Young actresses tend to go on all kinds of diets, but Michelle Pfeiffer was introduced to the weirdest one of all when she first came to Hollywood.

At 20 she came under the influence of a “very controlling” cult which believed people could live without food or water. This belief is known as Breatharianism and Michelle became involved with this cult through a couple she thought were personal trainers.

“They worked with weights and put people on diets. Their thing was vegetarianism,” she said.

The actress didn’t live with them but was regular at their meetings. “They were very controlling. I wasn’t living with them but I was there a lot and they were always telling me I needed to come more. I had to pay for all the time I was there, so it was financially very draining.”

“They believed that people in their highest state were breatharian,” Pfeiffer added.

She finally realized she was in a cult while helping her ex-husband Peter Horton research for his role in a movie based on the Moonies – followers of Rev Moon Sun-Myung’s unification church. “We were talking with an ex-Moonie and he was describing the psychological manipulation and it just clicked,” Michelle recalled.

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