Bring Me the Beauties: A Model Cult (2026) s01e02 Episode Script

1
[TV static drones]
[bright tone]
[tense music]
♪
- So these became the infamous
John Andreadis
Antichrist tapes.
I've not heard these tapes
since we did it,
which was 1987.
For many years,
I looked trying to find them.
What's on these tapes,
I'm sure, is kind of horrific.
Should I hit play?
- Yeah.
That's me.
♪
Oh, this I remember.
- Hello, ladies and gentlemen.
I'm Frederick Von Mierers
with Eternal co-host
John Andreadis.
- John Andreadis,
at some point,
was going to be
this incarnation of God,
this divine entity on Earth.
And Frederick's position was,
I'm here to train him
to take on that mantle.
- John.
- But then he fell in love.
- Imagine a young boy,
very idealistic and romantic,
meets a beautiful young girl.
"one of the sickest things
I've ever heard."
A personal, love,
romantic relationship.
"One of the sickest things
I've ever heard."
That's--that's the EV mindset
right there.
♪
- Getting to know
all about you.
Hi, I'm Jacki Adams.
- And
- Yes, don't hold that
against me, please.
For me, everything good had
happened when I left home.
And where I came from,
actually,
is the real South.
My father died when
I was eight, in Vietnam.
And my mother,
she had some mental illness.
I was living on my own at 15.
I was working at McDonald's.
I was working in babysitting.
But I added another job
in a photo studio.
One time,
a model couldn't make it,
so they decided,
hey, let's dress up Jacki.
[tense music]
I had been very insecure
about how I looked,
but this photographer took
my picture into Eileen Ford
and said,
"This is Jacki Adams."
Before I knew it,
she was interviewing me
on a news program
as her latest find.
♪
- Jacki Adams came to New York
and became one
of my top, top girls.
She was one of my big,
big moneymakers.
She was riding high.
- This was my moment.
But it's kind of a blur.
I mean, it was a very surface,
artificial world
that I inhabited, where it was
about how you looked,
what parties you went to.
So here I am,
the height of my career.
But I was asking myself
over and over,
what is the meaning
of all this?
I don't like to see myself.
I get too critical.
I turned to books
to try to find meaning.
"Food and Healing."
[laughs]
And I happened to stumble upon
a new age book
called "Aliens Among Us."
[tense music]
I read about Frederick
Von Mierers and his friends.
They had this sense of urgency
about important stuff
like life, like your soul.
I was like, yes, yes,
that's so much better
than worrying about
what shade of lipstick
goes with the Chanel jacket.
- You know,
the modeling business is
actually very small, and you
kind of know each other.
Jacki was always someone
that was very professional.
She was always, you know, kind.
- People know me
in the business,
but I'm not really
that well known
outside of the business,
which I prefer.
You know, I do my job
and enjoy it.
Hoyt was the poster child
for the Eternal Values.
They were serious
professionals.
They thought about things
in a different way.
And they were interested
in the spiritual life.
♪
And that was really
compelling to me.
Maybe there's something to it.
I'm curious.
I wanted to find out.
So I contacted them
for an astrology reading.
And from there, I was
just swept into the circle
that was Eternal Values.
♪
- It might be a very good idea
that we all introduce
ourselves to each other.
- Hi, I'm Jacki Adams,
and I'm model.
I arrived
- So we're all ready?
- And the first person
to really talk to me
was John Andreadis.
- With me tonight,
and of course,
you all know John Andreadis.
[laughs] John. John.
John. John, take us away.
- How do you do?
First, we'd like to discuss
the importance
of the youth of America.
- John was Frederick's
principal student.
John was 16 years old
when Frederick met him
at the Quest Bookshop
on East 53rd,
which was
a Theosophical bookstore.
Frederick saw John come in,
and he said,
"You're the one
I've been waiting for."
[soft music]
- They began to talk
and develop the relationship.
And then John started
to look at Frederick
as someone that
he could learn stuff from.
And Frederick looked at him
as this incredible student,
because he had read
a ton of books
in metaphysics and religion.
- When John and Jacki met,
he spent a lot
of time with her,
one-on-one talking about
her astrological chart.
And I'd never seen him do that
with anyone else so overtly,
where he really kind of
focused in on them.
- I remember,
he thought our charts
were like twin flames.
- There's a spark that flashes
in each other's eyes,
and then there's a magic that
is kindled as the fire of love
begins to grow between them.
- John told me that
we were meant to be together.
At the time, I believed that
a system of tracking the stars
could make sense
of my existence.
- I actually knew that Jacki
was engaged to this guy,
another model that I knew.
Wow.
Four days later.
- And the boy will
buy her flowers.
And all of a sudden,
his life has changed.
He skips down the street.
There's all these
incredible things
just because of this
force of love.
- I mean,
it sounds really grandiose,
but I was young
and impressionable,
and here were other misfits
who didn't fit in anywhere.
They're smart, they're kind,
and they're going to help me.
