The Voice | 3

Summary

Podcast Summary: Guru: Don't Cross Kat – Episode 3: The Voice

Introduction

In Episode 3, titled "The Voice," of Wondery's gripping podcast series Guru: Don't Cross Kat, host Chico Felitti delves deeper into the enigmatic life of Kat Torres. This episode unravels the transformation of Kat from a promising young dancer in Brazil to a controversial self-help guru in Texas. Through firsthand accounts and investigative storytelling, the episode exposes the darker facets of Kat's rise to fame and the influence she wields over her followers.

Early Life and Friendship with Julia

The story begins in the Brazilian city of Belo Horizonte, a serene town whose name translates to "beautiful horizon." Here, an eight-year-old girl, Julia (pseudonym), forms a close friendship with Kat Torres.

Julia (04:02): "I used to do ballet. And after ballet class I would come home and walk my little dog at the park."

Despite living in the same neighborhood, Julia and Kat attended different schools—Julia attended a private school, while Kat went to a public one. Their bond was cemented through their shared love of dance, particularly inspired by the popular Brazilian dance show Eucha.

Chico Felitti (05:06): "We did it too as 8 and 9 year olds."

However, Kat was notably more reserved and closed off compared to Julia. Julia's mother observed Kat's quiet demeanor, especially during family gatherings.

Julia (06:24): "Cat was very closed off in front of others."

Family Challenges and Moving Away

Kat's home life was tumultuous. While her mother was strict, her father struggled with alcoholism, leading to frequent disputes and eventual physical abuse.

Julia (07:04): "Kat's house was the most humble one in her block... her dad was definitely drinking at work and many times they found him passed out on the street."

These challenges forced Kat's family to move multiple times, eventually relocating back to their hometown of Macae, miles away from Rio. Julia's attempts to stay in touch faltered as Kat's family continued to move, severing their friendship early on.

Reestablishing Contact Years Later

Years later, Julia discovers a recent photo of Kat in a Brazilian newspaper, revealing her transformation into a successful model.

Julia (13:01): "I saw this beautiful woman with blonde hair down to her butt. And I was like, damn, like, she was a real model and stuff."

Reconnecting through social media, Julia learns about Kat's harrowing past, including sexual abuse and neglect by her parents. Despite these revelations, Kat presents herself as resilient and determined to reshape her life.

Julia (14:27): "She told me that she was sexually abused and that she would ask, like, beg, for the love of God, not to be left alone with these people again."

Kat's Life in Milan and Shift Towards Spirituality

Kat moved to Milan to pursue her modeling career, sharing an apartment with Georgia, another friend. While Georgia initially saw Kat as innocent and down-to-earth, she soon noticed inconsistencies in Kat's success story.

Georgia (10:39): "She said the man had given her money and bought her everything she always wanted... but she wasn't happy."

Kat's relationships with men in Milan were transactional, seeking financial support while maintaining emotional distance.

Georgia (12:22): "They give me money, and I don't let them touch me just like that."

Marriage to Colborne Bell and Increasing Obsession

Kat met Colborne Bell in 2016, a relatively ordinary man whom she married quickly in a courthouse in Beverly Hills. Despite Colborne's modest financial status, Kat portrayed a lavish lifestyle on social media, garnering a substantial following.

Chico Felitti (23:21): "Kat was ready for something different."

However, the reality was far from glamorous. Kat's obsession with maintaining her online persona led to strain in their marriage. She became increasingly controlling and distrustful, influenced by her internal "voice."

Colborne Bell (33:04): "She would have a dream that I was cheating on her... she was pretty intense."

Their relationship deteriorated despite attempts at couples therapy, culminating in their divorce three years later.

Transformation into a Self-Proclaimed Guru

Kat's quest for power and influence intensified post-divorce. In December 2021, she began cultivating her image as a psychic and self-help guru in Texas. Her Instagram became a platform for promoting her services, attracting hundreds of thousands of followers eager to emulate her "perfect life."

Chico Felitti (25:05): "She was creating a fantasy, the perfect life she had always wanted."

Kat's aggressive online behavior, including hostile interactions with critics, did not deter her followers. Many saw her as a source of empowerment, echoing her own journey from victimhood to control.

Establishing Control Over Followers

In Texas, Kat's influence expanded as she drew followers into her home, fostering a cult-like environment. She exerted control over her team of assistant witches and manipulated her followers into isolating themselves from their families.

