other question because it Yeah. (24:18) It's been getting away from me. (24:20) I think because of my life growing up watching eighties, television, I assumed you all lived on a piece of ground somewhere where you were doing farming. (24:28) But people had their own homes, and then they come together just for church?
Laurel (24:31) Yeah. (24:32) In the seventies when people joined, they were, most people were living in, like they dropped out of school or from wherever they would live in, like, church centers and stuff.
Scott Benner (24:42) K.
Laurel (24:43) There were maybe some places where they were on farms, but mostly not. (24:47) They were in, like, old, old, you know, buildings that they would convert into, like, a church center.
Scott Benner (24:55) Okay. (24:56) I mean, because when I start my I wanted to know, do I have to have a big piece of property, or can I I make people pay for their own house? (25:02) Because what a scam. (25:03) Like, you're in my cult, but you have to pay for your own house.
Laurel (25:05) I know. (25:06) I know. (25:07) Well, so what happened was, yeah, there was a lot of communal living when people first joined because they were all, like, you know, teenagers or twenties. (25:15) They were, yeah, hippies Yeah. (25:17) In the seventies.
Laurel (25:19) Then once he started matching people up and people getting married and having families, then it's harder to do that. (25:26) So
Scott Benner (25:27) Was there any
Laurel (25:28) And then he
Scott Benner (25:28) I'm sorry. (25:29) Is there weird sex stuff in this cold or no? (25:31) Like, does he get to have sex with your mom or like that kind of stuff?
Laurel (25:34) For sure. (25:35) There's weird sex stuff.
Scott Benner (25:37) Did this touch you ever, the weird sex stuff?
Laurel (25:39) Only in the sense that we knew about it and, like, I was exposed to some of those ideas and and things at, like, an early age that I probably shouldn't have been.
Scott Benner (25:52) I'm known about.
Laurel (25:53) I definitely know
Scott Benner (25:55) Your friends?
Laurel (25:56) My friends. (25:57) Yeah. (25:58) Yeah.
Scott Benner (25:59) Well, high high level, what's that look like? (26:01) Do they just pass you around, or do do you do you not get to say no if somebody tells you you're hooking up with somebody? (26:07) Or, like, what's it look like functionally?
Laurel (26:09) Well so it's, you know, sex cults are there's, like, two sides of the same coin. (26:15) Right? (26:15) So there's, like, a sex cult where it's, like, totally free and open, and it's like everyone have sex with everyone. (26:21) Right? (26:21) And then the other side is the purity culture side where it's like, we are going to control your sexuality no matter what.
Laurel (26:30) But it's still an obsession on sex. (26:34) So for us growing up, it was it was that intense control. (26:40) So we were told that any any kind of sexual desire at all was sinful. (26:47) Like, even just having a crush on somebody was bad. (26:50) So we learned how to suppress those things.
Laurel (26:52) And then when we, had to go when we had to I remember, and a lot of people had to do this. (27:00) So so when my husband and I we had a we had a an interesting process. (27:05) So when when I was older, all of our parents were matched by Moon. (27:09) But then as my generation kind of grew up, Moon was like, I'm not gonna do this anymore. (27:15) Parents, you do it for yourself.
Laurel (27:16) So it was more kind of like a family parent matching sort of situation. (27:21) It was a little more casual. (27:23) My kids around my age, that was, like, the first time they were doing it. (27:27) So my parents didn't really know. (27:29) They were like, I don't know how to do this.
Laurel (27:31) So they were just like, who do you like? (27:33) Like, who are you friends with? (27:34) Do you like
Scott Benner (27:35) me now? (27:35) It turned into normal right away.
Laurel (27:37) It it turned a little
Scott Benner (27:38) bit A little more normal.
Laurel (27:39) A little bit more normal. (27:40) Yeah. (27:41) Because so my husband and I had known each other. (27:43) We were friends for, like, a year and then knew each other. (27:46) So and and then we sort of, like, dated for two years before we did, like, the church ceremony, like, blessing and everything.