I thought that I was becoming
part of a family,
a healthy family,
you know, a supportive family.
- The relationship
between John and Jacki
blindsided everybody.
- And with Frederick,
their relationship really
became a source of conflict.
[tense music]
- John.
- If you meet someone
that you love,
that can be an expression
of the highest truth
on the particular level,
and that is fine.
- I think he realized that
the Eternal Values was
no longer
the most important
thing to John.
And I could see
there was jealousy
and some resentment building.
- The dark and evil forces
that are perpetuating
the idea of soulmates,
they are the absolute
instrument
of the most diabolical and most
evil forces in this world.
- When I became
involved in the group,
it was really easy for them
to find something for me
to feel inferior about.
I was very insecure because I
hadn't gone to university.
I was insecure
because I was successful
based largely
on the way I looked.
- Frederick said that there was
a deficiency going on,
that I--I needed help.
And it would always be
followed up with,
"What are you willing
to give up
for something that means more
than anything on this Earth?"
I was like, "Everything."
Everything.
There was the apartment
that Frederick asked me
to sign a lease for
in the building,
where John and I lived.
And Frederick said
all the furniture
had to be custom.
But the other thing is that
Frederick was very serious
about these gem prescriptions.
- Frederick would look
at your astrology star chart,
identify where
your weaknesses were,
where your strengths were.
- Then he would make
a gem prescription.
- So yeah, a gemstone,
if that can make me bearable,
that's a small price to pay.
My prescription,
it was about $80,000.
And the money wasn't
making me happy,
so I absolutely went and got
that cashier's check
for gemstones.
And then the next one,
and then the next one.
It was amazing how much
spirituality cost.
- You know, Frederick said,
"Never take them off
unless you have to,"
so I would wear them on set.
♪
- We worked together.
And he had all these
funky sort of--
they looked like
costume jewelry,
rings on his hands.
And I asked him about them
just to get him
to talk about it,
and he kind of went off
in a language
that I had no idea
of what he was talking about.
♪
- And it became
a badge of honor
to be able to afford
to get such a thing.
You really treated these
things like holy, divine
kind of, you know,
lightsabers,
as Frederick said
that these gems
would help protect you through
these troubled times ahead.
- The droughts,
the famine, the wars.
- Frederick had a prophecy,
and he had to warn the world.
There was going to be this
horrible cataclysm coming.
The planet was going
to be wiped out.
- The Earth will tilt
on its axis.
This pole shift will
take place in 1999,
and humanity will be decimated.
[ominous music]
- The pole shift was
going to be
that the magnetic axis
of the Earth would shift.
♪
- The magnetic poles
will shift,
like, within six hours.
- Enough to cause
cataclysmic storms,
earthquakes, tsunamis.
- And all the present
continents that exist
will be submerged
beneath the water.
♪
- Frederick believed that
there were certain parts
of the United States
that would survive
the Earth changes.
- Frederick found that
the Smoky Mountain region was
far enough away
from the oceans,
and it wasn't going
to be affected.
So that's when
we started to make trips
down to North Carolina.
[A Flock of Seagulls' "I Ran"]
♪
- The first time
we went down there,
we saw this property
on this lake called Lake Lure.
And I remember Freddie
looking up at it and going,
"Oh, yes, this would
be a perfect spot
to build the platforms where
the spaceships will land."
♪
- After the pole shift,
the aliens are going
to take us into their craft.
- These space beings,
first, this planet,
according
to the Hindu scriptures,
13,200 BC in a flying saucer.
- We were going
to be lifted out
- And put into
the rejuvenation chambers.
[upbeat music]
- And we would stay
with them until things
settled back down
on Planet Earth,
at which point they would
drop us back down,
and we would lead in
the new age.
- Those that believe will be
saved because
they will be the future
of the world,
what will be left
of the world.
- There was always
this sense that
these are the people
that you're going to be with
after everything is destroyed.
- Frederick told us
we were going to literally be
the bastions of the new age.
And he said, one day,
they'll have
statues of us in the future.
- So we bought the property,
and we would all go back
and forth between New York
and North Carolina to set up
a compound down there,
where we could be ready for
when the space people
would arrive.
♪
- I remember when
we first got the property,
Freddie was down on the dock,
and he's down there
completely nude.
[soft acoustic music]
This is a small town
in North Carolina.
Homeboy's down
on the dock naked.
♪
- Understandably,
most of the visitors
to the Lake Lure area
come for the natural beauty
and spectacular scenery.
♪
- In a little bitty town
like Lake Lure,
the rumor mill is full
of all kinds of things.
The Eternal Values folks,
they wanted to keep
a low profile,
but they weren't
very good at it.
I mean, you've got these
extremely beautiful people
coming into this
little bitty town,
and they stick out
like a sore thumb,
especially when they take
a rustic mansion of a house
and turn it into a pink palace.
- It was like a 6,000 square
foot version of For End.
