Believe Me

In the tradition of Christine Brown Woolley and Shari Franke, the star of the globally acclaimed and immensely popular docuseries  Trust Me writes a riveting firsthand survivor account of joining and then escaping the Mormon church, blended with expert analysis on why people are susceptible to the manipulation of cult leaders.  

Millions of viewers were riveted by Dr. Christine Marie’s stunning liberation of a group of young Mormon women and girls from the grips of an abusive cult leader in the acclaimed docuseries Trust Me. But few know the riveting true story behind Christine’s passion for freeing people from cults and trauma. 

BELIEVE ME chronicles the difficult childhood experiences that led her both to mainstream Mormonism and to be susceptible to a Mormon-offshoot cult. She survived sexual assaults and subsequent legal battles, including a brief brush with NXIVM founder Keith Raniere and a fall into the self-proclaimed prophet Christopher Nemelka’s control. But Christine also tells the story of how she ––literally and figuratively––came to wear rose-colored glasses, despite everything she’s been through. 

Christine’s memoir will shed light on vivid, fascinating details of her story only briefly touched upon in the series, including her past as a Mrs. Michigan pageant winner, a motivational speaker and children’s TV ventriloquist, and a devoted single mom of four—including to daughter Lola Blanc (née Kandice Marie Melonakos). She escaped dark situations to earn a PhD in psychology, dismantled Sam Bateman’s cult and captured the attention of the nation with her actions in Trust Me, and founded the nonprofit Voices for Dignity to support her ongoing work on behalf of survivors of sex trafficking. BELIEVE ME is a rare blend of a firsthand survivor account and an expert accounting of why cults rise, fall, and rise again.