Laurel (27:53) So it it it was more normal than, like, what my parents went through or other, people went through. (27:59) That's my dog. (28:00) Sorry.
Scott Benner (28:00) No. (28:01) A dog? (28:01) Are you serious? (28:02) I I didn't know. (28:03) So wait.
Scott Benner (28:04) Can you explain to me, please, like, what does it mean to, like, quell your desires? (28:08) Like, you said Yeah. (28:09) When you said it, like, it was obvious. (28:10) You just do the stuff. (28:11) Like, what what's the stuff?
Scott Benner (28:12) Oh,
Laurel (28:14) I mean
Scott Benner (28:15) Like, you're mean, at some point, you're 16, 17, 18 years old. (28:17) See Sure.
Laurel (28:18) You see
Scott Benner (28:18) a boy, you're like, that kid's cute. (28:19) Then how do you make that go away?
Laurel (28:21) Okay. (28:22) Well, when I was a teenager, I for sure started, like, pushing back and sort of testing the limits. (28:28) And I I of course, I had crushes, and I I also just wanted to, like, be normal and Mhmm. (28:34) You know, go out with people the way my friends did or even just talk about it the way my friends did. (28:40) And so I I would sometimes, like, have a boyfriend in quotes for, like, about a week, and then I would feel so guilty and so horrible.
Laurel (28:52) Like, I'm the worst person ever, and this is terrible. (28:56) Because we were told this was not just bad for us, but we believed that all of spirit world, all of, like, our ancestors were, like, counting on us to, like, be perfect and then, like, restore them so that they could have a higher place in spirit world. (29:14) And so
Scott Benner (29:15) Spirit World was the real name of it?
Laurel (29:17) Yeah. (29:17) That's what that's what they called it, spirit world.
Scott Benner (29:19) Yeah. (29:19) Everybody just so you know, in my cult, I'm gonna do much better with the naming structures on things. (29:24) Okay. (29:24) Yeah. (29:25) Yeah.
Scott Benner (29:25) Don't you worry. (29:26) Don't you worry.
Laurel (29:27) Pick a pick a more like, interesting name.
Scott Benner (29:29) I mean, we're gonna make it sound more believable. (29:32) That's for sure. (29:32) Okay.
Laurel (29:34) Yeah. (29:35) No. (29:35) Spirit World was it was very it was
Scott Benner (29:37) Don't they sell Halloween costumes? (29:39) What is that what am I thinking of? (29:41) I mean, that might Spirit World? (29:43) That would be Spirit Halloween. (29:44) Yeah.
Scott Benner (29:44) Yeah. (29:44) Yeah. (29:45) Yeah. (29:45) Yeah. (29:46) I mean, come on.
Laurel (29:46) So we believed in in Spirit World. (29:49) And so, like, if you were having these desires, it was like you were being attacked by evil spirits or Satan or whatever, and you would there were things called conditions. (29:59) So if if you were doing something bad or some you know, you were struggling, that was, like, a a term, like, person's struggling. (30:08) You know?
Scott Benner (30:08) Mhmm.
Laurel (30:09) You could do certain things to, like, make up for it or, like, to, you know, do that mind over body thing. (30:16) So we were told to take cold showers because anytime that your body is uncomfortable, then the evil spirits don't like it, and then they, like, fly away or whatever. (30:25) So you would take cold showers or you would do bowing conditions. (30:29) So we learned how to do, like, the Asian full bows. (30:33) At a very young age, we would wake up at 05:00 in the morning every Sunday and, like, do a bow to reverend Moon and his wife's picture and, say, like, a pledge and everything that was part of, like, the family traditions.
Laurel (30:46) Mhmm. (30:47) So you could do, like, bowing conditions where you would do a 100 bows in a row.
Scott Benner (30:51) That'll take the horny right out of you. (30:52) That'll just that's higher you right out. (30:55) Like a
Laurel (30:56) For sure.
Scott Benner (30:57) I was thinking of flicking my bean, but I'm just I gotta give up. (31:00) I'm so I'm exhausted from the bowing.
Laurel (31:02) Yeah. (31:03) Your knees start to hurt. (31:04) You're just
Scott Benner (31:05) yeah.
