The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City exploded into the mainstream amid the federal indictment of a main Housewife, the rise of Mormon media, and allegations that Housewife Mary Cosby’s church is actually a cult.
TLC’s new docuseries The Cult of the Real Housewife—premiering Jan. 1 at 8 p.m. ET on TLC and streaming the next day on HBO Max and discovery+— dives headfirst into the allegations, interviewing former members of the church. It includes sit-downs with Cosby’s sister and cousin, who claim Faith Temple church is a cult in which Cosby encourages congregants to treat her as God.
“She’s got these people terrified. That woman is the most evil thing that ever walked this Earth. You have no idea, all those smiles and s--t—that is not real,” a former member of the church told the Daily Beast in 2021, when allegations first rose to the surface.
Cosby, 53, exited the Real Housewives franchise that same year, skipping the Season 2 reunion. She rejoined the cast in a limited role for the fourth season, before returning to a full-time role for the fifth and sixth seasons. Discussions of the church have waned since Cosby’s return. Her husband Robert C. Cosby, (who is also her former step-grandfather and is in his early 70s) no longer appears on the show due to production issues, Cosby claimed earlier this year. They share a 23-year-old son named Robert Cosby Jr.
Cosby briefly addressed the docuseries at BravoCon in November, claiming “I think it’s sad and it’s a shame. It’s horrible. That’s what I think.”
She added, “It’s not true.”
Mary and Robert Sr. both denied requests for comment, the docuseries claims. The Daily Beast has reached out to Mary Cosby, NBCUniversal, and Faith Temple and has not received any response.
Below is a breakdown of the the most shocking revelations from the new docuseries.
How did Mary Cosby end up marrying her step-grandfather, Robert Sr.?
Following the death of his wife Rosemary “Mama” Cosby (Cosby’s grandmother) in 1997, Robert Sr. allegedly took the lead of the church, growing closer to Mary Cosby.
At the time, Mary had been “disfellowshipped” from the church, her sister Denise Jefferson claims in the docuseries. Jefferson claims Robert Sr. took Mary under his wing to strengthen her spiritual ties and position in the church, also buying her a BMW.
Robert Sr. began calling members of the church, including Jefferson, she claims, saying God is compelling him to marry Mary—despite Cosby’s pre-existing marriage to then-husband Dana Harris.
Mary Cosby divorced Harris Sept. 8, 1998, before marrying Robert Sr. just a few week later on Sept. 27. She was 25 and he was 45. During the first season reunion, Mary claims the divorce was due to “irreconcilable differences” and was unrelated to her marriage to Robert Sr.
Discussing her marriage to Robert Sr. on the first season of RHOSLC, Mary Cosby said, “I did marry him. I didn’t want to… That’s weird to me. But [my grandmother] really did want me to, so I obeyed her. I trusted every word.”
Cosby’s mother Rosalind staged a dramatic walkout during a church service.
In April 1998, amid Mary Cosby’s rising role in the church, controversy arose over the direction of Faith Temple following Rosemary Cosby’s death.
Church footage shows a walkout in April 1998, fueled by Rosalind Cazarez, Mary Cosby’s mother. On The Real Housewives, Cosby claimed her mother wanted to take the lead of the church and marry Robert Sr., while Cazarez denies those claims. Cazarez died “alone” in January, following years of estrangement between her and Mary, Cosby told People in November.
“I just feel like how you live is how you leave,” Cosby said, adding, “I just hope that she did everything that she was supposed to do with the Man upstairs so that she doesn’t have to be in the darker side of life for eternity.”
Following the 1998 walkout, Faith Temple split in two—roughly 200 members exiting with Cazarez, the Salt Lake Tribune reported. Continuing members of Cosby’s church were “forbidden” to speak with exiled members, former members claim in the docuseries.
In 2007, a judge ruled in Cazarez’s favor that documents attributed to Rosemary Cosby were forged following her death, ordering Robert Sr. and Faith Temple to pay Cazarez $1.2 million.
Faith Temple had an elaborate system to surveil church members, former congregants claim.
Under Mary and Robert Sr.’s leadership of the church, former congregants claim cameras were installed so that the pair could surveil services. As a result, confession allegedly became “public,” ex-congregants claim.
“They would deal with confessions, a lot of the time, by public humiliation,” ex-member Susie Tunson says in the docuseries.
Tunson claimed her siblings, Pat and Dan, were also members of the church, with Pat working in the Cosby home up until her 2024 death. Rosalind Enoch, another ex-member, claimed she formerly lived and worked in the home, as well, saying church members did “free labor” for the couple.
Former members told the Daily Beast in 2021 that Rosemary Cosby also utilized free labor from members, one saying, “I don’t even remember getting any money at all, to be honest with you. I was just grateful that she chose me.”
Following the premiere of the Housewives series in 2020, then-member Susie Tunson claims she told her brother Don to stop donating his money to the church, saying she “had no idea” about how wealthy Mary and Robert Sr. were before seeing the show.
This led to her being kicked out of the church, Tunson claims, saying, “I felt like a person without a country. That’s how bad it is. You feel like God has rejected you.”
