Remember Joey Donner from everyone’s favourite 90s flick 10 Things I Hate About You? He was the OG f*ckboy and every parent’s worst nightmare – but in real life, he’s apparently been a cult leader who got done for illegally selling kombucha.
According to Marie Claire, Andrew Keegan – who played Joey in the film – is the co-founder of “California spiritual community” Full Circle, where he “passionately seeks to inspire and empower the community to co-create a better world.”
Apparently, in his role Keegan was often referred to as a “guru” and “promotes organic experiences within the temple, including hand-holding, group meditation, spooning, crystals, candles and ‘soul medicine.’” Full Circle even has a pet parrot called Krishna, reflecting the religion’s Hindu influence.
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In a 2014 article, Vice characterised Full Circle as a “new religion,” however publications including Jezebel have labelled it a cult. In a 2015 interview with Keegan, Lauren Bans of New York Magazine wrote, “the actual theology of the group is tough to in down, but it seems to loosely follow Hinduism – or at least Russell Brand’s Sanskrit-tattoo version of it.”
If all this hadn’t blown your mind enough, in 2015, Keegan was reportedly raided by California’s Department of Alcohol Beverage Control for “illegally selling Kombucha that wasn’t labelled alcoholic.”
“Kombucha is something we’d never imagine to be an illegal substance, and it’s frustrating the system has that perspective,” Keegan said. “We’re certainly taking full responsibility. We try to put our best foot forward.”
According to Vice, Keegan’s “spiritual transformation” came from a traumatic experience in 2011 when he and two friends were attacked by gang members in Venice Beach. “The significance of this occurrence is that it happened at the same time the tsunami hit Japan,” he said, relating the incident to a series of events and “weird coincidences.”
In 2017, Keegan took to Instagram to announce that it was Full Circle’s “last day,” however the community also said they were looking at securing funding to continue operating.
Sounds like Keegan’s current life is a far cry from his days as semi-professional tube sock model Joey Donner, but whatever floats your boat, right?
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