Prince Harry has finally published his long-awaited memoir, Spare, and as one can expect from anything slathered with royal honey, it’s selling like hotcakes. The book is supposed to tell his side of the story, how his family’s rule has shaped him, his time at war, and his well-documented exit from royalty hand in hand with his polarizing American wife.

For Harry, there was likely an incredible financial incentive and the promise of riches that would probably have never come had he remained a backup to the throne his entire life. His story proves that every so often, a person is scorned by an organization they were once part of and even loved, only to turn their backs against that very institution, telling their story and outing secrets that were never meant for the public eye.

Here are ten examples of members of secret societies who have spilled the beans.

Related: Top 10 Things Possibly Hidden In The Vatican Secret Archives

10 John Robison—Freemasons

A scientist with a long-established reputation in the British scientific community, John Robison was also a professor at Edinburgh University and an authority on mathematics and optics. In the late 1700s, Robison was also the author of Proofs of a Conspiracy against all the Religions and Governments of Europe, a book about the reach of the Freemasons. In particular, it focused on a Masonic cell—a source of hundreds and thousands of ominous conspiracy theories—the Illuminati. As a Mason himself, he had insider information about the workings of the organization and wrote about it all. As you might expect, the first edition sold out shortly after release and was published many times after that.

From Edinburgh, he witnessed the fall of the French monarchy and the dispossessing of the church as well as the entire French Revolution. This, he subsequently blamed on the Freemasons, suggesting that all the agents involved in the revolution were mere pawns in a much bigger game with ambitious ends.^[1]

9 Ed Decker—Mormon Church

Born in 1935, Ed Decker was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (or LDS Church) before he became a prominent member of the Christian group for ex-Mormons called Saints Alive in Jesus. Considered one of the most influential people with regard to the Mormon Church, Decker (in collaboration with Dave Hunt) penned a book known as The God Makers in which he exposed the inner workings of the church.

Decker’s relationship with the Mormon Church waned when he was exposed to the beliefs of other groups critical of Mormonism. He decided he could no longer live according to the premise that its founder, Joseph Smith, was called upon by God to restore pure Christianity to the world.^[2]

8 Stetson Kennedy—the KKK

Stetson Kennedy, a writer who documented life in the Depression era, produced a book showcasing the inner mechanisms of the notorious Ku Klux Klan. The work he was most known for, a book known as The Klan Unmasked, which hit the shelves in 1954, was set in motion in the 1940s when he set himself the goal of exposing the organization and its efforts to terrorize black citizens in the region.

In this book, he exposed many things that were not known to the public before then, like their folklore, secret handshakes, and passwords, as well as mocking their white sheet attire. With evidence collected from the grand dragon himself, he provided the IRS with enough information to press for collecting a $685,000 tax lien from the Klan. He also provided assistance with the drafting of a brief used by the state of Georgia to revoke the Klan’s national corporate charter and also testified in other Klan-related cases. Kennedy passed away at the age of 94 after decades of tormenting Klansmen.^[3]

7 Heinrich Himmler—Nazis

The architect of the Holocaust, the right-hand man of Adolf Hitler himself, kept a diary. Diaries kept by Himmler, compiled by Himmler’s assistant, covered most of the war and were discovered in 2013. Although Himmler did not technically “spill the beans,” as the title of the article suggests, they do provide a sobering account of one of history’s most vile men.

The diaries include over a thousand pages documenting day-to-day life, executions of Nazi-allied officers in Poland who refused to fight, and other details all the way to the Final Solution. They add depth to the understanding of Himmler’s character and the atrocious acts he gave the order for. One particular such order was to equip Auschwitz concentration camp with new guard dogs that could rip the prisoners apart. The diaries are personal and do not give insight into his emotional well-being or his relationships, but is that really necessary?^[4]

6 Jeannie Mills—People’s Temple

Jeannie Mills, her husband Al, and their two children left the People’s Temple in 1974. Previously known as Elmer and Deanna Mertla, they rose to positions of responsibility within the ranks of the church, with Deanna serving as the head of the Temple’s publication office and Elmer as their official photographer. After they left the church, the husband and wife pairing became two of the most vocal critics, also founding the Human Freedom Center, which acted as a refuge for other defectors from the temple. After the Jonestown tragedy, the center offered itself as a place to go for survivors.