Laurel (31:06) Not good. (31:07) And then there's the more extreme cases of, like, kids being sent to, Changpyang, which is the place in Korea, which was sort of like the Mecca, the spiritual place. (31:23) And back when I was growing up, it was just like this out in the Korean countryside, and they would do this thing called onsu. (31:33) Like, basically, ritualistic beating. (31:35) Like, you'd be in a circle with other people, and you'd have somebody behind you and somebody in front of you, and they'd be, like, tapping on you really hard and to a drumbeat and you over and over and over and over again.
Laurel (31:47) And, again, this was, like, getting the evil spirits out, and you would do it all over your body. (31:52) You'd move down all over your body. (31:55) Yeah. (31:55) And you would usually there were there were certain periods of time that you would go to Chongqing. (32:01) It was, like, twenty one days or forty days or a hundred and twenty days.
Laurel (32:05) He was very into numbers, So, there was a lot of, like, numerology number, stuff involved with everything we did.
Scott Benner (32:15) Yeah. (32:16) Well, I mean, you've gotta you've gotta use your time somehow once you're bored with breeding people to see what what colors their hair come out at. (32:23) Like, I mean, because I mean, on it's honestly that the pairing people really did make me feel like he's like, you know, if I took this puppy and put it with this puppy, I wonder if we get
Laurel (32:32) And and he was not I mean, he was very obvious about that. (32:37) Like, he put he wrapped it up into this thing of saying, like, oh, the excuse that he gave or or the thing that you would say as a church member is, like, oh, he wants world peace. (32:50) And so he is doing that through marriage, like, uniting people from different cultures that used to fight with each other. (32:56) So, a lot of couples would be, Japanese and American or German and Jewish, Korean and Japanese. (33:05) Like, these cultures that have, you know, famously sort of yeah.
Scott Benner (33:12) You all fight with each other. (33:14) Marry each other instead. (33:15) I Yeah. (33:16) I So, like, if
Laurel (33:16) if you all marry each other, then you can't, you know, not love your family. (33:22) So that'll fix everything.
Scott Benner (33:25) So in my cold, I could make, like, could make, like, an Omnipod wear, marry, like, a like, a tandem wear. (33:31) Right? (33:32) Yeah. (33:32) And then the and a Medtronic person with a pump, they'd have to they'd have to wear a Dexcom. (33:36) That's how I would that's how I would throw them together, make them do their thing.
Scott Benner (33:40) Oh my gosh. (33:41) But it's interesting to me Yeah. (33:43) The transition for you out of it is Yeah. (33:47) More recent than I thought it would be. (33:49) Like, there was part of me that when you started talking, I thought, like, you're gonna tell me, like, you know, you were 18, somebody gave you weed, you were like, I had sex in a car and left the cult, but that's not like you got put together with somebody, married somebody there, made kids, and how and your kids were born in into it as as well.
Scott Benner (34:05) Right?
Laurel (34:06) Yeah. (34:07) Yeah. (34:07) Okay. (34:08) Technically.
Scott Benner (34:08) We had time, but but you boogied pretty quick after that.
Laurel (34:11) Yeah. (34:12) I again, once my kids were born, it was sort of this, yeah, this this, light switch of, like, oh, I don't wanna expose my kids to that. (34:21) Yeah. (34:21) Yeah. (34:22) And I and I have to and I have to figure this out.
Scott Benner (34:24) The husband went along with this?
Laurel (34:26) Yeah. (34:26) You know, it's been a different process for him, but he's very supportive. (34:32) We've talked about it a lot over the years, you know, and we've always agreed on, like, how we wanna raise the boys and stuff. (34:41) And it's complicated because we're we're never going to be able to completely sort of separate ourselves.
Scott Benner (34:50) Why?
Laurel (34:51) Because our we want to stay in contact with all of our family members. (34:57) You
Scott Benner (34:57) know? (34:58) Oh.
Laurel (34:59) His parents, my parents, brothers well, my sister is out. (35:03) She left way before I did. (35:05) She she was the more typical sort of she left, like, right after college and was like, yeah. (35:10) No.