Tunson alleges that she was denied access to the funeral of her sister Pat as a result.
A lawyer for Robert Sr. and Mary Cosby told the Daily Beast in 2021 that “all religious institutions, including the Faith Temple Pentecostal, accept donations from their parishioners; however they don’t force parishioners into poverty to make such contributions.”
Robert Sr. has been accused of physically abusing male congregants—and emotionally abusing female ones.
While Robert Sr. was married to Rosemary Cosby, he would make young men in the church engage in extreme military exercises, Dan Cosby, an ex-member of the church and Mary Cosby’s cousin, claims.
Dan’s wife, Kim Cosby, says Robert Sr. isolated her from her husband, insisting on one-on-one sessions disguised as spiritual counseling. During these sessions, Robert Sr. allegedly tried to convince Kim she was in love with him.
Kim Cosby says Robert Sr. engaged with other female congregants in a similar manner.
After audio leaked of Cosby denigrating the church, a former member decided to expose her on ‘The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City.’
In 2020, while the first season of RHOSLC was airing, audio leaked of Cosby scorching her congregation, labeling members as “stingy.”
“I got 14 birthday cards!” Cosby scolded in the video, which she confirmed was her voice during the Season 1 reunion. Cosby claimed at the time that it was “taken out of context.”
“Your old stingy selves. You old poor people. I don’t want poor people around me,” she could be heard saying.
Following the audio leak, former Faith Temple member Cameron Williams appeared on Season 2 of the Bravo series, alleging the church is a “cult” in conversations with cast members Lisa Barlow and Meredith Marks. Williams claimed he mortgaged his house for $300,000 to continue supporting the church while he was a devout member.
“Is it a cult? Yes. Does she call herself God? Yes.” Williams told Barlow. Cosby later denied the allegations, telling Barlow, “I’m not God. I worship the God in me.”
Dan Cosby, Mary Cosby’s cousin and a former member of Faith Temple, claims Williams was having an affair with Mary Cosby. In unearthed audio played on the show, Williams said, “I don’t want to be associated with Mary no more. We had the affair and all that, but like, that was me being victimized. It had to take therapy for me to get out of that.”
“They wrap your entire life around this single idea, as though it is the difference between heaven and hell for you,” Williams, who died in 2021 from a brain tumor, told Barlow on the second season of RHOSLC.
Former congregants shared Williams’ story of financial extortion by the church, with Rosalind Enoch saying there were “people cashing out 401Ks, losing homes” to donate.
“It was a lot of pressure,” Ernest Enoch added.
Cosby’s infamous car crash story was not funny to the family involved.
Cosby quickly rose in favor as her polarizing, off-the-cuff quips (“you smell like hospital!”) startled and amazed viewers of The Real Housewives. Early in the show’s second season, Cosby told cast member Whitney Rose of a member of the church’s daughter who crashed her car and died.
“One of the members in our church, their daughter, like, had a crash,” Cosby told Rose and her children. “She was ejected from the sun roof and fell down into a neighborhood, 30 feet drop off the freeway.”
“Is she still alive?” Rose’s daughter asked, before Cosby answered: “No. I’m excited to be here!” She followed this with a dance while reminding the kids to “wear your seatbelt,” leading the clip to go viral among Housewives fans.
The girl killed, Maikel Enoch, was a member of the church at the time of her death, her parents claim in the docuseries.
“That was an attack on me and my daughter. You have to be one miserable human being to go that low,” Michael Enoch says in the docuseries. “That’s a pastor? No sir, not at all.”
Rosalind Enoch, Maikel’s aunt, says, “It was a very traumatizing moment to watch. Anyone that can speak and joke about something like that doesn’t deserve to pastor anything.”
“Why are you speaking on my daughter anyway? You didn’t send condolences,” Michael Enoch adds, claiming Cosby discouraged members of the church from donating to fundraising services to support the family.
“It’s unfortunate for my daughter that she loved Mary and Robert. She loved the church. She kept a doll that Mary bought her when my daughter was a little girl. When I went to clean out her place, she still had that doll,” Enoch says. “They’re the cons. The congregation is under delusion.”
What does the future hold for Faith Temple?
At the height of the church in the 1990s, roughly 500 members filled pews each Sunday, former members told the Daily Beast in 2021.
Season 6 of RHOSLC documented the “re-opening” of Cosby’s church in a November episode. On the show, Cosby claims the church’s hiatus was due to renovations.
“My whole point is to help somebody,” Cosby said in an interview with Bravo. “If I could say one thing that would maybe change your whole way of thinking, and put you on a right path, I’ll do it.”
Bishop Galvin, a former member of Faith Temple, created Soul Restoration as a home for ex-members of the church. The church is now looking for a permanent home in Salt Lake City, the series claims.
“I will never be under [Faith Temple] again, and I pray for the people that are,” Kim Davis, now a member of Soul Restoration, says in the docuseries.
“Individuals that are still caught in those walls are not seeing the true signs,” Rosalind Enoch adds. “When things seem off, step back and take a look. You don’t have to live under dictatorships, mind manipulations. You don’t have to live under spiritual abuse, religious abuse.”