In February 1980, the couple, along with their daughter (15 years old at the time), were murdered in their home in Berkley, igniting rumors that a death squad made up of previous members of the church had taken their lives. Evidence later showed that the sole survivor of the ordeal, their son Eddie Mills, was perhaps not as innocent as initially suggested, quelling some fears about the church death squads.^[5]

5 Leah Remini—Scientology

Known for her supporting role in the popular sitcom King of Queens, Leah Remini was also a member of the Church of Scientology. Brought into the church at the young age of eight when her mother converted, Remini’s decision to leave the church ultimately came down to her own nine-year-old daughter. One month after her exit from the group, Remini filed a missing person’s report for Scientology leader David Miscavige’s wife, Shelly, who has not been seen since 2007.

Since then, she has been an active opponent of the ideologies of the church and throws her weight behind cases against its members. She also produced a show about the inner workings of the religion called Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath.^[6]

4 India and Catherine Oxenberg—NXIVM

Catherine and her daughter India signed up for NXIVM classes that were advertised as workshops to develop their entrepreneurial skills. It was at these workshops that India was recruited into a secret society within the organization, which ultimately ruined her relationship with her mother. It took the pair seven years to free themselves from the sex cult. Catherine eventually penned a memoir about her experience trying to save her daughter from the cult-like group to no avail.

India eventually saw the folly in her ways. The group founder, Keith Raniere, was found guilty of racketeering, sex trafficking, and possession of child pornography in connection with the group.^[7]

3 Janja Lalich—Democratic Workers Party

The Democratic Workers Party (DWP) was created in the U.S. in the 1970s by a collective of women led by Marlene Dixon. The party was one of the more controversial attempts to create a Marxist-Leninist party in the U.S., which championed sectarianism toward the forces on the left. The organization disbanded in 1985, but not before establishing a cult-like following for their primitive conception of Leninism and the Leninist party.

One of the party members and defectors, Janja Lalich, joined the DWP and was exposed to a range of strange requests and rules by which the party controlled her income and cut her off from her family entirely. She was ordered to pick a name and burn her belongings and was taken to book for spending time with her dying mother. Lalich has since become a sociologist and writer and has written numerous books about cults and coercion, exposing how these organizations work and recruit.^[8]

2 Joe Valachi—The Mafia (aka Cosa Nostra)

Joe Valachi, an American gangster who turned state informer in 1962, held a high rank in the Mafia, equivalent to that of sergeant, and was a member of the Lucky Luciano’s mob family. Convicted of drug-related charges and sentenced to prison, Valachi received the promise of death from Vito Genovese. In a flat panic, Valachi killed a fellow prisoner in paranoia-induced rage, then opened up about the entire organization to the U.S. Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, the FBI, the Department of Justice, and the U.S. Senate in retaliation to the death threats he received.

Considered one of the most influential informants in organized crime history, Valachi was on a mission to destroy the underworld that had betrayed him and put a $100,000 bounty on his head. He had lost his wife and his mob family, and consumed with guilt, he relied on government protection to keep him alive until his final days when a heart attack finally killed the rat.^[9]

1 Carlos Lehder—Medellín Drug Cartel

Lehder, who dipped his toes into the criminal underbelly by smuggling stolen cars into Canada and the American East Coast, which led to his incarceration, quickly made friends with the wrong people. He soon became a key player in the cocaine import business, persuading Goerge Jung to use planes to transport the drugs. Fast forward a few years when Lehder had worked his way up the ranks of the Medellín cartel, where he fell out of favor with the notorious Pablo Escobar. He was arrested shortly after that and sentenced to life in prison.

