Derrick has long denied being in a cult, and shortly following the release of the Netflix docuseries, she issued a statement to her Instagram stories accusing the programme of portraying her as “brainwashed.”
“My parents and sister are not religious. They immediately called me going to church twice a week a ‘cult,’” she wrote. “I have been getting together with them over the past couple years to make amends, move on, and work things out as a family. This documentary has created a further challenge between us as I work to overcome this public attack.”
Derrick added, “No one likes to be portrayed as their [sic] brainwashed/not in control of her own life/shell of herself/human trafficked daughter/sister when that just isn’t the truth.”
“I can’t convince anyone to believe anything. I am just a woman trying to live my life. I am not a victim, I am not in any harm, I am not being abused. I’ve never asked my family or anyone else to ‘help’ me in any way. Respectfully, what I choose to do with my life is up to me,” she wrote.