‘The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City’ Star Mary Cosby Accused of Running A Cult by Ex-Congregation Members

Bravo’s The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City Season 2 made headlines after cast member Jen Shah was arrested and charged with wire fraud and money laundering in the midst of filming earlier this year. But while her ensuing legal drama promises to play a large role in this season, her costar Mary Cosby will also face accusations that she’s turned her late grandmother’s Faith Temple Pentecostal Church into a cult — accusations that even her own uncle, Ernest Walton, backed up in a new The Daily Beast report.

These rumors first surfaced at the RHOSLC Season 1 reunion in February, in which Cosby denied she was pilfering money after host Andy Cohen played leaked audio recordings of Cosby calling her congregation “stingy” and “poor.”

The Season 2 trailer leaned into cult speculation, showing star Whitney Rose investigating these claims by meeting with a mysterious man who seemingly confirmed the Housewife’s suspicions.

“Is it a cult? Yes. Does she call herself a God? Yes,” he said.

Viewers will have to wait to see how much Season 2 ultimately focuses on such rumors, but in the real world, The Daily Beast‘s report is bound to stir up drama. The publication interviewed seven former Faith Temple church members, six of whom agreed that she was running a cult by encouraging members to work at her family businesses for free, berating congregation members during her sermons, and threatening that anyone who leaves the congregation will go to hell.

Walton agreed that Cosby is running a cult, referring to her practices as “an abomination.”

“Everything’s coming out into the light now and everything’s coming down,” he said.

“She’s got these people terrified,” added Abby, a former member who requested her full name be withheld. “She’s got these people terrified. That woman is the most evil thing that ever walked this Earth.”

Another former member, who requested anonymity, compared Cosby and her husband, Robert Cosby Sr., to con artists.

“If not a cult, they are definitely scam artists that manipulate the members of the church into giving them pretty much all of their money so that they can live high and mighty,” she said.

In a statement, a lawyer for Cosby pointed out that “[A]ll religious institutions, including the Faith Temple Pentecostal, accept donations from their parishioners.”

He added that the suggestion that Cosby calls herself “God” is extremely offensive and has no basis in reality.”

In a scene from the Season 2 trailer, Mary can be seeing telling Barlow, “I’m not God — I worship the God in me.”

The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City airs Sunday at 9 pm ET/PT on Bravo.

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