Olympic star Noah Lyles revealed he “actually grew up in a cult” as the 100m gold medallist shared details of the “super strict” upbringing he experienced in Virginia.
The sprinter explained that his family was part of a church group that controlled who people could hang out with, ordered mothers to homeschool their children and that fathers were “the head of the household.”
“It was a cult,” he said in the Podcast Everyone wants to be usas PEOPLE reported. ‘It wasn’t at the level of, ‘Yeah, okay. Let’s drink the Kool-Aid.’
“But he was super strict.”
Eventually, Lyles and his family moved to North Carolina, but he admits that the church still “ruined” his and his mother’s perspective on the church.
Olympian Noah Lyles revealed he ‘actually grew up in a cult’ in new podcast interview
Lyles shared that her mother, Keisha Caine Bishop, still has trouble trusting churches today.
“Even now, she still struggles with trusting churches in general, but she never lost her faith in religion and I think she instilled that in us,” Lyles said.
‘It made it easier for me to embark on my own journey.’
Lyles’ mother, Keisha Caine Bishop, could be seen hugging her son after he beat Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson for gold in the 100m in Paris.
The track star later finished third in the 200m as it was later revealed he was battling Covid.
After that race, which incredibly saw Lyles run with a fever of 102 degrees, the sprinter collapsed to the ground in a disturbing scene and eventually left the Stade de France in a wheelchair.
And Bishop was said to be begging security staff to help him, while a nearby fan recalled her “yelling” at employees.
“I was sitting right there and I watched everything,” X user @mizzADDYtude saying.
Lyles and his mother hugged after he won the 100m final in Paris in an incredible comeback
‘The security officers did not refuse to call the doctor. They did not allow him to enter the camp. They shouted in their faces and tried to jump over the fence. The security officers did their job.
‘Medical personnel arrived and gave her help. She went another way to be with him. She did her job as a mother. Security did their job and didn’t let anyone through who wasn’t a photographer.’
This came in response to a furious Instagram post from Bishop, in which he claimed stadium security would not call a doctor despite Lyles collapsing on the ground.
“It was one of the scariest moments of my life! Watching my son clutching his chest as he struggled to breathe while stadium security refused to call a doctor as I begged them to send him help,” she wrote in part.