All language subtitles for Last.Looks.S01E17_English

COURTNEY SHEA: Nobody who
has ever joined a cult

thinks that they're
joining a cult.

- ♪ I'm in love with you ♪

NARRATOR: Her career
on the downfall,

Ruslana Korshunova was
ready for a change.

PETER POMERANTSEV: She was
spending more and more time in
Moscow.

SHEA: A close friend of
hers and a fellow model,

Anastasia, had
similar issues.

NARRATOR: They joined
what they thought

was a self-help group,
but the techniques used

to improve their lives
seemed to destroy them.

For Ruslana, there
was no turning back.

- ♪ I'll run with it. ♪

- You've really done
the best you can.

This program is an invitation
for you to open up new areas for
success.

- When I first started,
uh, exploring, uh, Ruslana's
story,

it was a journey for
me into the cult world.

And actually, I was completely
shocked by what I saw.

NARRATOR: In Moscow, a
group called Rose of the
World

marketed itself as life
improvement for Russia's
elite.

But it was based on the
teachings of an American cult
called Lifespring.

Lifespring used
psychological techniques

to supposedly heal its
members of their demons.

Allegedly, these
methods caused

serious psychological
damage and even death.

But it inspired a business
model, one Rose of the World
copied.

The key component: the
promise of a better life.

- You can live your life
with the kind of faith in
yourself

that comes from knowing
what you stand for.

- This was gonna be
a really significant lifeline

for Ruslana.

POMERANTSEV: Finally,
she found a place

where people seemed
to care about her.

- Being in that type
of supercompetitive industry,

it makes sense that
a significant portion

of its membership
were Russian models.

Those young women
may have been looking for

self-actualization
and financial success.

You can see how they would've
been attracted to the idea
of

fixing their problems.

POMERANTSEV:
I worked with

one of the top investigative
journalists in Russia.

And they went into
the Rose of the World.

The Rose of the
World meetings happen

in a large room with
a stage at the top.

Inside the room, it's dark,
and everywhere there's people
shouting at you.

You're very disoriented;
you're very confused.

Suddenly, the light comes on.

And there's the life coach.

[suspenseful music plays]

People go onstage
and start confessing

the most darkest, the most
horrible things that have ever
happened to them.

And Ruslana went onstage.

She talked about
her father.

Her father had
disappeared from her life

when she was a child.

What will happen is that, in
this forum, you will be taken to
massively

peak emotional
experiences,

then the life coach
will humiliate you.

He'll say it
was your fault.

"You let this happen.
You're the victim."

Things get much,
much more intense.

♪

- I think it really
went along with

what she was saying
in her head about herself.

"Everything is my fault.

"My modeling career
going down is my fault.

Everything that's going
wrong, it's my fault."

SHEA:
When you look at Ruslana,

this suggests that
maybe she was not

in a great place, mentally.

She was very vulnerable.

NARRATOR: Broken down,
forced to hit rock bottom,

and then built back up
to fulfill an obligation.

- The way these
organizations work

is that you have to
bring more people.

And if you can't, you fail,
then you're rejected.

So Ruslana tried to recruit
her friends, but they didn't
come.

For the first time,
Ruslana would get angry.

She'd swear.

NARRATOR: One of the leaders
of Rose of the World said,

"Sometimes it's better to
commit suicide than not to
change."

- To have a leader saying
that suicide is sort of a viable

option is problematic.

NARRATOR: While there's no
documentation of how suicide

was a solution for Rose of
the World, the message was
clear:

failure was
not an option.

In March 2008, Ruslana
leaves Rose of the World

and goes back
to New York.

POMERANTSEV:
During this time,

she goes through a
period of depression.

She'd cry at night.

Sometimes she'd wander
around town not knowing

where she was and
why she was there.

That really freaks
her friends out.

That was a new Ruslana

they hadn't seen before.

Something had changed
in her personality.

NARRATOR: Ruslana wrote
an entry in her blog.

"I am so lost.

Will I ever
find myself?"

Half-heartedly, Ruslana
returned to work.

Just weeks later,
her life was over.

NEWS ANCHOR: 20-year-old
Ruslana Korshunova fell

to a very public death.

Police say the case is
still under investigation.