Noah Lyles reveals he grew up in a CULT as Olympics star shares the details of his ‘super strict’ upbringing
Olympic star Noah Lyles has revealed he was ‘basically raised in a cult’. The 100m gold medallist shared details of the ‘super strict’ upbringing he endured in Virginia.
The sprinter explained that his family belonged to a church community that restricted who people could date, required mothers to homeschool their children and made fathers “the head of the household.”
“It was a cult,” he said on the Everyone wants our podcastas reported by PEOPLE. “It just wasn’t at the level of, ‘Yeah, okay. We’re going to drink the Kool-Aid.’
“But it was super strict.”
Eventually, Lyles and his family moved to North Carolina, but he admits the church still “ruined” his and his mother’s view of church.
Olympic athlete Noah Lyles has revealed in a new podcast interview that he ‘basically grew up in a cult’
Lyles said his mother, Keisha Caine Bishop, still struggles to trust churches
“She still struggles with trusting churches in general, but she never lost her faith in religion and I think she brought that to us,” Lyles said.
“It made it easier for me to create my own journey.”
Lyles’ mother, Keisha Caine Bishop, was seen hugging her son after he defeated Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson to win the 100m gold in Paris.
The track and field star later finished third in the 200 metres after it was revealed he was battling Covid-19.
After the race, which Lyles miraculously ran with a fever of 39 degrees, the sprinter collapsed to the ground, a disturbing sight and eventually leaving the Stade de France in a wheelchair.
And Bishop reportedly begged security to help him. One fan who was nearby recalled “yelling” at the staff.
‘I sat there and watched the whole thing,’ X user @mizzADDYtude said.
Lyles and his mother hugged after he won the 100m final in Paris with an incredible comeback
“Security didn’t refuse to call medical. They refused to let her onto the field. They screamed in their faces and tried to jump the fence. Security did their job.
“Medical came and provided help. She was going to be with him in a different way. She was doing her job as a mother. Security was doing their job by not letting anyone through the gate who wasn’t a photographer.”
She was responding to an angry Instagram post from Bishop, in which she claimed that stadium security wouldn’t call a doctor despite Lyles falling to the ground.
“This was one of the scariest moments of my life! Watching my son clutch his chest and gasp for air while stadium security refused to call a doctor as I begged them to help him,” she wrote in part.