DoctorOz: Gwen Shamblin Story - Truth About Weight Loss & Church

Gwen Shamblin rocketed the stardom on the heels of her faith-based diet program, the Weigh Down Workshop. But controversy soon followed when she expanded her workshop into a religion called the Remnant Fellowship Church. Former members have made allegations of exploitation, psychological, emotional, and even physical abuse. Further scrutiny came this year when Gwen Shamblin, her husband, and other church leaders were in a horrific plane crash, leaving more questions than answers. Do you swear or affirm to testimony that you gave Ms. Mary the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I do. To your knowledge, do any of the members of the Remnant Fellowship consider you to be a prophet? When Gwen first started, I truly believed she really wanted to help people. She was so charismatic. God revealed to me that the key to permanent weight control is a matter of the heart. God's taken 86 pounds off of me. I've lost 196 pounds. It was just a massive media hit. Thousands of churches all over the country would have the Weigh Down Workshops. From that point on, she began realizing there needed to be a new church. It is extremely unusual to have a religious group led by a woman. There are men who are elders of the entire church, but the truth of the matter is I don't believe that Gwen is accountable to anybody. That's the reason I call her Gwen Almighty. She's going to decide whether you make it to heaven or not. That was a clip from the HBO Max series, The Weigh Down, God, Greed, and the Cult of Gwen Shamblin. Dr. Oz, Senior Investigative Correspondent Mars Gabacompo joins us now. How did Gwen Shamblin transform a weight loss program into an entire religion? Yeah, well, Shamblin founded the Weigh Down Diet Workshop in the 80s, and by the mid-90s, this was a booming business, Dr. Oz, being offered in more than 5,000 churches in virtually every state in the country. In 1997, Shamblin released her Weigh Down Diet book, which would go on to sell more than a million copies. So what she was able to do was take this massive following of spiritual dieters and use that to create the Remnant Fellowship Church, which she did in 1999. So this church I'd heard of, but I didn't know that they were allegations of abuse. Explain a little bit about what former church members are saying. So some former members say that the church was controlling and isolating, but the most disturbing allegations of abuse have to do with child abuse. So Shamblin taught parents at the church that they were to beat their children to teach them obedience. And in fact, two members are now serving a 30-year sentence after being convicted of beating their eight-year olds to death. They also would reportedly lock him in a closet with a Bible for days, all allegedly in line with Shamblin's teachings. Now, police investigating this crime say they found no link to the church, but church members did pay for their legal defense. So what's the church saying about the allegations that their teachings or in other ways they were involved in the death of this child? Yeah. So the church has denied all allegations of any emotional, psychological, or physical abuse. When it comes to the death of this eight-year-old boy, they deny that their teachings were involved at all, but they also claim that the parents were wrongfully convicted. They say that the boy was killed by an infection, not by the beatings, despite an autopsy showing just how severely beaten this child was. Right. We'll be back to this. We have more to speak about. So there's no denying that the Remnant Fellowship has had plenty of controversies to address. And the question then becomes, what's the real truth about this secret of church? Teresie, a former member of the Remnant Fellowship, joins us now. I appreciate you making time for us. I know this is a delicate topic for you. How did you get involved in the My church that my husband and I attended had the Bible study, the Weigh Down Workshop in the late 90s. And we had some success, but when the program was pulled out of the church, then we just left it by the wayside. And then in 2014, I got some very severe medical revelations, and I was just desperate. And so I thought, well, let's see if Weigh Down is still in operation, because you know how bad diets go. And so I looked it up on the website and found that it was there. And not only was it there, but they had formed a church. And so that's how I got involved in it. So, Teresie, let's get into the nitty gritty here. You lost over 100 pounds. How did the church help you lose the weight? Well, you are surrounded by over 700 people that are participating in this weight loss. They're 24-7. You have someone there that you can call if you're or any of that kind of thing. So it's kind of like people are there telling you, like, I'm the biggest loser. You've got your trainers there the entire time. And so you're being pressured. You're being told what to do, what not to do. You're being groomed for the church services, everything that's involved with your clothes. They even provide clothes for you when you start losing the weight. So it's like a bubble. You're in a bubble, basically. And how did Gwen treat you when you're losing all that weight? When you are doing the program or following the message, then you are her best friend. Everything is good when you're doing the right thing. And how did the church react when you weren't doing the right thing, as you say, when you started regaining the weight? As you start regaining the weight, you are brought into leadership or counsel. You're given a more severe mentor. We call them accountability partners. And they monitor your eating on an hourly basis. So you have to check in every hour. And then if you don't lose weight or if you continue to gain, then you're told to stay at home. You're not allowed to come to church because it's confusing the saints. That's what people that are part of Remnant Fellowship are called. You are asked to webcast at home until you get back in conformance and into obedience. It seems pretty harsh. So allegations of abuse have been made against the church. Two members of the congregation, Joseph and Sonia Smith, were even convicted of beating their eight-year-old child, also named Joseph Smith, to death as