Children of God[edit] In 1973 the family joined a controversial Christian new religious movement, called the Children of God, as missionaries.[8] The family had settled in Caracas, Venezuela where the Children of God had stationed them to work as missionaries and fruit gatherers. Although Phoenix rarely talked about the cult, he was quoted by Arlyn Phoenix in a 1994 Esquire article as having said "They're disgusting, they're ruining people's lives."[9] In an interview with Details magazine in November 1991, Phoenix stated he lost his virginity at age four while in the Children of God, "but I've blocked it out."[10] Arlyn and John eventually grew disillusioned with the Children of God; Arlyn would later tell a journalist that she and her husband were opposed to the group's practice of "Flirty Fishing", stating: "The group was being distorted by the leader, David Berg, who was getting powerful and wealthy. He sought to attract rich disciples through sex. No way."[11] In the late 1970s, River's family moved in with Arlyn's parents in Florida. The family officially changed their name to Phoenix, after the mythical bird that rises from its own ashes, symbolizing a new beginning.[12] River Phoenix grew up in a pedophile cult and was sexualized at age four. River and Corey Feldman starred in Stand By Me together, with Keifer Sutherland. Keifer Sutherland starred with Corey Haim and Corey Feldman in The Lost Boys. Keifer Sutherland releases album called "Down in a Hole." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Qh8KVZOx3E&index=10&list=PLJCznWvkR1xkOk4hs9Badc3hM0pLsYRtE Rose McGowan, Marilyn Manson's former girlfriend, also grew up in a cult. The same cult in Oregon that River Phoenix grew up in. Early life McGowan was born September 5, 1973 in Florence, Italy, to American couple Terri, a writer, and Daniel McGowan, an artist.[1] McGowan also has two half-siblings.[2] Her father ran an Italian chapter of the Children of God, in which both he and his wife held membership until 1978.[3] McGowan spent her early childhood amid the group's communes, often traveling through Europe with her parents.[2] Through her father's art contacts in Italy, McGowan became a child model and appeared in Vogue Bambini and various other Italian magazines. Her parents returned to the United States when she was 10 years old, and settled in Eugene, Oregon.[2][4] McGowan had a wayward childhood, living as a teenage runaway in Portland, Oregon and associating with a group of drag queens in the city.[2][5] After her parents divorced, McGowan lived with her father in Seattle, Washington, attended Roosevelt High School and Nova Alternative High School, and worked at McDonald's. At the age of 15, she officially emancipated herself from her parents[6] and relocated to Los Angeles. Wynona Ryder made her screen debut in Lucas, with Corey Haim. It is on this movie set that Feldman claims Haim was raped. Wynona was Depp's first Hollywood girlfriend and also grew up in a cult. Her family friends included famous pedophile Alan Ginsburg: Ryder was born Winona Laura Horowitz[6] in a farmhouse near Winona, Minnesota,[1][7] the daughter of Cynthia Palmer (née Istas)[1] and Michael Horowitz.[8] Her mother is an author, video producer, and editor.[9] Her father is an author, editor, publisher, and antiquarian bookseller.[9][10][11] He also worked as an archivist for psychedelic guru Dr. Timothy Leary (who was Ryder's godfather).[12] Her father is Jewish (his family emigrated from Russia and Romania), and Ryder has described herself as Jewish.[13] Most of her family on his side were killed in the Holocaust.[13][14] Her father's family was originally named "Tomchin" but took the surname "Horowitz" when they immigrated to the United States.[14] Named after the nearby city of Winona, she was given her middle name, Laura, because of her parents' friendship with Laura Huxley, writer Aldous Huxley's wife.[9] Her stage name derives from Mitch Ryder, a soul and rock singer[15] of whom her father was a fan.[14] Ryder's father is an atheist and her mother is a Buddhist;[15] they encouraged their children to take the best part of other religions and use them to make their own belief systems. Ryder has one full sibling, a younger brother, Urie (named in honor of the first Soviet cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin), and two half-siblings from her mother's prior marriage: an older half-brother, Jubal Palmer, and an older half-sister, Sunyata Palmer. Ryder's family friends were her godfather, Timothy Leary, the Beat Movement poets Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and the science fiction novelist Philip K. Dick.[9] In 1978, when Ryder was seven years old, she and her family relocated to Rainbow, a commune near Elk, Mendocino County, California, where they lived with seven other families on a 300-acre (120 ha) plot of land. As the remote property had no electricity or television sets, Ryder began to devote her time to reading and became an avid fan of J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye.[9][16] She developed an interest in acting after her mother showed her a few movies on a screen in the family barn.