We had pink marble floors.
It was going to become this
grand palace for Frederick.
- I'm sure everybody had
binoculars and cameras on us.
- You would hear rumors.
I remember a little talk
about, I think,
some visitors
from another world coming here
and meeting up with
some of their members.
And the local people
did not like that.
- I remember John invited me
to come to the lake house.
That was a big deal.
It was really cool.
And I was--I was so excited.
You know,
I thought it would be
a nice retreat with the group.
- But they could be
your best friend.
They could be
your worst nightmare.
It could change.
They call you names.
They disparage your character.
They insult your intellect.
- Back then,
most of the members
were kind of living
a very celibate life.
[tense music]
- At first, their relationship
seemed like almost
an infatuation,
but it really expanded into
this full blown love affair.
And John and Jacki got
to the point
where they really wanted
to actually get married.
- At the time, I thought,
I care about this person,
so if this is
my spiritual journey,
then here I am
getting married.
♪
It was a very small ceremony
in the apartment.
No one was there
except Eternal Values people.
- I was, like,
kind of shocked by it.
Holy shit,
he's getting married.
How's that working out?
- "Romantic love was
the downfall of mankind,"
that's something that
Frederick said repeatedly.
You know, that would be
completely selfish.
That was just against
everything we stood for.
♪
- If celibacy was the thing
that was going to prepare us
for this end game
of the pole shift and us being
leaders of the new age, then--
then, all right, man.
But I wanted to have sex.
I mean, you're in your 20s.
[upbeat music]
- There was a shift
at one point
because that pent up
sexual energy
started to become problematic.
Frederick just got fed up
with it and said,
"OK, you're all impossible.
"Listen, you know, rather than
get involved with other people,
you should just all do it
with each other."
Don't be attached to your body.
It's just a body.
You've got urges.
Just get it out and realize
none of it matters.
And just go through
this transition,
and you'll get back
to the other side,
where you can be
celibate again.
- On the first night out
with this gentleman
that you like so much,
blow his mind,
if you know what I mean.
♪
- Suddenly, everybody
needed to be sexual.
- There's another host
of ladies of all being
initiated into the beyond.
Models galore.
- When I was away
on some of my model shoots,
I was able to kind of have
these occasional
trysts with, you know, ladies.
This is part
of the glamorous moments,
having your pants
ripped off by a woman.
But I would come back
and share those experiences,
and it was kind of welcomed.
- Do everything in moderation
and have a great time
and have a blast.
You should visualize yourself
as a little bumblebee
going to all the flowers of
the experiences in existence.
- When it shifted
from the celibate nature,
did things go south?
Yeah, I think
things went south.
And it's very sad.
- I was working
for Frederick full-time.
I was his personal
assistant 24/7,
shielding Frederick
from problems
and filtering who came
in and out.
- Back then, Frederick claimed
to be asexual,
that he was beyond all of that.
He had talked about some
of his past conquests,
you know, with certain guys,
and that was part
of his evolution.
But once he had had this
kind of Walk-In experience
that--you know,
and he put that to the side,
and he was now committing
himself to God,
and this work
that he was doing.
But these men would come by,
and Frederick would take them
in the back room,
and usually he might do like
a kind of lifelike
reading with them.
And then he would come out,
and say, "Oh, Lord, H,
"this person,
he's having such trouble.
"His wife, his kids.
Will you help him out?"
And I'd just like,
peel off 100 bucks
and give it to the guy,
having no idea that
I was paying for
what just happened
in the back room.
- Frederick does what he does.
I escort them out
down the basement,
out through 55th Street,
so the 54th Street side doorman
didn't know Frederick was
having a hustler about
three or four times a week.
[tense music]
Frederick, I'm, like,
walking around with him
in Times Square.
It was like we were on a hunt.
He would say, "Dear,
we're on a special mission
to find the biggest dicks
in the universe."
And he would call them
the "dicks of death."
Frederick just thought
this was hilarious.
But it's not funny at all,
in retrospect.
- Psychic Hindu astrology
knight Frederick Von Mierers.
- Good evening,
ladies and gentlemen.
- I want to ask Frederick
about some predictions
he had made
a very long time ago.
This terrible AIDS epidemic.
You had made that
prediction years ago.
- Three years ago.
- Oh, I was going to say
it's got to be
two, maybe three years ago.
- Many people have written
to the Eternal Values
about AIDS.
AIDS is an ancient disease from
the foundation of the Earth
and has been brought back by
the evil thoughts of humanity.
- It's mysterious,
it's deadly,
and it's baffling
medical science.
Once thought to affect only
promiscuous homosexual males,
AIDS is now spreading
in epidemic proportions
to other segments
of the population.
[solemn music]
- Frederick became
boundaryless.
I started getting more
and more uncomfortable,
what was being asked of me,
what was being expected
from me and others.
Frederick had said
sex was supposed to be
an act of freedom,
and actually it became
more of a repression,
you know, a pressure.