Chico Felitti (25:31): "Ever since she was a little girl in Brazil when she felt powerless... now she had worked hard to get where she was. To be the one with power."

Kat's methods involved psychological manipulation and fostering dependency, making it difficult for her followers to break free from her influence.

Climax: The Dark Evolution

The episode concludes with a foreboding tone as Kat's followers begin to uncover unsettling truths about her methods and the environment within her Texas household. The stage is set for a confrontation between Kat and those who seek to expose her true nature.

Chico Felitti (34:26): "A year into their marriage, Kat and Colburn were struggling to stay together... Kat was becoming obsessed with gaining the same kind of influence as her idols."

Conclusion and Teaser for Next Episode

As the episode wraps up, listeners are left anticipating the next installment, which promises to delve into the unraveling of Kat's facade and the consequences of her manipulative rise to power.

Chico Felitti (Ending): "For God's sake, don't let Zach find out. That's on the next episode of Don't Cross Cat."

Notable Quotes

• Julia (04:02): "I used to do ballet. And after ballet class I would come home and walk my little dog at the park."

• Chico Felitti (05:06): "We did it too as 8 and 9 year olds."

• Julia (06:24): "Cat was very closed off in front of others."

• Julia (14:27): "She told me that she was sexually abused and that she would ask, like, beg, for the love of God, not to be left alone with these people again."

• Georgia (12:22): "They give me money, and I don't let them touch me just like that."

• Chico Felitti (25:05): "She was creating a fantasy, the perfect life she had always wanted."

• Colborne Bell (33:04): "She would have a dream that I was cheating on her... she was pretty intense."

Takeaways

Episode 3 of Guru: Don't Cross Kat paints a comprehensive picture of Kat Torres' complex persona—from a troubled childhood to a manipulative guru. The narrative reveals how Kat's past traumas fueled her desire for control and influence, leading her down a path of manipulation and power over her followers. As Kat's story unfolds, it serves as a cautionary tale about the perils of unchecked ambition and the seductive allure of influence.

Next Episode Preview

The upcoming episode promises to expose the true extent of Kat's manipulative tactics and the impact they have on those around her, setting the stage for a deeper investigation into her dark rise to power.

Transcript

[Chico Felitti]

Wondery subscribers can binge all episodes of Don't Cross Cat early and ad free. Join Wondery in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Hey Chico here. Just wanted to let you know that this episode has a short mention of sexual abuse and self harm. So please take care while Listen it was May 2013, long before Patty or Desiree had ever heard the name. Cat tourists at an upscale nightclub in the south of France. Flashing lights lit up glamorous partygoers and socialites. In the middle of it all, a photographer stood scanning the crowd. It was the week of the Cannes Film Festival and the town was full of Hollywood film stars. A buzz of excitement spread through the club. The photographer glimpsed a familiar face across the dance floor. It was a handsome man with a goatee, wearing a newsboy hat pulled low. Leonardo DiCaprio had arrived. The photographer followed his movements, looking for a clearer view as he watched a stunning blonde woman in a sleek white low cut top emerge out of the crowd. The woman edged closer behind Leo. She leaned in as if to say something. Then she put her hand on his back. The photographer lowered the camera. He had gotten the shot in October of that year. The photo splashed across the pages of Brazilian newspaper Extra. The article announced the new lover of Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio. Kat Taurus. Within hours, British tabloid the Daily Mail picked the story up, featuring more photos of Kat, one of her in a silky black dress, another in a white swimsuit, looking seductively over her shoulder. The next day, the photos were all over the world, reaching the gossip pages as far as Australia, South Africa, and the U.S. it looked like Kat's big break, a moment that was set to take her from a life of obscurity to a life filled with fame and glamour. But it didn't quite turn out that way, because Kat was about to take a more troubling path. It's a path I spent many months investigating, one that reveals the forces that shaped her and helps explain what was really going on in that house in Texas.

[Jesse Weber]

When Luigi Mangione was arrested for allegedly shooting the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, he didn't just spark outrage, he ignited a cultural firestorm. Is the system working? Or is it time for a reckoning? I'm Jesse Weber. Listen to Law & Crime's Luigi. Exclusively on Wondery.

