Jennifer Grey to Play Cult Leader Gwen Shamblin in Lifetime Movie

Jennifer Grey is the latest actress to step into Gwen Shamblin Lara's shoes. 

The Dirty Dancing star will play Shamblin Lara in the upcoming Lifetime Original Movie Gwen Shamblin: Starving for Salvation. The news comes after Sarah Paulson was announced to be leading HBO's adaptation of its own docusieres, The Way Down: God, Greed, and the Cult of Gwen Shamblin. 

Gwen Shamblin Lara rose to notoriety as a weight loss guru and eventually became a cult-like leader within her church. According to both ex-congregants of her Tennessee church Remnant Fellowship and ex-members of her Weigh Down Workshop, Shamblin Lara's dangerous, controlling behavior mirrored that of a cult leader. Shamblin Lara was accused of emotional, psychological, and physical abuse by her former followers.

Shamblin Lara died in a plane crash in 2021. 

Gwen Shamblin: Starving for Salvation will premiere on Lifetime February 4, 2023.

Jade Budowski is a freelance writer with a knack for ruining punchlines and harboring dad-aged celebrity crushes. She was previously a reporter/producer at Decider and is a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow her on Twitter: @jadebudowski.