Scott Benner (35:12) I'm gonna go to college. (35:14) I'll be never coming back. (35:15) Thank you.
Laurel (35:16) Yeah. (35:16) Yeah. (35:16) Yeah. (35:17) Basically.
Scott Benner (35:18) Parents not talk to her?
Laurel (35:20) They do. (35:20) They do. (35:21) Okay. (35:22) And they've come a long way, but it was very hard for them in the beginning with her. (35:27) And, I was always sort of the middle I was always sort of in the middle.
Laurel (35:33) I would, you know Yeah. (35:34) Talk to them on the phone, and they would be crying and talking to me about her. (35:38) And then I would talk to my sister, and she would crying and talking to me about my parents.
Scott Benner (35:42) You ever sit with your parents and go, hey. (35:45) We're in a cult?
Laurel (35:46) Yeah.
Scott Benner (35:47) And then what what's the response?
Laurel (35:49) Not that direct. (35:53) I've I've brought up, you know, I brought up things like my my mom working at the nursery school
Scott Benner (36:01) Mhmm.
Laurel (36:02) And and sort of talking to her. (36:04) I've talked to her about that and and said, like, you know, I have friends who were left there for three years. (36:11) They didn't even recognize or know their parents when their parents came back to pick them up. (36:16) You
Scott Benner (36:16) know? (36:16) Mhmm.
Laurel (36:18) Because they were left there as babies.
Scott Benner (36:20) And you say to your mom, does that seem right to you? (36:22) And she says Right.
Laurel (36:23) And and my mom, yeah, she she gets this pained look on her face. (36:30) She feels sad about it. (36:32) But, also, she's sort of feels like, well, that's what we had to do, and it was a sacrifice. (36:37) And that's what we were told to do.
Scott Benner (36:40) Can I ask a difficult question? (36:42) It might be difficult for you to answer. (36:44) And
Laurel (36:44) Sure.
Scott Benner (36:45) It's not some people are gonna think I'm judgmental, but I'm trying to I'm just trying to get to the court, and I mean this Yeah. (36:50) A lot. (36:50) Are your parents are they dumb? (36:53) No. (36:54) I'm being serious.
Scott Benner (36:55) Like, are you, like or do you look at them and go, wow. (36:57) They're challenged. (36:58) They have trouble, like, they're getting through the rest of life too. (37:01) Like, does that do other things fool them, I guess?
Laurel (37:04) No. (37:04) Not at all. (37:05) My parents are very smart.
Scott Benner (37:06) Mhmm.
Laurel (37:07) You know, growing up, they listened to NPR. (37:09) They're very, like, intelligent people. (37:11) They're engaged politically. (37:13) Like, they're not dumb people, and most people who join cults are not dumb people. (37:18) That's, like, a very that's a very stereotypical sort of thing.
Scott Benner (37:22) I'm trying to get to it. (37:23) So then what happens? (37:24) How does how does an otherwise bright person get I was gonna say hornswoggle, but I'm not it's not eighteen fifty, so I'm not sure why I would say it.
Laurel (37:31) I know. (37:33) So a lot of the research has shown that the most common reason that people sort of fall for cults is because they're in they are at a point in their lives where either something has happened or they're they're in a state where they're vulnerable.
Scott Benner (37:51) Mhmm.
Laurel (37:52) Right? (37:52) So this is why call it cults recruit on college campuses because it's the first time that people are away from their homes. (37:59) They're out on their own. (38:01) They're, like, in a new environment. (38:03) They're trying to figure out life for themselves for the first time.
Laurel (38:06) My mom was dealing with depression before she joined. (38:09) Like, there's a lot of stories of people who are dealing with addiction before they joined and then joining that cult to that community because, another thing a lot of people in the ex cult world say is people don't join cults. (38:23) They join a community. (38:24) You join something that you think is a good thing. (38:26) And so it's like, wow.
Laurel (38:27) This thing helped me get sober, or this thing helped me, like, gave me some meaning and gave me some community.