[Chico Felitti]

From Wondering. I'm Chico Felitti, and this is don't cross cat. Episode 3 the Voice the Brazilian city of Belo Horizonte is not the kind of place that gets much attention from the gossip columns. It's a town north of Rio, surrounded by mountains. Its name literally translates to beautiful horizon. But for Giulia, living there as an eight year old, life was mainly about two things.

[Julia (voice actor)]

I used to do ballet. And after ballet class I would come home and walk my little dog at the park.

[Chico Felitti]

Julia is not her real name by the way. She didn't want to ruffle any feathers and asked to remain anonymous. So her words are spoken by an actor. One day she saw a boy playing in the street with a girl she didn't recognize.

[Julia (voice actor)]

The girl was very thin and we both had short Chanel hair. But she had bangs framing her green eyes. Anyway, when I got close, my dog started to bark at them.

[Chico Felitti]

Julia noticed the boy got scared with the small barking dog, but the pretty green eyed girl didn't. She was more interested in what Julia was wearing.

[Julia (voice actor)]

She liked my ballet outfits, my pointe shoes. She was like dazzled, you know, she loved all that stuff. So we said we would meet again at the park park some other time. And that was it.

[Chico Felitti]

The green eyed girl's name was Kat Taurus.

[Julia (voice actor)]

She was one of my best friends. We were inseparable.

[Chico Felitti]

Even though they lived in the same neighborhood. Julia and Kat went to different schools. Kat attended public school, whereas Julia went to a fancy private school. But they would meet up every afternoon to play together. What they loved most was to dance. And it wasn't just ballet. This band Eucha had a famous routine that they used to do on Brazilian tv.

[Julia (voice actor)]

They had these tiny shorts on and little tops and we used to learn the choreography and do the dance.

[Chico Felitti]

The dancers put a bottle on the ground and shook their booties lower and lower until they almost touched it. Yep, that was on afternoon television daily. And everyone just loved the bottle dance. Grandmas, moms, kids. Cat and Julia did it too as 8 and 9 year olds. And I have to admit, little 13 year old Chico did the bottle dance at parties. Little Cat may have done the bottle dance as well, but for the most part she was a quiet kid with very few friends.

[Julia (voice actor)]

My mom used to say that when Kat came over to her house, she barely heard her speak. And yeah, Cat was very closed off in front of others. Like when my mom made us dinner, Kat was always very quiet at the dinner table.

[Chico Felitti]

And when Julia visited Katie, she would notice how different things were there.

[Julia (voice actor)]

Kat's house was the most humble one in her block, like by far. There was only one bathroom and it was super tiny. The rooms were also very small. The room that Kat shared with her sister had two small beds, some shelves and A little tv.

[Chico Felitti]

Julia remembers Kat's mom as sweet and.

[Julia (voice actor)]

Kind, but she was also very, very strict. Like if Kat had to be home at 9 and it was like 9:01 and she wasn't home, her mom would call her house complaining that Kat hadn't left.

[Chico Felitti]

But her dad was different.

[Julia (voice actor)]

He was definitely drinking at work and many times they found him passed out on the street.

[Chico Felitti]

Julia remembers that when Kat's dad was sober, he. He could be very affectionate to his daughter. It was when he drank that things got bad.

[Julia (voice actor)]

I knew he was an alcoholic and at times we heard him fighting with her mom and Kat told me that he sometimes hit her mom.

[Chico Felitti]

The drinking was a part of the reason Kat's family had to move so many times and why they ended up in Belo di Zonc.

[Julia (voice actor)]

They were renters and the owner of the apartment did not like all this. It caused problems with the neighbors.

[Chico Felitti]

After some time, they moved away again, eventually returning to their hometown of Macae, about 100 miles up the coast from Rio.

[Julia (voice actor)]

I kept calling her and nothing. Her dad kept moving them around and I couldn't talk to her anymore.

[Chico Felitti]

She changed her phone number every vacation. The first thing Julia did was ask her mom if they could try to call Kat.

[Julia (voice actor)]

I had an uncle who traveled for work and he went to Macae from time to time. So I would ask him to please bring me back the phone book because I wanted to find Kat's mom. I mean, I knew her whole name and the right spelling, but I still never found her.

[Chico Felitti]

The next trace of cat Taurus is in a short, grainy video on YouTube from 2012. The sound is a bit screwed up, but you can just about hear her voice behind the soundtrack.

