A new TLC docuseries has brought renewed attention to allegations of spiritual manipulation, emotional abuse and financial exploitation involving Mary Cosby, a former cast member of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City.
The three-part series, The Cult of the Real Housewife, examines claims surrounding Faith Temple Pentecostal Church, which Cosby leads with her husband, Robert Cosby Sr., who was formerly her step-grandfather.
Mary Cosby did not participate in the docuseries and has denied the allegations, as reported by the Daily Mail.
Former Members Allege Fear, Control and Financial Pressure
Much of the docuseries centers on testimony from Mary Cosby’s cousin, Dan Cosby, who told Fox News Digital that his experiences inside the church fundamentally changed his view of spiritual leadership.
“How he would do it, how he would use his form of authoritarian-style of leadership and how he would talk to other brothers in the church … pitting them against me or against other members,” Dan said, referring to Robert Cosby Sr., as reported by Fox News. “I wasn’t the only one. There are others that left because they saw the writing on the wall.”
Dan described the leadership environment as unpredictable and humiliating, alleging that members were publicly ridiculed during services.
“There’s two sides of Robert… almost a double personality,” he said. “You just see his true form come out — a total Jekyll-and-Hyde … He would preach and actually call out people in the church and ridicule them … it was just embarrassing.”
According to Dan, fear was a central element that kept members from leaving.
“You were just afraid to leave. People were afraid of leaving,” he said. “This is detrimental to people.”
Financial pressure, he alleged, was enforced through guilt and shame tied to Scripture.
“It wasn’t necessarily what’s going to happen to you … but the pressure that you know you had to give more and [being told] ‘you’re cheap,’” Dan said. “But when you involve your faith and when you think that you’re doing the right thing, and they put this guilty conscience on you that you are going to hell, damnation to you, that if you’re not going to give.”
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Family Fallout and Additional Allegations
The docuseries also includes testimony from Mary Cosby’s estranged sister, Denise Jefferson Odinaka, who said Robert Cosby Sr. played a parental role in their lives before marrying Mary.
“Robert Sr. was just the father figure that Mary and I never really had,” she said, according to the Daily Mail. “We had to revisit what we were to each other once he married my sister. That’s a different kind of person. The reality set in that I lost him.”
Former congregants interviewed in the series also allege that church culture shifted after Mary and her husband assumed leadership, including increased demands for money and monitoring of members. Some claimed cameras were installed in the church to observe congregants while leadership was away, as reported by the Daily Mail.
The series further includes commentary from a cult expert discussing how religious leaders can form what are described as “mind-control cults,” alongside testimonies from former members who allege emotional and spiritual abuse.
Scripture and the Absence of Moral Gray Area
The allegations outlined in the docuseries remain unproven. However, former members emphasized that the most lasting damage came from what they described as the misuse of Scripture to instill fear and enforce obedience.
“To understand, I think that ‘The Cult of the Real Housewife’ points out trauma is real and that people will manipulate that and make you think that God is a certain way,” Dan Cosby told Fox News Digital. “They’ll put their own righteousness into what they believe.”
Regardless of denomination or leadership structure, using Scripture to manipulate, threaten or control others stands in direct opposition to its purpose. Scripture does not exist to produce fear or coercion; it exists to bring truth, accountability and freedom. On that point, there is no middle ground.
Reflecting on the long-term impact of his experience, Dan said, “It doesn’t mean the hurt isn’t there … Our past, those instances, come back to our minds, and that hurt — that will only take God to be able to forgive.”
Prepared by Charisma Media Staff.
