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In TLC’s new documentary, The Cult of the Real Housewife, Mary Cosby’s cousin alleged +her husband Robert C. Cosby Sr. and elders in their church once led “abusive” training sessions for young boys, and an elder “kicked” a child. Meanwhile, an ex-congregant said he heard that Mary asked members not to donate to his GoFundMe after his daughter’s fatal car accident.
The documentary aired on January 1, and many of Mary’s relatives and ex-congregants spoke out. Some of them suggested that the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star’s church, Faith Temple Pentecostal Church, is allegedly a cult – and that many members give up much of their income for it.
“We used to have some meetings called the Brotherhood,” said Mary’s cousin Dan Cosby in the documentary, as he recalled his childhood. “Robert and some other elders would have meetings with all the young boys in the church every Saturday. He was trying to teach us to be men. He’d go out, he’d make us do push-ups, and he’d make us run around the church and keep us up all day, literally all day. And it started becoming abusive.”
Mary’s uncle, Sam Kelly, weighed in.
“He would make us hold books up out like this,” said Sam, holding his arms straight out in the form of a T. “And then he would have us run in place.”
“[They would take] a pin and [put] it under your knees so you wouldn’t…” said Dan, stopping for a moment as he began to choke up. “… [so] your knees wouldn’t hit this pin or it’d stick you, obviously. I remember a kid … couldn’t do a push-up or sit-up, and I remember one of the guys – one of the elders – kicked him. He kicked the kid.”
According to Sam, Robert’s late-wife Rosemary – the pastor of the church at the time, and Mary’s grandmother – didn’t know about the meetings until a boy named Demetrius told her that the men were “beating on” them and making them exercise while holding “needles under our legs.” Rosemary then purportedly put a stop to it.
The documentary also showed a clip from RHOSLC of Mary telling Whitney about a tragic car accident that took the life of Maikel Enoch – the daughter of Mary’s congregant Michael Enoch. At the end of the clip, Mary smiled and said, “Wear your seatbelt!”
In the documentary, the father reacted to the clip.
“That was an attack on me and my daughter,” said Michael. “You have to be one miserable human being to go that low … Now that’s a pastor? No sir. Not at all … Why are you speaking on my daughter anyway? You didn’t send condolences.”
According to Michael, he heard that Mary told church members not to help him raise money for Maikel’s memorial service – and that if they had already donated to his GoFundMe, they should “take it back.”
Maikel’s aunt speculated that Mary asked for this because she knew that some of the money in the GoFundMe would otherwise have gone to her church.