[Georgia (voice actor)]

Hi, I'm a model and I'm an actress.

[Chico Felitti]

It's a video entry for a beauty contest. It shows Kat all grown up in her early 20s. She's holding a plastic rose as the camera zooms in on her. Hi, my name's Kat Torres. And blows a kiss at the camera.

[Georgia (voice actor)]

I'm a very good person. I'm always smiling and I think life is beautiful and we should smile all the time, she says.

[Chico Felitti]

She's currently living in Italy, in Milan.

[Georgia (voice actor)]

She seemed very innocent at the beginning.

[Chico Felitti]

Georgia, who only wants us to use her first name, met Kat in Milan. They shared an apartment together.

[Georgia (voice actor)]

She spoke very softly and she had a very angel like face. She didn't drink, she would never go out. So I think she kept this aura of being very down to earth and innocent.

[Chico Felitti]

But it turned out Kat's modeling career wasn't doing so well. She just didn't have the right look for the catwalk.

[Georgia (voice actor)]

So she was getting a lot of catalogs and not a lot of high fashion, well paying jobs. She wouldn't have as many castings apparently as the other girls.

[Chico Felitti]

But still, Kat wasn't struggling. She seemed to be making decent money. It didn't make much sense to Georgia until the day Kat started talking about her past, her life in Rio after she left her parents home.

[Georgia (voice actor)]

What she told me was that she was very young, living in a favela in Rio and she was very beautiful. And a man who was a lot older saw her in the favela and fell in love with her. And her family agreed to give her away to this man and said that she ended up marrying him and they moved to a very big house in Rio where she spent three or four years of her life living with him.

[Chico Felitti]

She said the man had given her money and bought her everything she always wanted. She had 12 members of staff working for her at the house. But even so, she wasn't happy.

[Georgia (voice actor)]

She was a victim of domestic violence with him. And one day she decided that she needed to run away. So she didn't tell her family and she went to a modeling agency, managed to get a contract to Milan, and she left only with the clothes in her body. And she left all this very wealthy life behind. And that was how she ended up.

[Chico Felitti]

In Milan while they lived in Italy. Giorgia says that Kat appeared to be in touch with another older man.

[Georgia (voice actor)]

And she used to say that he adopted her like a daughter. So this was something that I found strange because it's like you have this guy that treats you like a father and sends you money when you need.

[Chico Felitti]

Georgia has her own theory of what was going on. Kat's relationships with men had become transactional.

[Georgia (voice actor)]

So I think now that this guy might have been her sugar daddy and he was helping sustain her lifestyle. I don't think she was doing prostitution, you know, but I think she had these weird relationships with these men.

[Chico Felitti]

Back in Brazil, Julia still often wondered what had happened to her old friend Kat. They had last seen each other when they were 11. All that time she spent looking in the phone book never worked. But one day in her 20s, Julia.

[Julia (voice actor)]

Googled Katie and the first thing that showed up was this article for Fashion blog saying something like, Kat Torres, Brazilian model, blah, blah, blah. So I had to open it and when the photo popped up, I saw this beautiful woman with blonde hair down to her butt. And I was like, damn, like, she was a real model and stuff. So I was like, my God.

[Chico Felitti]

Julia got in touch.

[Julia (voice actor)]

We would talk on Facebook and message back and forth.

[Chico Felitti]

And as they caught up, Kat confided something she'd never told Julia before. What she said was the reason she had left home, the reason she changed so much. Kat said it all began when her dad went out of town for work. Her parents left her with friends and family for long periods of time. She said it was during those times that she went through some deeply distressing experiences.

[Julia (voice actor)]

She told me that she was sexually abused and that she would ask, like, beg, for the love of God, not to be left alone with these people again. But her parents would leave her anyway. She told them what was happening, but they never believed her.

[Chico Felitti]

Kat said she'd try to make people listen.

[Julia (voice actor)]

There was this one time she told me that she hated her parents and she tried to kill herself because nobody believed her.

[Chico Felitti]

Julia was shocked to hear Kat's story, but Kat seemed to kind of brush it off.

[Julia (voice actor)]

She said, oh, I've been through all these traumas, but I'm happy. I'm gonna be happy. Things are gonna work out. And she would also say things like, oh, these men, they just want to take advantage of me. They want to take advantage of my beauty, my body. So now I take advantage of them. They give me money, and I don't let them touch me just like that.

