Gwen Shamblin Lara.Photo: John Russell/AP/Shutterstock
Although Shamblin Lara spent much of her life curating a persona as an apostle of health, Remnant Fellowship Church, which she founded herself, functioned more like a cult than a congregation. The church has faced accusations of abuse and exploitation since its conception in 1999.
Here’s everything to know about Gwen Shamblin Lara, her Weigh Down Workshop and the Remnant Fellowship.
Her empire began with the Weigh Down Workshop
Gwen Shamblin Lara.Gwen Shamblin Lara Facebook
Shamblin Lara built a following thanks to the success of her Weigh Down Workshop, a faith-based weight loss program, which was also the subject of her 1997 best-selling bookThe Weigh Down Diet.
“What I do in this program is teach people how to stop bowing down to the refrigerator and how to bow back down to [God],” Shamblin Lara said in one clip featured in the 2021 HBO documentary series about her life.
“The basic principles were you can eat whatever you want, no foods are bad. Jesus declared all food clean,” Gina Graves, a former member, explained in one episode. “What you did was you waited for physical hunger and you ate until you were satisfied. And the times you weren’t hungry, you went to God. You prayed. You gave that desire for the food to him.”
After early success, she opened a church
Remnant Fellowship Church.Courtesy of HBO Max
In 1999, Shamblin Lara founded the Remnant Fellowship Church, located in Brentwood, Tennessee.
“One of her big premises of this church was people out in the world that are doing these classes in these false churches are gaining their weight back,” Graves told viewers. “This church is her big savior to help people keep their weight down and stay saved.”
“And the faster you do it, the holier you are,” added former member Terassee Morris.
Her relationship with Joe Lara raised some eyebrows
Gwen Shamblin Lara and Joe Lara.Gwen Lara/Instagram
Shamblin Lara marriedTarzan in Manhattanactor Joe Lara in 2018 — but not before ruffling a few feathers in the church.
For most of her career, Shamblin Lara was married to her first husband, David Shamblin. To wed Lara, Shamblin Lara had to undergo a divorce, which she was known to adamantly oppose when it came to other church members.
Shamblin Lara’s hypocrisy didn’t go unnoticed, and some church members were even confused as to how the guru could go on to marry someone overweight like Lara, who didn’t reflect the physical standards she preached.
“All of those years you have told people to suffer through their marriage, but then whenever the spirit hits you, you done had a whole change of heart, now it’s okay to get divorced,” remarked former member Helen Byrd.
Joe Lara and Gwen Shamblin Lara.Joe Lara Facebook
Others raised questions about Lara’s intentions. Some church members suspected Lara of being a gold digger, interested in using Shamblin Lara’s money to further his country music aspirations.
“When he met Gwen, I feel like he won the lottery and he also was cast in her production,” said former girlfriend Natasha Pavlovich, whose custody battle with the late actor over their daughter was also documented in the HBO series.
She and Joe Lara died in a plane crash in 2021
Members of Remnant Fellowship listen to Gwen Shamblin Lara.AP Photo/John Russell
Shamblin Lara, Lara and five other passengerswere killed in a private plane crashin May 2021.
The plane crashed into Percy Priest Lake in Tennessee around 11 a.m., shortly after taking off from Smyrna Airport en route to Palm Beach, Florida,NBC Newsreported at the time.
The additional passengers — Jennifer J. Martin, David L. Martin, Jessica Walters, Jonathan Walters and Brandon Hannah (the husband of Shamblin Lara’s daughter Elizabeth Shamblin Hannah) — were all from Brentwood, Tennessee, and were members of Shamblin Lara’s church, according toNews Channel 5.
Afterward, it was announced that Shamblin Lara’s children, Michael Shamblin and Elizabeth Shamblin Hannah, would keep the church going. Shamblin Hannah is still listed as one of the church leaders on itswebsite.
Her life was chronicled on HBO Max’s 2021 docuseriesThe Way Down
HBO Max aired a five-part series about Shamblin Lara’s life in September 2021, only months after her untimely death. Despite multiple attempts to contact the Remnant Fellowship, the church repeatedly declined. Text near the end of episode 3 read:
Part of The Remnant Fellowship’s response read, “Remnant Fellowship categorically denies the absurd defamatory statements and accusations made in this documentary. Our Christian beliefs, like hundreds of other churches in the United States, are Bible-based, and our church is based on love, care, mercy, and kindness shown to people from all walks of life. … As any other church, Remnant Fellowship operates under all U.S. guidelines and laws.”
“Children are happy and healthy, being raised with the most love, care, support, and protection imaginable,” the church added. “Thousands have said that their lives have benefited from the mere-Christianity message of Remnant Fellowship and the Weigh Down Ministries, but we know that there is no one message that can ever please everyone.”
The statement continued, “As any other church, Remnant Fellowship operates under all U.S. guidelines and laws.”
Jennifer Grey portrays her in the Lifetime movieGwen Shamblin: Starving for Salvation
In a 2023 Lifetime movie offering another account of Shamblin Lara’s life, actress Jennifer Grey underwent a total makeover to play the big-haired diet guru. The Lifetime movie offers a dramatic rendition of Shamblin Lara’s story — an apt follow-up to the HBO docuseries.
source: people.com