That's the way
it closed in on me.
♪
But I got away before
the worst of it happened.
♪
- It was terrifying
during the time of AIDS,
having various encounters.
- Sexual energy is God himself
living in you as you.
- I didn't have any sex
with him
or anybody with him, but--
but he did, like, tutor.
- Paul.
- Walter Russell was
entirely self-educated.
- For John,
his whole adult life
had been this group.
But I think he was realizing
that something was wrong here.
- When you suffer more,
you take on the burden
of the world.
When the burden of the world
gets heavier and heavier,
you begin to break
underneath it,
and then you begin
to scream out for help.
- I believe that John,
as a young man,
was completely earnest
in his desire to help
and to do good things
for other people.
So he protected me
and kept me a little insulated
from some of the more
disturbing things
that were going on.
♪
Frederick was demanding
people in the group have
these sexual encounters
with one another
or with strangers
that would come in.
You'd have to fuck them
or they would fuck you,
whatever Frederick had
in his head.
♪
- A lot of these women
I consider like sisters,
and it actually felt,
like, incestuous to me,
as awful as that sounds.
And I was not comfortable.
And it was always framed,
whether by Frederick
or by even some of the others
in their group,
that it was just
because I was repressed.
I just couldn't be free
and not be attached
and just see it
for what it was.
It was just sex,
and that's all it is.
And that was just
a smattering of what
I think others went through
on a much more
consistent basis,
because I wasn't around
all the time.
- Frederick said,
"Unless you're free enough
"to go on Fifth Avenue
and sit on a dildo
"and not care about what
other people think about you,
then you're not truly free."
You know, the basic tenet
was non-attachment.
And don't be self-conscious.
Don't worry about what
other people think of you.
- In retrospect, the whole
dynamics of the group
was based on
Frederick's belief
that everyone wanted
to be like him.
And if you weren't able
to manifest certain behavior
that was like him, then
you were somehow lesser than
or oppressed or there was
something wrong with you.
- Frederick would encourage us
to pursue these
sensational experiences.
I'm talking about using drugs.
Maybe a little bit too much
of the ecstasy,
and then you can do things
that you never thought about
or never even wanted
to know about.
Now, you're doing it
because you're just
kind of eased into it,
and then you're--
it's too late to say no.
♪
- To infringe on someone's
right of self-determination
is satanically evil and total
psychological manipulation,
from your erection
to your resurrection.
- Ah, fuck.
I don't even know
how to put it, man.
It just fucking
breaks my heart.
- I don't think
I'll ever be at peace
with any of what happened.
Whether I was there or not,
I heard the stories.
And the fact that
I didn't stop it
or make a stand in some way,
it's one of the great regrets
I still hold.
And I just wish
I'd handled it differently.
♪
- John was doing all
of the astrology readings.
He was kind of the workhorse
for Frederick.
- You know, we had a two-
or three-year waiting list
to do life readings.
- You paid $350 per tape.
We had orders flowing in.
- John just couldn't do
all the work
that Frederick was
asking him to do.
And Frederick could
get really angry.
- It was demanded of me
to lock John in a room
and not to give him
any food or water or anything
until he produced a certain
number of astrology readings.
But I couldn't do that
to this sweet, young man.
It was all OK when
it was happening to me.
It was not OK if I was going
to do it to someone else.
That was what woke me up.
I was finally realizing
that this is abusive.
And it quickly became apparent
that we needed to leave.
[tense music]
- As the John and Jacki
relationship
became more intensified,
there became whispers
and talks within the ranks of,
what are we going to do
to stop this?
How do we expose this
and hopefully bring it
to an end?
We did know that
there was going to be
a seminar coming up
where he was supposed to be
one of the main speakers
with Frederick.
And so there became this plan
to use that opportunity
to expose John, hoping that
it might end the relationship
and bring him back
to his senses.
♪
- And I would say about
40, 50 people showed up.
And, you know, John starts
trying to explain that
everything is not what it seems
with this group
and definitely not
with Frederick.
- Frederick called him out
in front of all the people.
And these are
innocent bystanders.
- They started to attack.
It was just this whole
avalanche of hate.
Absolute hate.
- It's time that we all stop
this monster that is growing.
- Ultimately,
there was a confrontation
that happened back in For End.
And we're condoning that.
- It felt very empowering
to confront Frederick.
But when we left,
I was still invested
in the belief that
he had powers--
supernatural powers.
We were programmed to think
they could do
whatever they wanted to us.
It was like, what's around
the corner of that building?
You know, are they--
are they looking?
Are they here?
Are they listening?
Do they have
my apartment bugged?
'Cause remember,
they had access to everything.
It was completely
exposed-feeling.
- John and Jacki had
just gotten lost.
So Frederick said right now,
we had to kind of
build spiritual warriors
that were going
to take on this battle
that was coming.
- And it is a battle of
the dark and diabolical forces
to take control of men's minds.