[Chico Felitti]

Cap was done trusting men. In fact, she was done with everyone.

[Julia (voice actor)]

She decided she wasn't gonna get close to people who didn't have money or who couldn't, like, help her in any way, because she said everyone just wanted to exploit her and she was going to take advantage of that. Honestly, she didn't have any other friends besides me, really. There were very few. So she started forming these sort of commercial relationships with people.

[Chico Felitti]

Sometime after Kat and Julia reconnected, that photo with Leo DiCaprio appeared in the press. And Giorgia, Kat's old roommate in Italy, saw the story.

[Georgia (voice actor)]

And so me and her roommates, we instantly messaged, and we were like, do you think that's a possibility?

[Chico Felitti]

Up until then, Georgia had kind of forgotten about Kat Tories. Kat had moved out of her apartment after only three months. But as much as Georgia was enjoying the juicy gossip, something didn't quite add up.

[Georgia (voice actor)]

Everyone characterized her as a European top model, which, because we lived with her, we knew that she was struggling. And that was really not the case. Both of us were like, absolutely no.

[Chico Felitti]

Two days later, the US gossip site Page Six ran another story. About DiCaprio. Leo dines with model Tony Garn. Kat Tourist rumors crumble. A source close to Leo was he met Kat once, five months ago. They're not dating. Brutal. By the way, we did ask Leo DiCaprio for comment, but. But perhaps not surprisingly, we never got an answer.

[Georgia (voice actor)]

We all just thought she must have been one of the party girls that were kind of hired to be at this house. And she was very fortunate that she managed to get a picture with him.

[Chico Felitti]

Well, listen, I can't tell you for sure that Kat took the photos to the media, either by herself or through other channels, but come on. Kat would be doing precisely what she told Julia she would do. If everyone was out to exploit her, she was going to get in first. And sure enough, it didn't really matter that the story was denied by Leo's people. The story was already out there. Kat would now be known forever as Leo DiCaprio's ex. In that same article with the Brazilian newspaper Extra, Kat revealed her next move. She was coming for Hollywood. This decision would take Kat into new circles and lead to a transformation no one saw coming.

[Michelle Williams]

Some people get a wild haircut or book a spontaneous trip when life throws them a curveball. But Molly, well, she dove headfirst into a world of no strings attached sex, secret rendezvous, forbidden affairs and unforgettable adventures. And together, we tell every juicy detail in Dying for Sexual Wondries, award winning podcast that's now streaming on a TV near you, starring Michelle Williams and Jenny Slate. And to top it off, we're dropping brand new bonus episodes where I sit down with the cast to spill all the spicy secrets, desire, friendship, self discovery and the ultimate bucket list of pleasure. This is a story that had everyone talking, listen to the original Dying for Sex and break brand new episodes on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge the original series before anyone else and completely ad free on Wondry.

[Jesse Weber]

In the early hours of December 4, 2024, CEO Brian Thompson stepped out onto the streets of midtown Manhattan.

[Colborne Bell]

This assailant pulls out a weapon and starts firing at him.

[Jesse Weber]

We're talking about the CEO of the biggest private health insurance corporation in the world and the suspect he has been.

[Chico Felitti]

Identified as Luigi Nicholas Mangione became one.

[Jesse Weber]

Of the most divisive figures in modern criminal history.

[Chico Felitti]

I was targeted, premeditated. Admit to sow terror.

[Jesse Weber]

I'm Jesse Weber, host of Luigi Produced by Law and Crime and Twist. This is more than a true crime investigation. We explore a uniquely American moment that could change the country Forever.

[Julia (voice actor)]

He's awoken the people to a true issue.

[Georgia (voice actor)]

Finally, maybe this would lead rich and powerful people to acknowledge the barbaric nature of our healthcare system.

[Jesse Weber]

Listen to Law and Crime's Luigi exclusively on Wondery Plus. You can join Wondery on the Wondery app, Spotify or Apple podcasts.

[Chico Felitti]

It was 2016, three years after that photo. Colborne Bell, a tall, square jawed guy in his late 20s, was living in LA, working at a wealth management firm, when a friend of his got in touch. The friend had met this great Brazilian girl at a retreat in upstate New York. Her name was Kat.

