Glenn Close Says She Relied on Her 'Active Imagination' as a Child While Growing Up in a Cult-Like Religious Group

Mar. 15, 2025

Glenn Close attends Moët & Chandon At The 82nd Annual Golden Globe Awards at The Beverly Hilton on Jan. 5, 2025 in Beverly Hills, Calif.Photo:Michael Kovac/Getty

Michael Kovac/Getty

Glenn Closeis opening up about her unconventional childhood.

The actress, 77, said in a Jan. 19 broadcast of Today’sSunday Sitdownthat she relied on her “active imagination” while growing up in acult-like religious group.

Glenn Close at the Ralph Lauren FW24 Runway Show in New York City on April 29, 2024.Zach Hilty/BFA.com/Shutterstock

Zach Hilty/BFA.com/Shutterstock

The actress, born in Connecticut, was moved to Switzerland at a young age to be raised near the group’s headquarters.

Now, she has told anchor Willie Geist how she resisted the ideology.

“I’m still working it out,” Close said. “From a very early age, when we were running feral in the Connecticut countryside, I always had an incredibly active imagination.”

She continued, “I could take myself out of situations sometimes with my imagination, and not let it get into me as deep as it might have. I think that’s what literally kept me on course of doing what I wanted to do at a very early age, which was be an actress.”

In 2018, the Emmy winnertold PEOPLE in an exclusive interviewthat she once resented her father for getting the family involved with the group, but has learned to understand why her parents were susceptible to the indoctrination.

Close, ultimately, left Moral Re-Armament at age 22 while she was studying acting in college.

“I’ve learned more and more about them and more about what their situation was and how vulnerable they were at certain times,” she previously told PEOPLE. “I think I really understand why they were so vulnerable to a group like that. Not knowing the devastation that it would cause their children.”

Glenn Close at Variety’s 2024 Power of Women in New York City on May 2, 2024.AFF-USA/Shutterstock

AFF-USA/Shutterstock

“Because of the devastation, emotional and psychological of the cult, I have not been successful in my relationships and finding a permanent partner and I am sorry about that,” she said. “I think it is our natural state to be connected like that. I don’t think you ever change your trigger points, but at least you can be aware of them and maybe avoid situations that might make you vulnerable, especially in relationships.”

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In a January appearance on theThe Drew Barrymore Showto promote her new movieBack in Action, Close told hostDrew Barrymorethat she feels happy without a romantic relationship in her life – more than nine years after heramicable splitwith ex-husband David Shaw.

When asked if she has been in a relationship since the divorce, she answered “no.”

“I don’t know. I mean, I’m always up for anything, but I’m very happy right now,” Close said, adding that she has not yet tried dating apps.

“No, I’m too shy to do that,” she explained. “I’m not searching. Because I’m actually — I’m not a hugely comfortably social person, so I don’t leap to go to a party at all. So yeah, I’m okay.”

source: people.com