Regarding the portrayal of her involvement with 7M Films and the Shekinah Church, she says, “I believe that this documentary is a one-sided story.” She goes on to say that when she “[gave] her life to Jesus Christ in 2020,” she asked her family for space to collect her thoughts and “process my new walk I wanted to take with God.” She maintains that it was Melanie who locked her out of the sisters’ joint Instagram account, which is the reason she created her own.
“My family didn’t honour the space I asked for and I saw a different side of them I’d never seen before,” she continues. “Honestly, it made me mad, frustrated and annoyed that they were being so overbearing and chaotic.”
Miranda Derrick also explains her absence at her grandfather’s funeral in January 2021, which is framed in the docuseries as a turning point where the family believes that it is truly losing her to the “cult.” According to Miranda, her “papa” was taken to the hospital during the Christmas holidays in 2020. She says that Melanie was “offended” when she began praying for her papa, who died later that same day. A month after that when she was expected to return for his funeral, Miranda says that she was worried that her family would “try to keep me there and not let me come back to LA.”
As for her current relationship with her family, she says that it had been improving over the past few years—but that the work may have been undone since the documentary came out. “I have been getting together with them over the past couple years to make amends, move on and work things out as a family. This documentary has created a further challenge between us as I work to overcome this public attack. No one likes to be portrayed as their brainwashed/not in control of her own life/shell of herself/human trafficked daughter/sister when that just isn’t the truth,” she writes.
Instagram/@itsmirandaderrick
She also doubles down on her insistence that she is not in a cult, and that she is not a victim.
“I will add that I would have preferred that my family’s circumstances remained private. I’m forced and feel like I have no other choice but to defend myself because of all this. I can’t convince anyone to believe anything,” she says. “I am just a woman trying to live my life. I am not a victim, I am not in any harm, I am not being abused. I’ve never asked my family or anyone else to ‘help’ me in any way. Respectfully, what I choose to do with my life is up to me.”
In the days since the docuseries premiered, Miranda’s sister, Melanie, has also thanked viewers for their support, and says she is now focused on moving forward with her life.
This article originally appeared on GLAMOUR (US).