Scott Benner (38:33) I'm already running a cult then.
Laurel (38:36) Oh, you absolutely are.
Scott Benner (38:38) Oh, I just I just haven't I just haven't paired you all up yet. (38:42) Something to look forward to in season fifteen when I get, I run out of ideas. (38:46) Don't you worry.
Laurel (38:46) No. (38:47) If you if you wanted to I mean, it's all about group dynamics. (38:50) Right? (38:50) Yeah. (38:50) If you if you wanted to, you could I've I have total faith in you.
Laurel (38:54) You could absolutely
Scott Benner (38:55) Oh, well, listen. (38:56) I let me stop you for a second, Laurel. (38:58) Yeah. (38:59) I'm gonna give myself a lot of I'm not giving myself any credit here because it's just not a thing I would do, but I could definitely do this. (39:05) Like, you're all I've I've said it before.
Scott Benner (39:07) I'll say it again. (39:08) You're all just lucky. (39:08) I'm a decent person, and I wanted to help people with diabetes. (39:11) Because if I wanted to make a bunch of money and buy property and get get myself into the, raw fish business, I could have done that too. (39:18) Yeah.
Scott Benner (39:18) So it's just a person who kinda sees how the world works Yeah. (39:22) Says to themselves, what do these people need? (39:24) What can I offer to them? (39:26) And then Yeah. (39:26) Then the then the then the the disruption there is then Right.
Scott Benner (39:30) That person goes, and I'll just be, like, you know, I'll be cruel. (39:33) I'll be I'll be worried about money before people. (39:36) And I'm just like, I just would like to see people with diabetes feel better.
Laurel (39:39) Yeah. (39:39) And it's exploiting it's exploiting people's genuine, need for community and, idealism. (39:48) Like, you know, my parents were told, like, we want peace. (39:51) Like, this was right after the Vietnam War and all of these things. (39:55) So they were like, we want we wanna love people.
Laurel (39:58) We wanna, you know, bring peace. (40:00) We wanna make a better world. (40:01) Like, these are the things that they Yeah. (40:04) Were told. (40:05) And once there's a thing called love bombing that actually the moonies coined that term, and it's something that's used widely throughout cultic system and just in in culture in general now is love bombing.
Laurel (40:18) And that's when a new person comes, you love bomb them. (40:22) You all of the people know that this this is the new person, all of the members, and they just you are the most interesting person in the world. (40:30) We're so happy to have you here. (40:32) You just feel amazing. (40:35) It feels amazing.
Laurel (40:36) So you basically called in the beginning.
Scott Benner (40:37) So so you sort of take common decency and then rev it up to a thousand. (40:46) Yeah. (40:46) And then overwhelm people's senses so that they feel like, oh, I have finally found this thing I've been looking for. (40:52) I've been addicted. (40:52) I've been ignored.
Scott Benner (40:54) I was molested. (40:56) And now I found people who are just gonna me. (40:58) And then you suck them in, get them feeling that, and then make them have sex with, like, a monkey Right. (41:04) And then take their money.
Laurel (41:05) And then and then well, there's still a Sorry. (41:08) There's a longer process until you get to the monkeys, but, you know, it's
Scott Benner (41:11) But get to the monkeys, Scott. (41:14) That's not day one, my friend.
Laurel (41:16) It's not day one. (41:17) You know, it's it's little by little. (41:19) And then, know, sort of by the time you're down to, like, oh, yeah. (41:23) I'm gonna let this person pick my spouse. (41:25) You're already so deep in it that
Scott Benner (41:28) It all makes sense.
Laurel (41:30) You're all in. (41:30) You're all in at that point.
Scott Benner (41:31) Also, pot committed. (41:33) Right?
Laurel (41:34) Yeah.
Scott Benner (41:34) Yeah. (41:34) They they they say, that's a real common, like, human thing. (41:38) Like, once you once somebody said out loud, I'm for a thing, they have a lot of trouble, like, publicly backing out of it again.