[Colborne Bell]

I had never met a person like that before. Just the assertiveness and almost like being able to manifest immediately the future that she wanted for herself.

[Chico Felitti]

And a week later, Kat reached out to him.

[Colborne Bell]

I got a message from her because she didn't drive. She'd asked if I would drive her to the beach.

[Chico Felitti]

It was late, but Corborn was like, yeah, sure, why not?

[Colborne Bell]

So we went to the beach at night and there was just by happenstance, an incredible, beautiful meteor shower. I think she felt it was a universal sign. It was exciting for me. I mean, it was just an immediately incredibly impassioned and passionate affair.

[Chico Felitti]

It was literally in the stars.

[Colborne Bell]

And that was, I think, when the relationship kind of just started.

[Chico Felitti]

About four months later, he took the next step, got down on one knee.

[Colborne Bell]

Gave her my grandmother's ring, and we just went to the courthouse in Beverly Hills and got married.

[Chico Felitti]

But a guy like Cockburn seemed like an unlikely choice for Kat.

[Colborne Bell]

I probably had like $20,000 to my name. Yeah, I don't think I was making more than like $80,000 a year. And I think the rent was about 2,000 bucks a month. And I had a, you know, nice one bedroom apartment in an older building in Los Angeles.

[Chico Felitti]

And far from being wealthy.

[Colborne Bell]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure.

[Chico Felitti]

But for Kat, the last few years had been tough. She had been hustling hard since she moved to the US she'd been on some billboards on Sunset Boulevard, had a cover photo on People magazine, the Spanish version. And she'd been in a video for a Prince Royce song that was featured in the movie Fast and Furious 7. But she didn't have much else to show for her years of work. She told Colburn she was done with the Hollywood hustle, especially the men.

[Colborne Bell]

By then, she had dated every famous person, billionaire, seen everything that she had wanted to see. And I think she recognized that that was not the life she wanted to live.

[Chico Felitti]

Kat was ready for something different.

[Colborne Bell]

I think she was eager for, like, family and a sense of stability and kind of shifting away from, you know, this jet setting model life of, like, celebrity and things moving fast into something that was more like permanent and grounding and stable, a routine that she never had.

[Chico Felitti]

At least that was the impression she gave Colburn. But Kat wasn't going to completely reject the jet set life. Around the time Kat and Colborne got married, Kat created an Instagram account. She posted videos in a bikini, of course, but also footage of her twirling in front of a designer store on Rodeo Drive, or posing at luxury hotel rooms or on the hood of a Ferrari. In one of her Instagram posts, she was in a fancy hot tub with a caption that read American Dream. The reality, though, was different. She didn't own a Ferrari. She was living in a regular apartment, no major luxuries.

[Colborne Bell]

And, you know, my piece was in trying to figure out how to take that perfect picture as quickly as possible. I was somebody that was very anti social media, that really respected my own privacy, that never wanted to do anything like this. I mean, I had obligations to go, like, make content with her. That was part of the agreement for sure.

[Chico Felitti]

She was creating a fantasy, the perfect life she had always wanted. But this time it was on social media.

[Colborne Bell]

It was a crash course in how to create and manipulate and portray the reality of the situation into something that was idealistic, into kind of like the message that she wanted to share.

[Chico Felitti]

And it worked because her newly created Instagram soon reached 300,000 followers. But around this time, there was something else that was pushing Kat in a new direction. Something that happened in a luxurious house up in the Hollywood Hills.

[Jim (voice actor)]

I had the perfect bachelor pad with the swimming pool that you see in the movies.

[Chico Felitti]

The owner of the house asked us not to share his name, so we'll call him Jim. And his words are spoken by an actor. One day, a friend told him about Kat.

[Jim (voice actor)]

He says to me, we're going to come to your next ceremony. We just did a photo shoot together and she wants to meet the tea. And I said, okay.

[Chico Felitti]

By tea, he meant ayahuasca, the psychoactive drink held sacred by some indigenous groups in the Amazon. Each weekend, Jim invited a small circle of friends around to try it for themselves.

[Jim (voice actor)]

It's a ceremony, it's a ritual. We sing predominantly in Portuguese and we have these chants with drums.

[Chico Felitti]

Ayahuasca contains the psychedelic chemical dmt, which makes it illegal in the US when.

