Bizarre cult that 'never ate food' lost followers when leader tasted a McDonald's

dailystar.co.uk:

McDonald's was ok too.Through the early 1980s, Brooks was a regular on US talk shows, maintaining that easting was simply an “addiction” and that meditation and special breathing techniques could enable his followers to “kick the habit”.Most shockingly, Brooks said that hunger strikers, such as the Irish Republicans who died in prison for their beliefs, only died because they wanted to.Brooks successfully charged would-be Breatharians substantial sums of money to visit a retreat in southern Utah where they would be trained in his special techniques.An advertisement published in 2020 said the total cost of the workshop would be $100,000 (about £ 75,000) with a 10% deposit.

The Breatharian marketing materials stressed that the prices were not misprints. No refunds were offered for unsuccessful trainees.The workshop did include a visit to “Earth Prime in the 5th Dimension,” though, with the promise that successful applicants would be offered an opportunity to retire there.“Earth Prime,” the Breatharian website explained, “is the original planet Earth on its original growth path”.

The comparatively small population of this “ideal” Earth had joined a confederation of planets occupied by extraterrestrials and welcomed new visitors.Three-time Oscar nominee Michelle Pfeiffer was involved in the Breatharian movement for a time, later wryly remarking “It was financially very draining."But Brooks’s Breatharian movement came in for some mockery in 1983 when he was rumbled buying a chicken pie and some biscuits from his local 7-11.Shortly afterwards Lavelle Lefler, co-founder of the Breatharian Institute, told reporters that the would-be guru was a fraud: “The truth is he sneaks into 7-Elevens and fast food places and eats just like.