Laurel (41:47) Yes. (41:47) And so then all of those sort of psychological processes like cognitive dissonance Mhmm. (41:52) Kick in where your belief is so rooted to your identity that if somebody challenges it, it's like they're challenging your whole identity. (42:05) No. (42:06) And you cannot handle that.
Laurel (42:08) And so you have to your your brain can't hold sort of these two opposing views at the same time. (42:14) And so
Scott Benner (42:15) So politics find
Laurel (42:16) a way to rationalize it. (42:17) Yes.
Scott Benner (42:17) Politics as a cult.
Laurel (42:19) Absolutely. (42:19) Right. (42:20) Because then it
Scott Benner (42:20) it describes when by the way, I've seen these these little interview videos on, like, all sides of, like, belief. (42:27) So don't Yeah. (42:27) Don't think I'm talking about yours or the other one. (42:29) But Yeah. (42:30) You know, when you get somebody together and they say you say, like, why are you here?
Scott Benner (42:33) And they go, I'm here for a, b, and c. (42:35) And then somebody goes, well, actually, that's wrong. (42:38) He and here here's the and you can see them, like, see the the I don't know, the the proof in front of them, and you can watch in their eyes as they go, oh, hell. (42:47) I'm wrong about this. (42:48) And then they double down.
Laurel (42:50) Yeah. (42:50) Yeah. (42:51) Yeah. (42:51) Okay. (42:52) That's very common.
Laurel (42:53) That's that's why it's a lot of studies have been done. (42:56) It doesn't work to present somebody with facts or to say, hey. (43:01) You're in a cult because
Scott Benner (43:04) They're not gonna see it.
Laurel (43:05) They're not gonna see it. (43:07) They're not able to. (43:08) There there's that cognitive dissonance. (43:10) There's that defense. (43:12) Also, cults and other they build up these walls to sort of prepare you for the persecution.
Laurel (43:18) They're like, oh, these people, this is what they're gonna say. (43:20) And so that feeling of like, oh, if they say this, it's just because they wanna persecute us or they're there's all of these.
Scott Benner (43:28) They pre prep you so that when the common sense comes at you, you go, I was I was told the devil would come and be dressed like this. (43:35) Yes. (43:35) Right? (43:35) Like that feeling. (43:36) Oh.
Laurel (43:36) Yes. (43:37) And also, when somebody confronts you and you get that horrible feeling and it feels unsafe, it's that idea of persecution. (43:46) Right?
Scott Benner (43:46) Mhmm.
Laurel (43:46) And you want to run back to where it's safe and where people don't judge you or confront you, and that's the cult.
Scott Benner (43:53) How great are your kids to love bomb you? (43:55) You were able to push through all this just for them? (43:57) I mean, these are very handsome children, or what's going on here?
Laurel (44:00) I think so. (44:01) I think they're great. (44:02) Yeah.
Scott Benner (44:03) No. (44:03) But seriously, like, what do you have you you must have thought about this. (44:06) Like, what I mean, it's nice to say, like, I didn't want my kids to be there. (44:09) But I'm sure there are plenty of people who, you know, for example, left their kids in that orphanage, for the lack of a better term, didn't wanna live their kids there, but did it anyway. (44:18) So Yeah.
Scott Benner (44:19) What is it just happenstance? (44:21) Is it that you went to a public school? (44:23) You tried dating a little bit? (44:25) Did you have just enough of the outside world in you to be like, I this smells wrong to me, or, like, are you special? (44:31) Like, you know what I mean?
Laurel (44:32) Right. (44:33) Yeah. (44:33) I think I think it's a lot of those things. (44:37) The fact that I was born into it is also a different experience. (44:40) I know and not always the case because there's definitely people who were born into it who have stayed, and I stayed a lot longer than I should have.
Laurel (44:49) You know? (44:50) People leave when when they can, when they're ready to leave. (44:54) Yeah. (44:54) It's different when it's something that you didn't choose.
Scott Benner (44:56) What are the things you're getting from it? (44:58) Because you're an adult, you have your own home, you're making your own babies, all that stuff. (45:01) Like Yeah. (45:01) Why do you is it just is is in your mind, is it just church? (45:05) Or no?