- They were now part
of those outer forces
that were trying to destroy
the good things
that are here on Earth,
like the work that
we were doing.
And so we came
to this conclusion
that if John's betraying us,
John must be the Antichrist.
- This tape was sent
to any and everyone
Frederick could think of.
- We were characterized
as these terrible, evil people.
- It was absolutely
frightening.
- We're all spiritual family,
brothers and sisters.
But if you leave the group,
we will crush you.
It's like pure, blind faith,
right?
Blind faith.
We all know
how dangerous that is.
Would we have all taken
a bullet for Frederick?
I think at that point, yeah.
I hate to admit that
about myself,
but I think
I probably would have.
♪
After John and Jacki left,
our group was kind of
going through a transition.
And there was a television show
called "People Are Talking"
with this guy Richard Bey.
- Good morning.
Thanks for joining me today
on "People Are Talking."
I'm Richard Bey.
- Somehow, they got ahold
of the story around Frederick
and this group
he was involved with.
And they reached out
to him to say,
"We'd love to interview you
and kind of find out
what you're doing."
And--and Frederick thought,
oh, this is fantastic.
- There is an idea
that most people have
that we are not alone
in this universe,
that there are other
life forms present
throughout the galaxies.
Frederick Von Mierers is known
as a Walk-In.
- But because
John was now absent,
I had to be there
side-by-side with Freddie.
And that was terrifying to me.
- Frederick, what is a Walk-In?
What does that mean?
- We're not here to talk
about sensationalism.
The fundamental--
- Wait, one second.
Frederick, you claim you're
from another planet, right?
- I'm explaining it to you.
- I know, but is that--can you
answer that question?
Do you claim that
you are from Arcturus?
- I said I am a Walk-In, yes,
and I did come from Arcturus.
- All right.
What was your physical form
on Arcturus?
- Hydrogen light body.
- And I just didn't
consider myself
to be the best representative
of what Eternal Values
was supposed to be.
I mean, I just was
absolutely horrified
that I could just somehow
put my foot in my mouth.
But yeah, there's no way
I was going
to turn down Freddie.
I first met Frederick
when I was about 16
on the beach in Nantucket.
- Is it fair to say that
you are an extraterrestrial
or an ET,
as much as you are
an earthling?
- I think it's very important
that we don't get into
this whole idea that
the whole extraterrestrials,
very sensationalist.
What we're trying to say
is that when--
- Not sensationalist.
You say it as a fact.
- Can you understand--
- Who are you?
- Who am I?
Richard Bey, born
in Far Rockaway, Queens.
- What is Richard Bey?
- July 22, 1951.
2:08 in the morning.
- What is Richard Bey?
All the ideas that you just
presented to this audience--
- How far back--
- Please do not interrupt me.
- Oh, thank you.
- Do all the ideas--
- You may have a talk show
on Arcturus,
but you don't have one
in Secaucus.
[cheers and applause]
- Now, what
we didn't prepare for
was that this was
kind of a setup.
- You want to know
what I really think?
I think you found some young,
impressionable people
who are on a quest
for spiritual moral values.
[cheers and applause]
This is all fine.
We'll be right back
in just a moment.
- I'm back there, and I'm
watching everything go on.
And they were loaded for bear.
They were, like, really clear.
This guy's a whack job.
It's a cult.
- Is it just a coincidence
that all of you
are, like, gorgeous people?
Is there any reason
why you are chosen?
- No one is chosen,
so to speak.
Everybody makes
the choice themself.
- Do you believe as well that
you are from another planet?
- Absolutely.
- You do?
I'll tell you, if they look
like you on this planet,
I'm going to buy
a ticket right now.
[laughter]
- Everything about it
went wrong.
- How do your parents
react to this?
- Our father is God,
and our mother
is Mother Nature.
- They had planted
born-again Christians
in the audience.
- Everything that's been
discussed today is heresy.
- Amen!
- People that were ready
to just throw arrows.
- Crime and the perversion
that's going on
in New York City!
- Do you?
- Do you have an answer?
- It was clear that
people in the audience
had no real interest in hearing
what Frederick had to say.
- You're going
into the most crucial
period of Earth history.
The terrible earthquakes,
the storms.
We must warn you.
We're here to warn you
of these things.
We are sincere.
- Without question,
it was certainly
not one of our finer moments.
After that, we thought,
you know, we're not going
on television again.
- It became a confirmation of
Freddie always saying
that the media will never
understand what we're doing.
The mass world isn't ready
to hear what we have to say.
We're only here
for the selected few,
who will get the message
we have to bring to them.
After the show,
I got a letter from my dad.
"Dear John,
it's with heavy heart
"that I take up my pen
and write to you.
"Words cannot describe
how I feel about Frederick.
Evil, sinister, a fake are
just a few that come to mind."
He can't imagine anyone would
ever want to be associated
with Frederick,
and anyone who would
has to have their head
examined.
- And I assume that you were
also on Arcturus as well,
although it does not
say that here.
