Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nRichards, now 64, was one of the first male supermodels \u2013 rubbing elbows with the likes of Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, and Fabio in the \u201880s and \u201890s.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n<\/aside>\nBy day, Richards was jet-setting off to Europe for fashion shows and magazine spreads. Little did the public know \u2013 when he returned home to New York City, he wasn\u2019t living in a lavish penthouse. Instead, he was sleeping on the floor of a Midtown apartment with a handful of other Yuppies. He was also giving all his money away to Eternal Values, the cult he was a member of.\u00a0<\/p>\n
During his glamorous life in the modeling world, Richards said, \u201cI obviously could not [my peers] what I was involved with.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\nCult leader Frederick von Mierers (pictured) recruited impressionable young people with New Age beliefs. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\nRichards was a male supermodel in the same sphere as Cindy Crawford (pictured in 1991). Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThe cult also discouraged friendships with outsiders.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I just felt like I was not being transparent and lying to everyone at all times\u2026I just kept telling myself, \u2018oh, eventually you\u2019re going to figure it out.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Richards grew up in an ordinary Pennsylvania family. He met von Mierers in 1978, on a vacation to Nantucket when he was sixteen.<\/p>\n
Born Fred Meyers in Brooklyn, Frederick von Mierers reinvented himself as an upper crust Manhattan socialite, who reeled in insecure young people with his connections \u2014 he partied at Studio 54 \u2014 and his \u201cwisdom\u201d about New Age topics.\u00a0<\/p>\nRichards (pictured) attended Princeton University and came from a regular Pennsylvania family, before joining a cult. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\nRichards didn\u2019t come to terms with the fact that he was in a cult until years later. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\nWhen Richards attended Princeton University, he stayed in touch with von Mierers. After graduating in 1985, as his modeling career took off, he became a member of von Mierers\u2019 cult, called Eternal Values.<\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t think it was odd at the time, since it was the \u201cpolicy within the group, you gave whatever you could give.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Richards was in Eternal Values for fifteen years, and he didn\u2019t admit to himself that it was a cult until years after he left.\u00a0He has since relocated to LA.<\/p>\nRichards said its common for people in cults to be in denial, through \u201cmagical thinking.\u201d <\/figcaption><\/figure>\nRichards (pictured in the 80s) was a top model but gave about \u201c4 or 5 million\u201d dollars away to his cult, \u201cEternal Values.\u201d <\/figcaption><\/figure>\nAs his modeling career took off, he said, he believed at the time, \u201cit\u2019s because of this spiritual life I\u2019ve chosen\u2026that\u2019s what I thought was my secret sauce.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Richards said that kind of \u201cmagical thinking\u201d is common \u201cin the cult survivor space.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Von Mierers died of AIDS in 1990 at 43. In the \u201880s and \u201890s, he recruited models and attractive Yuppies to Eternal Values, and told them he was helping them prepare for a doomsday event to eventually lead a new society.<\/p>\n
At first, he preached celibacy, but later he changed his tune, and \u201cthere was a lot of sexual abuse\u201d in the cult, Richards recalled.\u00a0<\/p>\nRichards (pictured in 1990 for a Ralph Lauren campaign) said he \u201cself censored\u201d information that seemed \u201cbad.\u201d Penske Media via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nRichards (pictured on May 20, 2026) said he \u201cchose to avoid\u201d thoughts of how the cult was strange or wrong, at the time. Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n \u201cI just knew what was happening was wrong\u2026 potentially dangerous and bad.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
But, he added, he was \u201cdetermined\u201d to hold onto the \u201cnarrative\u201d that Eternal Values was spiritual.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would self-censor that information out,\u201d he explained.\u00a0\u201cAs much as I was influenced and brainwashed\u2026. I still knew at certain times. And, I chose to avoid those thoughts.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He added that part of his \u201chealing\u201d process has been to take \u201cownership.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBring Me The Beauties: A Model Cult\u201d is streaming on HBO Max and airs Mondays at 9 p.m. on HBO.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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