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Outlook: Surviving 'Doomsday' and learning to live again

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Claire Ashman

01/02/2023 GMT

Surviving 'Doomsday' and learning to live again

BBC World Service - Outlook, Surviving 'Doomsday' and learning to live again

Claire Ashman spent nearly a decade in a doomsday cult with her eight children

Australian Claire Ashman spent nearly a decade in a doomsday cult; she was 36 and had eight children when she left.

Australian Claire Ashman had a strict religious upbringing and grew up isolated from the outside world. She was taught to always obey her husband so, when he decided to join a doomsday cult, Claire had no choice but to follow. The community lived behind a barbed wire fence and continually prepared for the end of the world. But the reality was even more sinister - teenage girls were becoming pregnant and nobody was talking about how. Claire knew that in order to keep her family safe, she needed to escape. When she eventually did the world was waiting for her and Claire embraced it.

Get in touch: outlook@bbc.com

Presenter: Jo Fidgen
Producer: Emily Naylor

(Photo: Claire Ashman. Credit Caroline Mitchell)

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