- That's right.
- I was furious to say
that he was from Arcturus.
[soft music]
I said, John, you were born
in Syracuse, New York.
And I held you in my arms.
♪
- But afterwards,
I was dictated by Frederick
a letter
to write back to my dad.
It says, "Dad,
it was not with heavy heart,
"but with empty pocketbook
that you wrote to me.
I basically have
no respect for you"
[sniffles, gulps]
"Because you are spineless
and have allowed yourself
"to be manipulated
all your life.
"You operate under
the whip of a wife
"who uses everything
to get what she wants.
You have never been man enough
to stand up to her."
[tense music]
♪
- Deprogramming from
Frederick's mind control,
it was completely disorienting.
John and I were very much
holding on to each other
and supporting each other,
as he realized that
everything he had believed in
had been used falsely.
He struggled with that.
I was able to help John
just to start detoxing.
♪
But we had difficult things
to think about.
Our absolute identity
has just been wiped.
And we have nothing in common
except the group,
Eternal Values,
and the fact that
we've been through something.
It made a good friendship,
you know,
but I did not feel
like his wife.
I was able to get
an annulment,
and I really tried
to go back to my life.
But I felt a lot of shame.
I mean, it was
really embarrassing,
because I thought
that I knew better.
And it made me angry.
This group's been around
for a while.
These people are known.
No one said anything.
So that's why I contacted
the DA's office.
I told them about the group
and about Frederick's gemstones
and who he sold this to
and that to.
The DA's office took it on.
I was asked to participate
undercover.
I went with the detective
in the Diamond District
to substantiate
some of the claims
I was making into
the gemstone sales side of it.
Because Freddie's appraisals
that he got from his guy
were pretty darn high,
so the values were always
inflated on these appraisals.
And that's how Frederick was
getting a great deal of money.
- I don't think that they were
totally worthless like glass,
but Frederick would add on
a certain amount
to the appraisal.
40% more, 50%, 60%, 70%,
whatever Frederick said.
- The DA's office started
building their case.
They said they were very close
with what they were finding.
You know, we are seeing
some stuff here.
So John and I were
working together
to get this story out.
And I wanted
to let people know that,
one, this group exists,
and two,
these things can happen
to anybody.
The next thing I know,
Marie Brenner
from "Vanity Fair"
had heard about Frederick,
and she wanted
to interview us,
and we agreed.
And the whole idea was
I would do the interview
and help Brenner with whatever
I could share about the story.
- When the "Vanity Fair"
article happened,
they actually
photographed Frederick.
[tense music]
And at that point, he'd just
had his, like, fifth facelift,
and he still was willing
to have them come in
and have his picture taken.
- I definitely felt
that was a mistake.
Frederick looked tired
and run down.
And we told him,
we suspected that
it was probably going
to paint the Eternal Values
in a negative light.
- But he was so confident,
and he laughed.
Like, he didn't worry.
He never worried
about anything.
He did things fearlessly.
He was a pioneer.
[tense music]
- I was out running errands.
♪
And I go into the 7-Eleven.
And I was just like, is that--
am I tripping right now?
Like, what?
What is--really?
♪
- I'm walking down the street.
I see this magazine with
Kathleen Turner on the cover.
And in the little corner,
it says,
"The Ford Models
and the Alien from Arcturus."
Like, what--what is this?
Here are all these
pictures of Hoyt,
pictures of Catherine.
Here's a picture
of all of my friends.
And you're all saying that
we're some wacko group.
- I was really furious.
Like, how could
John and Jacki do this?
Smear lies and twist truths,
you know, to make
Frederick look bad.
But as horrific as that was,
it got much worse.
- Not all cult members
have shaved heads
or glazed expressions.
One might be
your next door neighbor.
One might be the person
who commutes
to work with you
in the morning.
Or they may be among the most
glamorous people in the world.
They're top
professional models
represented by the prestigious
Ford Modeling Agency.
They're also members of a cult
called Eternal Values.
- When "Inside Edition" thing
came out, I was livid.
- Bob and Terry Hoyt
brought up their six children
in Berwyn, Pennsylvania.
- My mother and dad told
their side of the story,
and they really threw
Frederick under the bus.
- It was just a great,
big phony sham.
- It only widened the chasm
between me and my family,
and I treated it as,
this is an example
of what Frederick
warned me about,
that--that you can't trust
your family,
and they're never going to
understand what you're doing.
- John, with his charisma,
was able to go out
and seek out the women
and bring them back
to Frederick.
- Frederick Von Mierers
and some of his followers
engaged in bizarre
sexual activities.
- How could he convince
his followers
to do something like that?
- I don't know.
- I shudder to think about
what these men and women
are going to deal with
for the rest of their lives.
- I felt incredibly proud of
having been the whistleblower.
Everyone within the industry
started talking about this.
[tense music]
It started becoming
the model cult.
♪
- I remember, I was going
through "Vanity Fair"
and looking at it
and thinking, what is this?