Scott Benner (45:06) You see it's something bigger.
Laurel (45:09) So when I was younger, I absolutely believed in all of the things I was being taught. (45:16) Right? (45:16) And as a child, you know, that's sort of, like, part of the psychological process is, to trust your parents because you have to because that for safety reasons. (45:27) You know, again, it was like I was in I had the order sort of the split personality of, like, part of me knew that certain things were wrong or that certain things didn't feel good.
Scott Benner (45:37) Something didn't smell good. (45:39) Yeah. (45:39) It might have been it might have been the sushi.
Laurel (45:41) It was definitely the sushi. (45:43) Yeah.
Scott Benner (45:44) You. (45:44) Thank you very much. (45:45) Thank you, everybody. (45:46) Thank you. (45:46) If I was on stage right now, this is when I'd be waving while you're all laughing.
Scott Benner (45:49) Thank you. (45:50) Sorry. (45:51) Go ahead.
Laurel (45:52) And then part of me was, like, this is the community that I'm in. (45:56) There's you're surrounded by other adults and other kids and other people who all believe or you think they all believe the same thing, and they're telling you this is true and you know?
Scott Benner (46:07) Is that true, do you think? (46:09) Do you think they all believe it, do you think everybody's just there going like, it's too late now?
Laurel (46:14) I think it's a mix. (46:15) I think there's I think there's a lot of people who are true believers. (46:19) I really do. (46:20) And then there's other people who are sort of just hanging on because it's their whole they gave up everything else, and this is their whole life. (46:29) This is their whole community.
Laurel (46:31) To leave, is is much harder than it seems because there's such a huge cost in leaving. (46:39) Like, you lose all of your friends maybe.
Scott Benner (46:41) Do you think there are people who are just completely thrilled with being involved and have absolutely not one regret or argument and that and it's not because they're they're they've been hornswoggled, which by the way, looked up, and it's crazy that I know this word. (46:57) I mean, unbelievably odd things in my head. (47:00) Yeah. (47:00) Like, do you think do you think there are people who are genuinely happy?
Laurel (47:04) You know, I think there are. (47:06) And I think for the most part, those are the people who are not sort of in the inner circles or higher levels of leadership. (47:14) They're just sort of, like, normal members living their lives and, like, maybe going to their local church and being part of their community. (47:21) Mhmm. (47:22) But they're not, like, doing sort of all of the the big level things Stuff.
Laurel (47:29) Or or sort of in the inner circle where they know
Scott Benner (47:32) So no different, Lind, like, if I was Catholic and I went to church, but I wasn't, like, all in on everything. (47:37) I just showed up on Sunday, looked nice, threw in a couple shekels, I was on my way. (47:41) Like, that kind
Laurel (47:42) of that happens. (47:43) So There are there are members that that feel that way. (47:45) And that's how I felt that's how I felt
Scott Benner (47:48) How you felt?
Laurel (47:48) For many years Okay. (47:49) That I was in that place, you know, before I
Scott Benner (47:51) was parents are in at a formative time in the in the I don't know what they call it. (47:56) The cult, the church. (47:57) Like, they're they're in. (47:59) So they're they're dug in. (48:00) Right?
Scott Benner (48:00) They're that's before social media, before the Internet, before you like, you they heard something, and they were like, that well, if that's what you say it is, and that's what it is. (48:10) And then that's and then you're dug in before anything gets thrown in your face. (48:13) You you're younger. (48:15) Right. (48:15) You have actual, like, you know, like, normal, like, childhood rebellion that probably got probably got pointed at your parents and at the church at points and times.
Scott Benner (48:25) Maybe you didn't make it to the cold shower once or twice. (48:27) And so you had a little too much time to think, that kind of thing. (48:31) Okay. (48:31) Yeah. (48:31) I see it.
Scott Benner (48:32) Alright. (48:32) By the way, it's possible I heard it from Yosemite Sam and Looney Tunes is what is what the Internet tells me.
Laurel (48:38) Or in Spoggle?
