‘RHOBH’: Was Amanda Frances in a Cult? What She’s Said About Her Past

Amanda Frances made her debut on Season 15 of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, and her presence has garnered mixed reactions from fellow cast members. There’s been noticeable tension between Frances and Dorit Kemsley, which came to a head when Kemsley tried to discuss their issues on (unknowingly) the anniversary of Frances’ son’s death.

In previews for the Thursday, January 29, episode, the aftermath of that dramatic conversation is teased, including a gossip session where Kemsley mentions seeing a story about Frances being in a cult. Below, we’re breaking down everything we know about that claim.

Was Amanda Frances in a cult?

In a 2011 blog post, Frances wrote that she was “in a cult” for two years of her life. She did not name the “organization” she was referring to, but hinted that it had religious ties.

According to Frances, she was in a “controlling, really frightening situation” during those two years. She said she was not able to “be myself, live my life, call home too often, talk to a myriad of people from my school or hometown, date boys, drink alcohol, hang out with people who dated or drank, visit another church, be close to people that did not commit to volunteer/dedicating their lives to my church, talk about my life to anyone who wasn’t at a higher ranking than me in the little system of the church, etc.”

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Frances admitted that she realized what she’d gotten herself into when she started studying cults. “Each time I read something new, I hope that the group I was in doesn’t fit the criteria,” she shared. “I hope this one time that it doesn’t add up and that I wasn’t really in a cult. Each time it does. Every time. The way the leader acted, the way the followers acted in response to the leader, the insane boundaries, the isolation… It always fits.”

When was Amanda Frances in a cult?

Frances revealed in her blog post that she was a member of this organization during the years between when she attended ministry training school and went to college (she began college at Oral Roberts University in 2008, per LinkedIn).

“I left three years ago yesterday,” she shared in the April 1, 2011, post, which means she was part of the organization from 2006 to early 2008. Frances revealed that she “ran away” in order to escape. She was in her early 20s at the time.

“I drove down A1A Beach Boulevard with everything I owned in my car, in the middle of the night, afraid of everything, but knowing that if I could just make it out, I would go to school, I would live my life, and I would make a difference in the world,” she shared. “Now, I am living my life, going to school and making a difference in the world, yet the pain hasn’t stopped. I guess I’m ready for what’s next: dealing with this. I’ll be sure to let you know how it goes.

How did Amanda Frances make her money?

Frances is (very proudly) a self-made multimillionaire. After receiving an undergraduate degree in psychology from Oral Roberts, she earned her masters of science in counseling from Southern Methodist University in 2010. She then set out to obtain her Ph.D., but ended up dropping out to start her life-coaching business instead. In 2016, she launched her first digital course to help women make and manage their money.

Her company, Amanda Frances Inc., “provides unique business-development and personal-development courses to hundreds of thousands of women, teaching them how to launch their own online businesses and empowering them to design lives and businesses they love,” she told Business Insider. Frances also noted that she is “self-taught” in all of the technology, marketing, and branding that she uses to run her business.

Phylicia J. L. Munn/Bravo

In 2020, Frances released her first book, Rick as F**k: More Money Than You Know What to Do With. which serves as a “blueprint” to help women, well, “have more money than you know what to do with.” Per a description of the book, Frances, “demystifies the topic of money, cracking the code of financial liberation and abundance. Her magnetic words will open your heart and mind and help you see the truth about how money actually works.”

She followed that up with Rich as F**k Journal: The Companion to the Best Selling Book in 2022 and Rich as F**k Planner: Your Most Abundant Year Yet in 2024.

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Season 15, Thursdays, 8/7c, Bravo