And Hoyt's name was in it,
and I went, "Oh, my God."
♪
But I saw the name
Frederick Von Mierers.
I couldn't believe
it was really him,
'cause I hadn't seen him
in years.
His skin was so smooth.
I remember it looked
more like a mask.
And it was odd to see a man
that age looking like that.
- What age he was roughly
when you met him originally?
- I would say it was early 20s.
Freddie had no reputation
when I met him.
I mean, he was just
a young kid in modeling.
And he was very secretive
about his family.
- I rather come
from a very rich family
and give everything away.
I'm not here to gain money.
- Do you have a trust fund
from your wealthy family?
- Yes.
- Why don't you give
that money back?
Because it's not yours.
You're from Arcturus.
That money belongs here
in the United States.
- We thought he had been
like a prince
and had given up
this worldly life
to now live a spiritual life.
We had all been reading
these Ruth Montgomery books,
and we just took it as truth.
- Reared at 68th Street
and Park Avenue.
His parents died
in an automobile accident.
Frederick traveled
the high roads of Europe,
meeting socially
with the Queen of England.
Nantucket, Aristocrat,
Walk-In from another planet.
- Frederick had two sides--
Frederick Von Mierers
the name, the affected voice,
the pretension, the clothing,
the jewels, all of that--
I mean, to me, it was like
he was still Freddie Meyer,
a nice boy
from Brooklyn, New York.
♪
- Back in the '60s,
when I was a model,
I was the brunette,
and Freddy Mierers was
the blonde.
♪
But Freddy and I hit it off
because he told me
he came from Brooklyn.
♪
I lived right on the border
of Bensonhurst,
and he lived in Bay Ridge.
♪
"Frederick Von Mierers,"
you know,
that was all an act to me.
I used to think
he was a great actor.
To me, he came from Brooklyn.
He was a fucking kid
from Brooklyn.
♪
- In the '60s,
he would tell me things
about his earlier life,
to which he totally
disowned later on in life.
I remember him telling me
that his mom was 16
when he was born.
But it was all too much,
I think, for his mom,
who was so young,
to deal with him.
So he was living mostly,
I think, with an aunt
and a grandmother.
He was sort of on his own.
♪
I got a sense that
he just hustled his way
from one situation to another.
That's probably why
he changed his name,
so that people really
couldn't trace him
to be the nice boy
from Brooklyn.
♪
Frederick adapted himself
to fit into those places.
The Upper East Side
kind of society.
I think once
he caught a wind of it
and saw the other world
that he could grab onto,
he held onto it dearly.
It was as if
Brooklyn never existed.
♪
He studied everything.
He studied every person.
He knew everything about them.
But the most important thing--
if somebody was
a little insecure,
he'd make them feel secure,
which the modeling world was
perfect for him.
- Many members
of the Eternal Values
are doing modeling in New York
and being very successful.
- A lot of models are not
by nature secure people.
- You all want a fairy tale,
don't you?
The very fact that
you seek a beautiful girl,
a beautiful boy,
a perfect life means
you all want
a fairy tale on Earth.
- They grow up
not really trusting the fact
that people like them
for who they are
and just like them
for their looks.
♪
Freddie was very sharp
about all of that.
- Before the "Vanity Fair"
article broke,
people only talked about Hoyt
in terms of his career
with awe because he was
effortlessly working
with all the best people
back-to-back.
At no time were there any
remarks, veiled or otherwise,
about his private life
until the day
the article hit the newsstand.
- He was an enigma.
He was a huge star.
And then this word came out,
and these whispers went
around the business.
And it was kind of
titillating in a way.
You know, it was, ooh, drama.
Did you hear about Hoyt?
- Hoyt was always
such an amazing guy.
And I thought, OK, right now,
he's been misguided.
And I used to tell him.
I said, I don't know
about these people.
And I remember all the other--
you know, all the other models,
they were, like,
making fun of him,
and I was always defending him,
because he was my friend.
- It was interesting.
You know, I've known Hoyt
throughout the years,
but I don't think
that Hoyt ever
really spoke about Frederick.
♪
When I read the article
in "Vanity Fair,"
I wanted to call Hoyt, and I
wanted to call people about it.
And I thought, no,
I'm not going down that road.
- Did you ever think about it?
- No, I wouldn't bring it up
to Hoyt because
that was his--
that was his world.
I mean, there are certain
things you know with people
that you just don't bring up.
I mean, unless
they offer it to you.
It wasn't like I was going
to be saving him,
and he didn't look
like he needed saving.
♪
- After the "Vanity Fair"
article hit,
I actually had booked
a commercial
down in the Grenadine Islands.
But I got all the way
to the Grenadines,
and I'm told to basically
turn around and go home
because the client decided
I'm too blonde.
But I knew it was
because of the article.
- A few weeks
after the story burst,
I was looking at
a year's worth of empty charts.
Everything canceled.
