Freeform’s new docuseries “How I Escaped My Cult” is gearing up to debut 10 distinct stories about ex-cult members who managed to escape their circumstances.
In the trailer for the new series, shared exclusively with TheWrap, 10 women unpack the terrifying journey to break free of the cults they were once in, with one subject saying “I was trapped … I decided that it was time to escape.”
The stakes couldn’t be higher for these women, as one recalls, “If I got caught, he would for sure kill me.”
The subjects explain that by being in a cult, members are being brainwashed and soon it becomes the only reality that they know.
“He claimed he heard the voice of God,” one subject said in the trailer, while another explained “members were giving over entire paychecks — he’d grab us by the throat and slam us against the wall.”
While the women explain “the most evil things you could imagine” happened to them while in the cult, they recall their gut instinct to escape and how they pulled it off.
“My sister and I got on a snow machine, and I was like ‘there’s no way out,’” one woman said, with another subject adding “they’re in the middle of nowhere — no one’s gonna hear you scream.”
The docuseries, which hails from the team behind “How I Caught My Killer,” follows the survivors through their escapes to reporting the cult leaders to the FBI, with one subject saying “I really did want this horrible monster to pay for what he had done.”
Narrated by Tamron Hall, “How I Escaped My Cult” is executive produced by David Karabinas, Brad Bernstein, Greg Spring, Ivy Brown, James Macnab, John X. Kim, Ray Dotch, Rick Cikowski and Chip Rives. It’s produced by Texas Crew Productions.
“How I Escaped My Cult” airs weekly on Freeform starting Feb. 20 at 10 p.m. ET/PT. The full season will begin streaming on Hulu the next day, Feb. 21.
