Real estate influencer Caleb Simpson is opening up about his difficult childhood, claiming he grew up in a cult-like environment.
“I’m the middle of nine children. I have eight other brothers and sisters from the same parents,” Simpson began in a TikTok video shared Thursday, April 2. “I grew up in North Carolina at the end of a long gravel road in a farmhouse. I grew up extremely religious and homeschooled.”
Simpson explained that his father was taught Mennonite beliefs and other religious teachings, which he combined and applied to his own family. (Simpson’s dad, who has not been publicly identified, died in 2015.)
“Me and my siblings joke around that we were involved in a cult with no followers because my dad believed that he was chosen by God,” Simpson alleged in his lengthy TikTok video. “He just kept us all up in this house and, because the environment was so crazy and chaotic, I was rejecting it most of my childhood.”
He added, “My mom had to wear a long dress and have long hair. We never celebrated holidays. I didn’t celebrate my first birthday until I was, like, 18 years old. [We had] no Christmas, nothing.”
Simpson further claimed that his father would allegedly “abuse physically and mentally” the eldest children still living in the family compound.
“He would make them an example to all of us, and we were kept on the couch, screamed at and berated on a daily basis,” the influencer alleged. “If any of us grew the balls to say anything, you were hit and abused, yelled at more. We all just learned to fall in line.”
Simpson, who is known for uploading real estate tours in New York City via TikTok, further noted that he felt he “lost [his] voice” while growing up.
@calebwsimpson ♬ original sound – CALEB SIMPSON
“I’ve [worked hard] to find it, you know?” he tearfully added on Thursday. “When I was about 12 years old, we moved into town, and in town we were exposed to more. It was harder for my parents to keep as much control. They became a little bit more lax, but not really ‘cause my oldest brother was kicked out and then my sister left because she couldn’t take it anymore.”
According to Simpson, he and his remaining siblings were unable to contact his exiled brother and sister.
“We weren’t allowed to ask for help [and were told] that money’s bad, people are evil, accept no help,” Simpson claimed of his parents’ rules. “So, for most of my life, I fell back into a freaking corner and it all felt so impossible all because of how it started.”
Simpson left his rural hometown for New York City in September 2015, around the same time that his dad was diagnosed with stomach cancer and given “six months to live.”
“I was here in New York. I didn’t know what to do, so my sister called and I flew home. Then, he died,” Simpson recalled. “I drank a whole bottle of whiskey that night, and then I felt so f***ing free. I know this is f***ed up, but I felt so free ‘cause I didn’t feel like I was under someone’s thumb and I didn’t like the psychological games that were played with me for most of life and my siblings’ lives were so insane that it’s stuff that we’re still dealing with today.”
If you or someone you know is experiencing child abuse, call or text Child Help Hotline at 1-800-422-4453.