- And that was
kind of my indication
that this might be
the life I'm looking at.
No one's going to want
to work with me.
I'm basically going
to be taboo.
But if my career is
going to end,
I'll just go back to Europe,
I'll see if I can get
a couple more jobs,
and I'll leave the business
with a good taste in my mouth.
But what I discovered
when I got to Europe
is they were fascinated.
[upbeat music]
And people started to actually
book me just to see
if I might do something weird
on the job.
♪
- Suddenly, there was
so much work
that our problem was
actually turning it down.
- Fresh over from America,
let's hear it for TLC!
[cheers and applause]
- It actually
accelerated my career
and became this huge catapult
that set me into
a whole other realm.
First time ever to Russia.
And when I would go on the jobs
right after the "Vanity Fair"
article happened
The true adventure
is beginning now.
If someone had the balls
to kind of ask me about it,
I would say,
well, what do you think?
You guys know me.
I've been in the business
for a long time.
Do you actually believe
that I would be involved
with what this article
was talking about?
And most people were like,
"No, I wouldn't think so."
I said, yeah, it's not true.
It's not true.
None of it's true.
♪
My career actually
became much better
than it ever had before
the "Vanity Fair" article.
And I got the biggest job
I ever did,
which was this editorial
for Mondo Uomo.
They devoted
the entire magazine
to one model, which was me.
- I supply creativity
to what others ♪
- It's never been done, ever.
I've never seen any model,
male or female, do this.
It's just a list of amazing,
amazing photographers,
and they're shooting
their visions of Hoyt.
- I know a lot of people
depend on me ♪
- It was a male model
at the very, very top.
- Hoyt Richards is the highest
paid male model in the world,
but you wouldn't know it
by talking to him.
Success has never gone
to his head.
[reporters clamoring]
- Around that time,
I got booked on a job
with Jacki.
And I tell you,
and looking back on it,
I wonder, like, if people
did that intentionally or not.
I have no idea.
I wouldn't put it past
the fashion industry.
- I mean,
the whole industry knew.
So it was really ironic to me--
and horrifying--
the industry would put me
with this guy.
[soft music]
It was a couple's shoot,
and I had to be
his girlfriend or his wife
or somebody in this picture.
I mean, it was horrible,
because as a professional,
I got that shoot done.
I did it.
But it really hurt,
because it seemed like
he thought it was
hysterically funny.
He wasn't very nice at all.
♪
- I don't remember
specifically
how I handled myself
or what I said to her,
but I certainly know my intent
was to make her feel terrible
about what she had done.
♪
- I pretty much became
a laughing stock.
But I won't back down
from speaking truth,
even if it makes me
look ridiculous.
And I was aware
of the fact that
this would have an incredibly
negative impact on my career,
because at least at that time,
it was just, you were--
this idea of being
a perfect canvas,
no history, no nothing.
They could just imprint
whatever they wanted
on your image.
I was saying things
that weren't--
they weren't something
people wanted to hear.
I did try to keep going on
for a while,
but it was pretty much
the end of my career
as a model.
♪
Pretty much.
♪
- First of all,
tell us what you're wearing.
- I wasn't willing to go
to that place to say that
a lot of this is true.
It was more about a strong
sense of betrayal from her.
I reacted in a way where I just
dug in my heels even more.
[ominous music]
- Never underestimate
the power of denial.
You just stuff
those feelings down
and you throw it away,
throw it away
and pretend you're not--
you gaslight
your own goddamn self.
♪
- I've done things
that, you know,
I would have only, you know,
read about in books.
And so, for me, it's been like
living your fairy tale.
But the reality is,
the "Vanity Fair" article
was like setting off
an atom bomb in Eternal Values,
because Frederick died
five days before
the "Vanity Fair" article hit.
♪
- So you were there
when Frederick passed?
- Yes.
- Did you understand that
he just died of natural causes?
- Um
[tense music]
- You didn't hear anything
nefarious about his passing?
- Oh, I did.
I definitely did.
- Did what?
- I heard nefarious things
about Frederick's passing.
- And--but you were there.
- Ask the question.
♪
- I wanted to know
what happened.
What was the situation?
What were the circumstances?
Put me in that
motherfucking place.
I need to know. I need to know.
[upbeat music]
I mean, the leader died,
for Christ's sake.
And I keep saying "died."
I keep saying "died."
♪
He didn't die.
They killed him.
I don't have any problems
saying that.
They killed him.
- Some people have to be
permanently together ♪
♪
Lovers devoted
to each other forever ♪
♪
Now I've got things to do ♪
And I've said before
that I know you have too ♪
When I'm not there ♪
In spirit, I'll be there ♪
Here is a plea
from my heart to you ♪
Nobody knows me
as well as you do ♪
You know how hard it is
for me to shake the disease ♪
That takes hold of my tongue
in situations like these ♪
♪
Understand me ♪
Understand me,
understand me ♪
Understand me ♪
[bright tone]