Glenn Close Opens Up About Cult Upbringing That Left Her ‘Psychologically Traumatized’

Multi-award-winning actress Glenn Close has 47 years of work to take pride in, as well as numerous accolades. However, before this ascent into fame, Close endured a troubling childhood essentially trapped in a cult that left her traumatized.

The movement in question was the Moral Re-Armament (MRA) and has often been deemed cult-like in its practices. Her exposure to this “international moral and spiritual movement” came when she was seven and her parents joined.

A close call with trauma and its lasting effects

Glenn Close actually broached the subject of ongoing trauma during an interview on the new Prince Harry and Oprah Winfrey AppleTV+ series The Me You Can’t See. “It’s astounding that something you go through at such a young stage in your life still has such a potential to be destructive,” she mused.

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“I think that’s childhood trauma, because of the devastation, emotional and psychological, of the cult. I am psychologically traumatized,” she shared. After her parents – starting with her father William – joined the MRA, they moved from the family’s stone cottage in Greenwich, Connecticut to the MRA’s headquarters in Switzerland.

Life for Glenn Close within the cult-like MRA

“It was basically a cult,” Close divulged of life with the MRA. “Everyone spouted the same things, and there’s a lot of rules, a lot of control. Because of how we were raised, anything you thought you’d do for yourself was considered selfish. She went on to say that they never went on any vacations or had memories of things other than what they went through, calling it “really awful.”

She attributes this upbringing directly with troubles she had in her adult life, including her three marriages and three divorces. “I have not been successful in my relationships and finding a permanent partner, and I’m sorry about that,” Close explained. “I think it’s our natural state to be connected like that. I don’t think you ever change your trigger points, but at least you can be aware of them, and at least you can maybe avoid situations that might make you vulnerable, especially in relationships.” In conclusion, Close added jokingly, “It’s probably why we all have our dogs!”