(Credits: TCM)
Fri 14 November 2025 8:30, UK
The star of Fatal Attraction, Dangerous Liaisons, Albert Nobbs, and more, Glenn Close is a phenomenal actor who rarely disappoints with range and longevity that most other performers would kill for, and all of these achievements mean so much more when you learn about her upbringing, which was unconventional to say the least.
The unluckiest woman in the history of the Oscars was born in 1949 in Greenwich, Connecticut, to William Close, a doctor who played a major role in the fight against Ebola, and Elizabeth Moore, a socialite. When Close was just seven years old, her life changed forever when her parents joined a movement called Moral Re-Armament (MRA), founded in 1923, promoting itself as a spiritual organisation, but there’s only one word for what it actually was: a cult.
The group was led by a man called Frank Buchman, a Lutheran minister with a spotty history, praised by some for his commitment to the Bible. He landed in hot water on a number of occasions, not least when he publicly praised Adolf Hitler for creating what he called “a front line of defence against the anti-Christ of Communism”, and his ardent adherence to so-called Christian values and morality appealed to many at the time, especially after the chaos of World War II. In practice, however, his teachings were a hard sell.
“You basically weren’t allowed to do anything, or you were made to feel guilty about any unnatural desire,” Close relayed in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, noting, “If you talk to anybody who was in a group that basically dictates how you’re supposed to live and what you’re supposed to say and how you’re supposed to feel, from the time you’re seven till the time you’re 22, it has a profound impact on you. It’s something you have to [consciously overcome] because all of your trigger points are.”
Strangely, the MRA played a big role in encouraging Close to get into performing. When her parents were part of the organisation, she joined a singing group called Up With People, and though they weren’t always open about it, the collective had close links to the MRA and helped to spread their ideology.
They were ultra-clean, ultra-positive, and equally as shady, with a massive influence on pop culture, inspiring everything from episodes of The Simpsons to the REM song ‘Shiny Happy People’.
Close is far from the only Hollywood star to have been involved in a dodgy group, with the parents of Joaquin Phoenix and his siblings being part of the controversial Children of God sect, as was Fleetwood Mac guitarist Jeremy Spencer. Then there’s Winona Ryder, who still talks fondly about her time living in Rainbow, a commune in California, showing that the industry does occasionally branch out beyond the Scientology label.
Close’s desire to make it in Hollywood eventually played a part in her breaking away from the group, but she remains tight-lipped about how it all came about.
“Many things led me to leave. I had no toolbox to leave, but I did it,” she recalled, before refusing to explain exactly how she got out, adding instead, “I’m not going to go into all of that. You can’t in an interview.”
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