Amanda Frances is offering some more context on her past experience in a cult.
“I have two bible school degrees. I have a ministry training degree, and then my bachelor’s degree is also from a religious university,” Amanda, 41, told Us Weekly exclusively while promoting the show’s 15th season. “Between ministry training school and bachelor’s, I was, for two years, very highly involved in a church that I consider to be a cult.”
She added, “It fits all the criteria for a cult. It fits all the criteria for religious abuse. That was what it was for me. That was the experience I had.”
The Thursday, January 29, episode of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills featured Dorit Kemsley dropping the cult revelation while out to dinner with costars Kyle Richards and Bozoma Saint John.
“We had that lunch and she told me that she wrote this book, and I went looking up her book,” Dorit, 49, said. “I see this blog that says, ‘I was in a cult.’ I was like, ‘What?’ … In a cult.”
During her confessional, Dorit started reading Amanda’s October 2015 blog post detailing how she left a cult. (Amanda did not disclose any further details.)
“I’ve always been a writer. … That’s what I do. That’s my process. It’s one of the ways I teach,” Amanda told Us, addressing Dorit’s revelation. “The very first blog is on what it is to leave a cult and then not be able to trust yourself and go, ‘What was that? How did I get into that? And how do I trust myself again to make choices as a young adult woman?’ It’s a good blog, but it’s not easy to find.”
Amanda wondered how Dorit even found the blog since it was written more than a decade ago.
“It was never a secret. I’ve written, like, four blogs on the topic, in addition to other articles. The cult story isn’t a secret. Everyone in my audience, in my community, women in my courses, have known this story forever,” she continued. “So, when she’s pulling it up like it’s dirt, it’s very weird to me. Because it’s not dirt.”
Amanda clarified that the blog post was her sharing the “experience of trying to find [my] way in the world.”
The first-time Bravo star also speculated on what caused the disconnect between her and some of her castmates during the season. (Several RHOBH stars questioned Amanda’s business and title as the “Money Queen.”)
“As an entrepreneur, me empowering new entrepreneurs makes a lot of sense,” she told Us. “Everything I teach in my courses is things that I know and things that I know well.”
Watching the show back, Amanda sees herself as someone who is “just trying to relate” to her costars.
“Maybe it was awkward in moments. Maybe there was a touch of neurodivergence. We’re not all normal. We don’t all communicate the exact same way,” Amanda said. “I think there was gratitude and pride coming from me in a lot of these scenes, that when you just get a chunk of it, you don’t see that Amanda is really appreciative for her life and what she’s created.”
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills airs on Bravo Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET and streams the next day on Peacock.