a punishment for acting out. Teresia, so law enforcement said they could not link Joseph's death to the church. But we're all left wondering if you personally saw any abuse within the church while you were there. Is it possible that teachings may have influenced what happened? Now, we joined in 2014, and Joseph Smith was early in the church's history. So we were not aware of all that had gone on before. We were told about the Smiths that he had had an infection and he died from the infection. I did not really know the extent of it until the documentary came out and saw exactly what did happen. Now, the Smiths are lauded even today. But as far as physical abuse, I did not see any of that type of thing. Teresia, what did you think when Gwen Shamblin divorced her husband of 40 years in order to marry actor Joe Lara? I was appalled. She had spent the last 20 years and was very adamant that women who had husbands that were not part of Remnant Fellowship, or women who were divorced, or they were called the Beulah ladies, and they were told to stay in abusive relationships. And then all of a sudden, after 40 years of marriage, Gwen decides that she's going to leave her husband. And all of these women that had been in these abusive relationships, it's like, well, if Gwen can do it, why can't I? It was very confusing, and I was just, I was very angry. Well, there's more to the story. Coming up, a plane goes down shortly after takeoff. Most of the church leadership were on that fateful flight. What happens next? We've been talking about Gwen Shamblin and the controversial Remnant Fellowship Church. That was a clip from the HBO Max series, The Way Down. We are back with Teresia, a former member of Gwen's religion. So Teresia, what made you ultimately choose to leave the church? I had a lot of, I call them the voices in my mind. I finally realized that what she was saying was not always true, according to my upbringing in the scriptures. But also, I was at my home, and I was working for the church, helping with homeschooling the children. And I was listening to music while the kids were working, and it was not Remnant-approved music. And the girls went home and told their mother, and she came to my house and told me that I was sinning, that I needed to repent, and that she didn't really think that she wanted her daughters coming to my house anymore. And so a couple of days later, my husband got a text from Ted Anger. He likes to say Anger, but it's actually Anger. He wanted a meeting with my husband and I concerning my weight loss, or lack thereof, and my beliefs. And I told my husband, I said, yeah, I'm not going. I don't want to ever, ever step foot in that place again. I want nothing to do with it anymore. And so a few days later after that, there was a text sent to the entire congregation not to have any association with us anymore. We were basically shunned. And that's how we left. We just, that was it. So what message do you have for people who may feel trapped and are trying to leave an uncomfortable place? Believe in yourself, protect yourself, and find someone to help you. If you don't have the courage, find someone to help you. There's an organization called the BeyondZionFoundation.org, and they are there to help people leaving Remnant Fellowship and any other cult. And so they can, they will find some support there. So let me ask you about the plane crash. Gwen, Joe, other church leaders died in a plane crash earlier this year. How did you feel when you first heard the news? Initially, I was very, I, it was disbelief at first. Then I saw, started seeing all the news reports. And my first reaction was, oh my, it's the end of an era. I, I grieve for the people that were on the plane. Most of the people besides Gwen and Joe, I didn't know Joe, but besides Gwen and Joe, they were my friends. And they were precious people. And just, it was a tragedy all the way around. And my heart goes out to those families, but especially the children that were left behind. What about Gwen? How did you feel when you learned she had passed? Well, like I said, it was shock, some disbelief, and relief, actually. It, it was the end of an era of a reign of, I don't want to say terror, but it really was. Just the control. It, I'm sorry she's, she died that way, but the, her reign had come to an end. Teresa, thank you for speaking honestly about what happened to you with the church. So seven leading members of the Remnant Fellowship Church were aboard that flight that crashed in the Percy Priest Lake outside of Nashville on May 29th. I'm going to bring Mara back in here because she knows all about the story. What do we know about the crash for sure? Specifically, I'm curious if there's any implications of wrongdoing and how is it possible the entire church leadership is on one plane? Yeah, so as you mentioned, Shamblin and her husband and several members, a senior church leadership, were on that plane and they all were killed in that accident. And it's believed that Shamblin's husband was actually piloting the plane, even though his pilot's license may have been expired. Now, when it comes to Shamblin's massive fortune, which is the other piece of this, following her death, an early examination of her will suggests that she may not have left any money to the Remnant Church, which now raises serious questions about whether or how much she was ever devoted to that fellowship. So what happens to the Remnant Church now? The leader's dead and she didn't leave any of her fortune to it. Yeah, so they continue to be headquartered in the affluent community of Brentwood, Tennessee. And for now, they're being led by Shamblin's daughter, Elizabeth. And it appears that they're carrying on with business as usual. They are very much up and running and open for business. Thank you very much, Maura. We reached out to the Remnant Fellowship Church for comment, and they vehemently deny the allegations being made against the church, including encouraging child abuse of any kind, asking members to leave the church due to size or weight, pressuring members to ignore medications prescribed by doctors, and engaging in emotional abuse. To learn more about the controversial Remnant Fellowship Church, you can tune into The Way Down, God, Greed, and the Cult of Gwen Shamblin. It's available now on HBO Max.