Yahoo Lifestyle Netflix's Twin Flames Universe Doc Sets Out to Expose 'Exploitation' of Those Looking for Love: See Trailer
'Escaping Twin Flames,' a three-part series that offers a look at the inner workings of the controversial online community, premieres Nov. 8 on Netflix
A new Netflix docuseries aims to warn the masses about the Twin Flames Universe, which it accuses of preying on people simply looking for love.
Directed by Cecilia Peck, Escaping Twin Flames is a three-part documentary series that purports to offer an inside look at the inner workings of the controversial online community, according to a press release — and PEOPLE has an exclusive first look at the trailer.
Those who join the Twin Flames Universe are sold online classes that guarantee a “harmonious union” to one’s true love, per the show's press release.
But the documentary series alleges there is a darker side to the Twin Flames Universe. The community allegedly “preys on people looking for love,” and uses disturbing tactics to do so — including “encouraging stalking behavior” and “manipulating gender identities."
“We hope viewers see the former members of Twin Flames Universe as having survived intensive, systematic coercive control,” filmmakers Peck and Inbal B. Lessner — the Emmy-nominated filmmaking team behind Seduced: Inside the NXIVM Cult — tell PEOPLE.
TFU did not respond to the filmmakers' requests for comment. PEOPLE's multiple requests for comment also went unanswered.
However, in a lengthy and comprehensive statement on its website, Twin Flames Universe has denied allegations of manipulation, promoting stalking and promoting "forced gender identity changes in students." The statement also addressed the "false narratives that [have] portrayed Twin Flames Universe as a dangerous cult."
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In the statement, TFU claimed the accusations against them came from "a small number of disgruntled former students" who they said "became disillusioned and hostile when they began uncovering some of their own core inner blocks through the program."
Speaking with Vanity Fair in Dec. 2020, Jeff claimed he is "not evil" while Shaleia touted more than 30 unions that formed due to their teaching. "People find healing," Jeff said at the time. "People experience real breakthroughs in resolving traumas and pains. People improve their lives in a sustainable and balanced way.”
Courtesy of Netflix
Escaping Twin Flames follows a group of women who were allegedly "recruited, indoctrinated, [and] abused” by the Twin Flames Universe, which is still actively recruiting new members, according to the filmmakers.
The filmmakers claim the community, which they compare to a cult, “twists” its pseudo spiritual concept and threatens members to comply, or risk never finding love.
The documentary series features exclusive interviews with former members while exposing what the press release describes as “horrifying stories of coercion and exploitation surrounding” the Universe.
“The main motivation we all shared was to bring the ongoing abuse to a stop and to help the current members leave and recover,” the filmmakers tell PEOPLE.
Courtesy of Netflix
Escaping Twin Flames details the alleged “horrific stories of exploitation” of those who have fallen victim to the community — from the forcible pairing of couples who don’t know each other to “forced gender reassignments,” and more, per the show's press release.
In a statement on their website, TFU said the allegation of "forced gender identity changes" is a "false narrative."
"Jeff and Shaleia and Twin Flames Universe encourage and invite students to gain clarity on their sexual and gender identity through the students’ own self-discovery and exploration," the statement read. "Whatever a person discovers about themselves, and even whether they choose to explore or not explore themselves, Jeff and Shaleia and TFU accept that person and their choices unconditionally. Twin Flames Universe is a safe and tolerant place for all members of the LGBTQ+ community."
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In the trailer, one victim said she felt that she had found people that she could “relate to and trust” in her journey to find her one true love. But another claimed that what the leaders Jeff and Shaleia do "isn’t about love, it’s about control.”
The docuseries also shows families’ struggles to prevent loved ones from coming within the Universe’s grasp. “He took my child,” said one mother, who claimed she hadn’t seen her daughter in over three years. “He twisted her memories, her mind.”
The filmmakers say they “hope viewers will reconsider” holding victims of cults in a negative light and understand “this could happen to anyone's daughter."
Courtesy of Netflix
“It wasn’t easy for the former members to choose to speak up,” the filmmakers tell PEOPLE. “There’s a lot of shame around having joined a group like this."
They later add, “But even though it would have been easier to stay silent, they all knew that telling their stories would help expose the truth and help others get away."
The filmmakers also hope the series will “help prevent more people from joining this and other high control groups.”
"They are very good at identifying people who may be at a moment of transition or vulnerability, luring them in, and then slowly indoctrinating them," the filmmakers claim to PEOPLE.
Escaping Twin Flames premieres Nov. 8 on Netflix.
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