[Jim (voice actor)]

You open your eyes on ayahuasca, a dirty wall can look like a sacred page made 10,000 years ago. And you look at it and it's the most beautiful thing and it's just a dirty wall.

[Chico Felitti]

When Cat arrived, she immediately connected with the group. She became a regular, sometimes even singing during the ceremony. Jim says she wasn't particularly good, but he let her do it anyway. A friend of Colborne called Ryder came to one of those ceremonies with Kat.

[Ryder (voice actor)]

You step down into this living room that has this huge window that looks over all of la. And so it's in that, like, living room area that the ceremonies happen.

[Chico Felitti]

At first, Ryder was skeptical, but as the group sang, he began to feel more. More and more comfortable.

[Ryder (voice actor)]

I really felt like it was like you were being held and guided and moved in the right way. So it brings up a lot of bad memories, experiences, whatever else, it was a pretty profound experience.

[Chico Felitti]

Then ayahuasca's other effects kicked in, and.

[Ryder (voice actor)]

Then eventually you vomit and, like, through the vomiting, purge all of those bad memories and bad energies. I could feel like everyone going through some shit.

[Chico Felitti]

That's when Ryder noticed something going on with Kat.

[Ryder (voice actor)]

And she was just kind of like touching your face, and we were, like, on one of the couches on the side, and there was a mirror behind us, and she was just, like, looking into the mirror. It seemed like she was going through something, like, pretty intense, something about appearance and looks itself. Everyone sad.

[Chico Felitti]

Cap was never quite the same again. She became more spiritual, interested in the occult and all kinds of alternative ideas. Now she didn't just want to be an influencer, she wanted to be a guru. But to be a guru, at least a popular one, required followers. So she wrote a book. It was called the Voice, and she went on one of Brazil's most famous chat shows to talk about on set. Kat wore a sleeveless, long, flowy red dress with beige strappy sandals and a necklace with a heart charm. She looked like a combination of a supermodel and a Disney princess. The host, Amari Jr was known to interview gurus and mystical types. He often had a little fun with his guests, tease them a bit like he did with Katie when he said she must be reading his thoughts. I don't say it doesn't really work like that. Kat said I'd have to concentrate, tune into your energy. Maori let Kat talk about this voice she heard, how she talked to God himself, to the angels, to the aliens. Kat said the aliens told her about the things that were going on in other planets. Could it be the ayahuasca you take? Amaury asked her. No, said Kat. The Ayahuasca is for visiting loved ones, ones who have died. Even though he started off teasing Kat, Amori admitted to me there was something about the way she spoke that made her convincing. Kat was determined to rebrand herself as a guru. No publicity was bad publicity.

[Colborne Bell]

When we were in Brazil, she was also very interested in seeking out various churches or alternative types of magic.

[Chico Felitti]

She became interested in Brazilian gurus like Jonath God, another celebrity medium who was later accused of abusing many of his followers.

[Colborne Bell]

I think she just liked the. Perhaps maybe just like, the mystique of it all.

[Chico Felitti]

And she was really inspired by celebrity life coaches like Tony Robbins. Even some politicians caught her attention.

[Colborne Bell]

I think she idolized Trump. She idolized Bolsonaro in the ways that they were able to, like, manipulate people to believe things, right? These were the people that she looked up to and she respected.

[Chico Felitti]

Kat was becoming obsessed with gaining the same kind of influence as her idols. It was all she seemed to focus on.

[Colborne Bell]

I mean, she hardly slept. I think she would sleep two, three, four hours a night at most. Otherwise, she was working, sending a million messages. She did not like to leave the apartment. You know, she just wanted to, like, grow and grow and grow and grow and grow.

[Chico Felitti]

But as she worked night and day, Coburn began to notice changes.

[Colborne Bell]

She would have a dream that I was cheating on her, and she would wake up and she would, like, just roll over and start hitting me.

[Chico Felitti]

Kat started saying that the voice had told her that he was having affairs with other women.

[Colborne Bell]

Who is this person that texted you? And then, like, if any girl texted me, period, she would, like, call them and yell at them, like, don't you ever text. Like, it was pretty intense.

[Chico Felitti]

It seemed to Corbin that that Kat's life was catching up with her.

[Colborne Bell]

She spoke numerous times of being raped, of effectively being left to care for herself since she was five years old. Yeah, everything is probably a reflection, I mean, compounding of the abuse she experienced growing up.

