Marianne Williamson, the self-help guru who preaches a message of love, has been accused of doing the opposite, including throwing a phone at a staff member, getting angry and yelling at people until ‘they are crying.
A shocking new report released Thursday paints a starkly contrasting picture between Williamson’s public persona teaching love, peace and forgiveness with his behind-the-scenes version.
The spiritual leader announced in March that she would run for president a second time, challenging Joe Biden in the Democratic primary. His announcement speech was interspersed with a philosophy of love and light.
“We’re upset about this country, we’re worried about this country,” she said at her March 5 campaign launch event. ‘It is our job to create a vision of justice and love that is so powerful that it will overcome the forces of hatred, injustice and fear.’
But a new report in Politico paints a different picture of Williamson, 70. And it echoes the allegations that have been made about her since she burst onto the spiritual scene in the 1990s, where former staffers accused her of having a huge ego that has eclipsed. work, a screaming temper and a lack of compassion, including the dismissal of a staff member with breast cancer.
New allegations against Marianne Williamson accuse her of yelling at staff and making them cry – above Williamson at a climate forum in September 2019
Williamson has achieved fame following her spiritual teachings and thousands of people say she has helped them through difficult times in their lives.
But former staff describe a different experience when it comes to working closely with her. A dozen former staff said she was cruel, humiliating and had bouts of explosive anger.
They note that she would yell about seemingly minor infractions, such as booking a hotel room with a walk-in shower instead of a tub.
“It would be foaming, spitting, uncontrollable rage,” said a former staff member. ‘It was traumatic. And the experience, in the end, was terrifying.
Among the incidents described: Williamson was throwing her phone at staffers and how she was so angry at the logistics of a South Carolina campaign trip that she pounded on a car door until her hand begins to swell.
She ended up seeking treatment at an urgent care center.
The 12 former staffers told Politico they remember incidents where Williamson yelled at people until they started crying.
She denied the allegations.
“These slanderous accusations are categorically false. Former staffers trying to score points with the political establishment by smearing me might be good for their careers, but the intention is to distract from the important issues facing the American people,’ said Williamson to DailyMail.com in a statement.
She confirmed the car incident but noted: ‘A car door is not a person. I would never physically harm anyone.
Williamson feared leaks from her staff about her behavior, according to the Politico report, noting that she required staff to sign nondisclosure agreements, saying they would be strictly enforced.
She defended NDAs to DailyMail.com, noting: “NDAs for staff are procedural for campaigns. From exclusive material to strategic planning, there is always a functional legal framework for campaign communications.
Marianne Williamson announced this month that she would challenge Joe Biden in the Democratic presidential primary – above her campaign in New Hampshire
Williamson rose to fame as a spiritual guru and attracted an A-list, above she is with actress Jamie Lee Curtis at a Project Angel Food event in September 2019.
Williamson dropped out of the 2020 presidential race in January of that year, before the primaries had started in earnest. She had gone through two campaign managers and dozens of staff in her short candidacy.
But she had some breakout moments as a candidate, including during a July 2019 Democratic presidential debate when she addressed then-President Donald Trump directly and said: ‘I’m going to exploit love for political gain. I will meet you on this ground. And, sir, love will triumph.
Williamson has authored more than a dozen books and has become known as a self-help guru. She markets her A Course in Miracles as a way to achieve inner peace. Its foundations emphasize love and forgiveness.
But Williamson has faced allegations in the past that she has a terrible temper. And she’s been accused of running a cult with her A Course in Miracles seminars and book empire.
In a 1992 interview with the Los Angeles Times, she acknowledged the critics, saying she came across as “God’s bitch”.
In the 1990s, after Williamson burst onto the scene thanks to Oprah Winfrey giving a blessing to her book, A Return to Love, multiple profiles of the spiritual guru mentioned her anger issues as well as internal association issues. charity Centers for Living which she founded in Los Angeles.
In reports dating back to this period, Williamson is accused of having an out of control temper and an out of control ego as well as a cruel management style.
She was accused of putting a staff member at her New York charity’s office on probation a week before the scheduled double mastectomy. The staff member was then fired and forced to haggle for months over health insurance.
‘Marianne is a tyrant. She’s cruel — unnecessarily — and very bossy,” one of her former associates told People magazine in 1992. “That doesn’t mean her works aren’t great. They are. But her own ego will destroy her.
Another member of her staff said at the time: “Marianne’s ego is everywhere. When she’s angry, it’s like watching a 3-year-old throw a tantrum. I saw her make a volunteer cry by swearing he would never come back.
Williamson’s profile was boosted when Oprah Winfrey promoted her book
Williamson with Joe Biden at an event in Iowa in August 2019
One person told Entertainment Weekly that Williamson had “a despotic, tyrannical side and was unable to even hear dissent.”
“Pure human exchange shouldn’t be where you bark orders, yell at people, look down on them, tell them they don’t know what they’re doing when they’re volunteering – she’s disgusting.”
When she ran for a House seat in 2014, a prominent Los Angeles Democrat accused her of leading a cult.
“She has some very unusual beliefs about the world, a cult, but she’s not a credible candidate,” Eric Bauman, chairman of the Los Angeles County Democratic Party, told LA Weekly. “She’s done a lot of work to help people heal, but that’s not preparation to be in Congress.”
Others, however, shared how his work helped them through a difficult time.
And her advocates note that while she asks for donations at her conferences, she doesn’t need them, allowing people to come for free. Often she will spend hours talking to those who want advice from her.
She founded the Los Angeles Center for Living and Profit Angel Food to deliver meals to AIDS patients and others battling serious illnesses. His first spiritual work was counseling dying AIDS patients at a time when the disease was at its peak and poorly understood, leading to avoidance and isolation of those who suffered from it.
She formed her teachings from A Course in Miracles, a 1,200-page tome she saw on a friend’s coffee table. She did not write the book but is one of its best known prophets.
The book was dictated by Helen Schucman, who in the 1960s claimed to have heard an inner voice telling her what to write about faith. For seven years she recorded what became a three-volume work. She later said that the voice that dictated it to her was Jesus.
Williamson began teaching classes based on the book’s principles and his following grew from that.
Her teachings have attracted a number of high profile celebrities including Madonna, Raquel Welch, Rosanna Arquette, Cher, Kim Basinger and Barbra Streisand. She celebrated the last marriage of Elizabeth Taylor.
She told Vanity Fair in 1991, “I didn’t write A Course in Miracles.” I’m just doing a book report. No one comes to A Course in Miracles thinking that I personally have the answer. The Course attracts a race of very sophisticated thinkers; it’s no way for people looking for someone else to do it for them. It is a lifelong study, and there is no graduation day.