Scott Benner (48:39) Yeah. (48:39) Yeah. (48:39) Apparently, that maybe is where I got that from. (48:42) So
Laurel (48:42) That sounds right.
Scott Benner (48:43) Oh, my god. (48:44) I felt so you know how I felt? (48:46) I felt as old as that lady at the grocery store yesterday when I said that. (48:50) I was like, maybe she was right to hit on me. (48:52) I give off I give off Hornswoggle energy, apparently.
Scott Benner (48:57) She's like, this guy looks younger than me, but he might just be a dye job. (49:02) Yeah. (49:02) Because, yeah, that's I might have a nice dark head of hair. (49:05) It's the secret to life if I'm being honest to everybody. (49:07) You gotta yeah.
Scott Benner (49:09) Whatever you believe in keeps your hair dark, say thank you.
Laurel (49:13) Yeah. (49:14) It's the best. (49:15) You know, I actually feel like I have an interesting relationship with aging because when I fully left and then sort of so also leaving and then, like, leaving in your mind or, like, two different things, like leaving
Scott Benner (49:31) Yeah.
Laurel (49:32) Physically and then and then all and then, like, healing from that is different. (49:37) I've been in therapy for many years. (49:39) Oh, I that. (49:41) Yeah. (49:41) Yeah.
Laurel (49:42) And so
Scott Benner (49:42) You must have taken a belt and tied yourself to your therapist.
Laurel (49:45) I mean, listen. (49:47) You're like, you
Scott Benner (49:48) you can't go. (49:49) I've got an
Laurel (49:49) appointment with her this afternoon.
Scott Benner (49:51) So You're damn right you do. (49:53) So, your parents, any autoimmune stuff with your parents? (49:56) Watch me pivot this into a beautiful two parter. (49:58) Go ahead.
Laurel (49:59) I was like, how are we gonna get that?
Scott Benner (50:00) Don't you worry. (50:01) It's not my first day, Laurel. (50:03) I'm gonna have you paired up in ten minutes making me money. (50:07) I by the way, also, when we're done here, I'm gonna need you to go across the ocean and tell people about the podcast for me.
Laurel (50:14) Okay.
Scott Benner (50:17) So is there any autoimmune in your parents or, like, their sides of the family, anything like that? (50:30) This episode was too good to cut anything out of, but too long to make just one episode. (50:35) So this is part one. (50:36) Make sure you go find part two right now. (50:38) It's gonna be the next episode in your feed.
Scott Benner (50:43) This episode of the Juice Box podcast is sponsored by Omnipod five. (50:47) Omnipod five is a tube free automated insulin delivery system that's been shown to significantly improve a one c and time and range for people with type one diabetes when they've switched from daily injections. (50:58) Learn more and get started today at omnipod.com/juicebox. (51:03) At my link, you can get a free starter kit right now. (51:05) Terms and conditions apply.
Scott Benner (51:07) Eligibility may vary. (51:08) Full terms and conditions can be found at omnipod.com/juicebox. (51:14) US Med sponsored this episode of the juice box podcast. (51:18) Check them out at usmed.com/juicebox or by calling (888) 721-1514. (51:27) Get your free benefits checked, and get started today with US Med.
Scott Benner (51:32) Thank you so much for listening. (51:34) I'll be back very soon with another episode of the Juice Box podcast. (51:38) If you're not already subscribed or following the podcast in your favorite audio app, like Spotify or Apple Podcasts, please do that now. (51:45) Seriously, just to hit follow or subscribe will really help the show. (51:50) If you go a little further in Apple Podcasts and set it up so that it downloads all new episodes, I'll be your best friend.
Scott Benner (51:56) And if you leave a five star review, oh, I'll probably send you a Christmas card. (52:01) Would you like a Christmas card? (52:09) If you're living with type one diabetes, the After Dark collection from the Juice Box podcast is the only place to hear the stories that no one else talks about, from drugs to depression, self harm, trauma, addiction, and so much more. (52:26) Go to juiceboxpodcast.com, up in the menu, and click on after dark. (52:31) There, you'll see a full list of all of the after dark episodes.
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