[Chico Felitti]

A year into their marriage, Kat and Coburn were struggling to stay together.

[Colborne Bell]

We did, like, couples therapy. I mean, our relationship, of course, was, like, so fractured and broken in the dynamic that there was also no room to escape.

[Chico Felitti]

Colburn says she became more and more invested in the messages coming from the voice in her head, the correctness of.

[Colborne Bell]

The, like, the spiritual transmissions she was receiving.

[Chico Felitti]

It all came to a head in 2018. Kat moved out. Three years later, they were divorced. But she wouldn't be alone for long. The final stage of her transformation was about to take shape. In December 2021, Kat posted a new Picture to her social media. It showed her next to a handsome all American looking guy with dirty blonde hair, his sleeves tight around his biceps. Both of them had big smiles on their faces. Zachary Menken was 20 years old, almost 10 years younger than Kat. They had met on Tinder a year prior and only went out a couple of times before they moved in together. It was a whirlwind romance. Kat soon moved to Texas with him to the town of Leander just outside Austin. They adopted a lizard, a ferret and a beautiful albino she wolf looking dog that also fit perfectly in cats Instagram profile. I spoke to one of Zach's relatives who asked to remain anonymous. They told me Zach's family was confused by this beautiful new girlfriend who was 10 years older than him. What were they doing together? Whenever the family visited Zach at their new house in Leander, Kat often stayed in her room on the Internet. She would be in there for hours on end. Zach's family even began to wonder if she was on OnlyFans posting amateur porn videos. But in reality, Kat was selling her perfect life as a psychic and a coach. By now, Kat was a self proclaimed witch. She claimed she could change reality with manifesting and magic. In this Instagram post, Kat told her followers she could help them find the perfect life, get rich, find happiness, not to mention a husband just like hers. But the same anger she had shown her ex husband Coburn hadn't gone away. She started lashing out at people on social media. One of the posts read to the Platts, you won't get a face like this, even with plastic surgery, not even by killing yourself will you be able to have a life like this, A life with this much sophistication and a husband like mine. I love seeing bursting with envy. And when people called her out online, she became even more aggressive. She cursed people, told them they would get butt cancer, she hoped they got diarrhea and that their guts would fall out. But that didn't seem to put most of her followers off. By 2022, many had declared themselves willing to go to Texas to live with her. These devoted followers gave Kat power somehow. The power she wanted. Ever since she was a little girl in Brazil when she felt powerless and subjected to the abuse of men. But not anymore. Now she had worked hard to get where she was. To be the one with power. Power she would exert over her team of assistant witches, the young followers whom she had invited into her home. Followers who had friends and families who were terrified about what was happening inside that house and desperate to get them. Coming up. She said your name is Flair. Now you only talk to me, okay? Flair doesn't talk to Desiree, okay? One of Kat's followers arrives at the house in Texas. I believe there's probably some narcissism, psychopathy, something like that, and discovers the truth about Kat. For God's sake, don't let Zach find out. That's on the next episode of Don't Cross Cat. Follow Don't Cross Cat on the Wondery app, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge all episodes early and ad free right now by joining Wondery in the Wondery App or Apple Podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short [e-mail] or if you have a tip about a story you think we should investigate, please write to [e-mail] Tips from Wondery this is episode 3 of 6 of Don't Cross Cat. Don't Cross Cat is hosted and reported by me, Chico Felitti. Producer is Andres Caballero, Senior producer is Fernanda Echeverri Associate producers are Giovanna Romano Sanchez and Ottavio Bonfa. Additional production assistance by Beatriz Trevisa fact checking by Zoe Sullivan Voice acting by Lance Carplan theme song by Mariana Romano sound design and mixing by Stephanie Lebeau additional mixing by Julia Caruso and J? Jk Rubin. Sounds super supervisor is Marcelino Villalpondo, Project Manager is Nancy Trujillo and supervising Senior production manager is Jessica Ellis. Managing producer is Heather Baloga Development producer is Olivia Weber Senior development Editor is Rachel B. Doyle. Production services by Futuru Studios Executive producers for Futuru Studios are Marlon Bishop and Maria Garcia. Executive producers for Wondery are Russell Finch, George Lavender, Marshall Lewy and Jen Sargent.