Rose McGowan has racked up an impressive roster of credits since the '90s, but embraced her new role as an activist in the latter part of the 2010s. The actress starred on Charmed, but her life off screen has unfortunately been anything but. Here is the tragic real-life story of Rose McGowan.

McGowan grew up in Italy, under some far-from-normal circumstances. As she revealed to People magazine in a 2011 interview, her parents were members of Children of God, a polygamous religious cult that gained popularity amidst the hippie ethos of the late 1960s. McGowan explained,

"You were cut off from your [outside] family. There were no newspapers, no television. You were kept in the dark so you would obey."

Recalling that she never really fit in as a child, she admitted that she once rebelled by lighting a bookshelf full of Bibles on fire.

The patriarchal cult was rife with misogyny and has since, according to BBC News, become infamous for allegations of child abuse. Thankfully, McGowan and her parents were able to eventually flee the cult when she was nine, after her father found out the group's founder had begun advocating the idea of adults having inappropriate relationships with children. McGowan explained in a 2019 episode of The Irish Times' Back to Yours podcast,

"That was too far for my father. So we escaped."

Watch the video for more about The Tragic Real-Life Story Of Rose McGowan.

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Cult life | 0:00

Homeless teen | 1:16

Tragic loss | 2:11

Marilyn's lifestyle | 3:18

Plastic surgery | 4:13

Rose and Harvey | 5:07

Hollywood blacklist | 6:19

Criticizing Natalie | 7:28

Controversial comments | 8:33

Iran comments | 9:44

Bill Maher | 10:43