Authorities agreed to reduce Lehder’s jail term on the condition that he testify against former Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega, who had ties with the Medellín cartel and allowed them to ship cocaine through Panama. Lehder was placed under witness protection and eventually released from prison after serving his reduced sentence. He was deported to Germany, where he held citizenship through his father.^[10]

What comes to mind when you first think of a cult? An image of brooding black-robed, heavy death-metal teenagers gathered around a pentagram comes to mind, but that’s occult, or the belief in the supernatural, mystical, and magical. A cult has a much more pleasant philosophy—sometimes.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary officially defines the term as “a small religious group that is not part of a larger and more accepted religion, and that has beliefs regarded by many people as extreme or dangerous.” Cults sometimes aren’t even based on religion. Often these social groups are founded on a certain way of living, and each member is devoted to that unusual belief.

Some of your favorite faces from the big screen have been swayed to take part in, help, or even grow some of the biggest, most well-known cults around. Here are 10 celebrities that are or were members of a cult.

Related: 10 Former Cult Members And Their Chilling Stories

10 Val Kilmer

From Top Gun to The Prince of Egypt, actor Val Kilmer kills the stage no matter the role. The popular performer from ’80s and ’90s films also happens to be a devout believer of Christian Science. The religious group is prolific for their metaphysical practices, such as a connection to the Divine Mind and the idea that all problems could be cured with the right mindset.

In January of 2015, Kilmer was hospitalized for a possible tumor after denying that he had been diagnosed with cancer. It wasn’t until April 2017, after suffering needlessly for two years, that he stated he experienced healing from his cancer due to his affiliation with the cult. He claims the traditional medical treatments caused his current condition, not the tumor healed by his beliefs.

9 Allison Mack

If you think you don’t know Allison Mack, think again. “You’ve probably heard of her work on” projects such as 7th Heaven, Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves, and Smallville. But before she was shoulder to shoulder with Clark Kent, Mack joined NXIVM, the sex trafficking cult which posed as a marketing company offering personal and professional development.

Mack helped recruit women through blackmail and forced labor and even performed initiation ceremonies where victims were branded with her and the cult founder’s initials. She was arrested in 2018 and sentenced to three years in 2021.

8 Jaden Smith

Son of famed actor Will Smith, Jaden Smith, is an avid conspiracy theorist and supporter of Orgone. Orgone, sometimes known as the Orgonite Society, was thought of as the organizing principle of the universe, a creative building block to everything in nature.

Orgone was introduced back in the 1930s by Wilhelm Reich, an Austrian doctor and psychologist after Sigmund Freud. Orgone is viewed as a massless, constant substance associated with living energy ranging from the smallest microscopic units to macroscopic organisms like planets and galaxies.

7 Patricia Arquette

She was commonly known in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3, Holes, and even Toy Story 4; still, Patricia Arquette wasn’t always so well known. Her family grew up in rural Virginia in the commune known as Skymont Subud. The community functioned without utilities like bathrooms and electricity to find and follow their inner guidance.

Founded in 1920s Indonesia by “prophet” Muhamad Subud Sumohadiwidjojo, the group itself identifies as a spiritual movement that aims for its members to become more of who they were destined to be. However, Arquette saw the flaws in the following, noting its biggest hypocrites as her own parents. She eventually left the commune, took refuge with her sister, then moved out west for sunny California.

6 R. Kelly

The 1996 hit from Space Jam “I Believe I Can Fly” is by American singer, songwriter, record producer, and convicted sex offender R. Kelly. Despite being one of the world’s best-selling music artists, Kelly has faced multiple accusations and criminal counts of sexual abuse with underage women.

A civil suit filed in 1996 detailed allegations that starting in 1991, a promising, underage high school singer was encouraged to recruit her school friends and pressure them into engaging in group sex with other underage girls. In 2019, Kelly was arrested on federal charges alleging sexual exploitation of a child, human trafficking, child pornography, racketeering, bribery, and obstruction of justice.

During one of the many hearings, witnesses came forward testifying about a sex cult. They described the experience as mentally and physically abusive as Kelly was in charge of things like what they ate and wore. Kelly faced a total of 22 criminal charges in January 2021, and by September of that same year, a federal jury in New York found him guilty on nine counts. Kelly faces two more trials later in 2022.

