Original subtitles

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.