WATCH: Gay model’s New Age cult for beautiful people exposed in wild new docuseries
HBO's 'Bring Me The Beauties' uncovers new details of Eternal Values & its handsome, charismatic leader, who claimed to be an alien.
Mark
In the late ’80s, Hoyt Richards became one of the most famous faces in the world. He’s often considered one of the first male supermodels, having risen to celebrity status alongside the likes of Cindy Crawford & Naomi Campbell, while appearing on runways, magazine covers, and million-dollar ad campaigns.
But when he wasn’t working, Richards would return to his home in NYC, an apartment where he lived with nearly 100 other very beautiful people, all of whom strictly followed New Age teachings and took part in ritualistic practices, while also preparing for some supposed apocalypse coming at the turn of the century.
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So, yeah, it was a cult.
Called Eternal Values, the cult was spearheaded by one Frederik Von Mierers, who claimed to be an alien from the planet Arcturus. Incredibly handsome and charismatic, the former model & escort had reinvented himself as a spiritual guru who recruited only the most beautiful and influential to his cause, promising enlightenment in return.
Richards was one of his earliest followers, who remembers being approached by Von Mierers on a Nantucket beach when he was just 16. Before he knew it, the teen was swept up in this enchanting man’s world, accompanying him to parties at the coolest clubs while also establishing himself as a rising supermodel.
Despite what you might think, Richards say he always knew Von Mierers was gay though he maintains there was never a sexual nature to their relationship. In fact, members of Eternal Values were said to practice abstinence, although later reports would allege sex rites were a part of initiation.
The thing is, to this day, little is known about Eternal Values. At 43, Von Mierers died of AIDS in 1990, and it was only a few months after the fact that Vanity Fair published an investigative report titled “East Side Alien” digging into the would-be guru’s mysterious origins and those who continued to practice his beliefs after his passing.
Richards, for his part, stuck with the group, but has cited a power struggle in Von Mierers’ absence, his successors becoming more extreme. It wasn’t until 1999 that he’d had it, moving cross country (staying with his friend Fabio, of all people), and finally realizing he’d been in a cult for the past two decades of his life!
It’s only more recently that Richards has begun speaking out about the experience, reflecting on the coercive nature of the group and the deep emotional harm its caused him. But not everyone sees it that way, with some former members still looking back fondly on their time with Eternal Values.
Now, for the first time, some of these “alum” will join Richards in sharing their story for Bring Me The Beauties: A Model Cult, HBO’s three-part docuseries from filmmaker Chris Smith (who previously directed documentaries about Wham! & Fyre Festival, and produced The Tiger King for Netflix).
Smith tells Vulture, “When we started talking in Hawaii, Hoyt [Richards] said, ‘I doubt you will find anyone else that will talk to you.’” And, indeed, it took a couple of years for the production to find others who would sit down with them, some of whom only agreeing to interviews so they could “defend” Von Mierers.
But they eventually found Jacki Adams, another former model who briefly joined the group, only to be ostracized after speaking out against man of Von Mierers’ more shocking beliefs. It’s her story that’s said to have first publicly exposed the true nature of Eternal Values, giving the docuseries its arc as it traces the cult’s glamorous rise, to its disquieting downfall.
Bring Me The Beauties premieres June 1 on HBO, with its second & third episodes airing on Mondays the following two weeks. Check out its trailer below:
Related
Man recalls horrors of joining cult, being called “sassy slave” and forced to partake in gay sex acts
Matthew, who identifies as straight, joined the cult when he was 18 and quickly found himself brainwashed by the leaders, who controlled his every move.
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