5 Michelle Pfeiffer

Growing up in sunny SoCal isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Take it from Academy Award nominee Michelle Pfeiffer. Though the young star grew up just a short drive from Hollywood, there was no going back once she started working in the film industry.

Pfeiffer was taken in by some friends who were members of a new age metaphysics cult called Breatharianism. Also known as Inedia, Breatharianism can be a deadly pseudoscience in which cult members claim that food and water aren’t necessary to sustain life. Some members have even died while practicing their beliefs. While Pfeiffer admits that the Breathariansim cult did take a lot of her money, her fellow members also helped her break harmful addictions, which led her to become the world-renowned actress she is today.

4 Winona Ryder

Known for oddball roles like Tim Burton’s Edward Scissorhands and Beetlejuice, award-winning actress Winona Ryder is no stranger to communities of outlandish ideas.

The Rainbow Family commune is a cult of loosely affiliated individuals from all walks of life who come together to share experiences, music, food, love, and the hope of a better world. Inspired by the Woodstock Festival, the gatherings originated in Oregon in 1970 and spread to various parts of the country. The gatherings were used to pray, meditate, observe silence, and above all, concentrate on world peace.

Ryder joined the commune when she was seven years old. The 300-acre plot of land in California had no utilities and was shared with numerous other families. With such limited access to the outside world, Ryder spent most of her time reading books and delving into her imagination for the entertainment we would later know today.

3 Joaquin Phoenix

Born in Puerto Rico and raised in the United States, Joaquin Phoenix has had a wild journey that landed him in Los Angeles. And we don’t just mean on the silver screen. Phoenix is a critically acclaimed actor, ranging from roles in Gladiator, Signs, Walk the Line, and Joker.

Phoenix’s parents met when his mother was hitchhiking in California. With his siblings receiving the names of River, Rain, Liberty, and Summer, we can’t say we’re surprised where the Phoenix family got their ideas from. They joined the Children of God, now known as The Family International, where they believe in salvation, spiritual reformation, and the apocalypse of an anti-Christ. Phoenix lived this way for over a decade as his family traveled across South America as missionaries for the Children of God.

But around 1974, things started to get a little fishy. The Children of God implemented a form of gospel preaching called flirty fishing where female members of the cult, or “fisherwomen,” would persuade men, or “fish,” to join the community and contribute a charitable donation via sexual intimacy. The practice was a primary source of financial income and a spike in membership as over ten thousand children would be born from these encounters. Due to the distorted practices, Phoenix and his family returned to the States in 1978 and settled in Florida.

2 Rose McGowan

Despite the beauty of her name, Rose McGowan has a dark past and even darker film history. Though her breakthrough performance in 1996’s Scream earned her praise and recognition, McGowan has a track record of characters known for seduction and darkness stemming from her childhood.

Born in Florence, Italy, to American artists, her father ran an Italian chapter of the Children of God. You know, the flirty fishing cult that Joaquin Phoenix left. McGowan spent her early childhood at the group’s communes, often traveling through Europe with her parents, and witnessed many sex crimes, including assault, abuse, and molestation. Her parents were members of the cult until 1978 when they returned to the United States only for McGowan to run away as a young teenager. At 15, she officially emancipated herself from her parents and moved to Los Angeles only to find Hollywood may be just as bad as the cult she left.

1 Glenn Close

Lastly, and certainly not least, the three-time Emmy, Golden Globe, and Tony award winner Glenn Close. Born in Connecticut in 1947, The Natural actress grew up under the watchful eye of the MRA, the Moral Re-Armament.

Founded in 1938, the international cult encourages its members to actively participate in political and social issues. One of the cult’s core ideas is that changing the world starts with changing oneself. They believe in the Four Absolutes of honesty, purity, selflessness, and love. However, Close recalls the commune-like conditions and altruistic attitude shrouding the cult’s sense of superiority. All of her actions were watched, and she was shown how to foster a disinterested concern for others, though the group claimed to promote wellbeing and selflessness.

Close believes she made her career about understanding the behavior she witnessed, and what better way to explore that than with acting.