Adam Driver's mother-in-law allegedly was a teacher in an NYC cult

Adam Driver’s mother-in-law, 67, ‘was a teacher at NYC cult the Odyssey Study Group during the early 2000s’ – as it’s accused of ’emotional abuse, pressuring members to commit infidelity, child abuse and forced labor’

• Cynthia May, 67, the mother of Adam Driver’s wife, Joanne Tucker, allegedly used to teach classes for the Odyssey Study Group (OSG) in New York City 
• The alleged cult was founded by actress Sharon Gans and her playwright husband Alex Horn in San Francisco then reopened in NYC in the 1980s
• Gans died of Covid-related complications in January 2021 at the age of 85 

Adam Driver’s mother-in-law was reported to once be a teacher in an alleged New York City cult that has been accused by some of emotional abuse and pressuring members to commit infidelity, child abuse and forced labor.

Cynthia May, 67, the mother of Driver’s wife, Joanne Tucker, allegedly hosted lectures for the Odyssey Study Group (OSG), her ex-husband Spencer Schneider wrote in his new book that claims to reveal an insider’s look into the secret cult. 

He pointed out, however, that he has doubts she’s still involvement, and made clear that Driver and Tucker had no involvement in the group. 

The group was allegedly founded by ‘Slaughterhouse Five’ actress Sharon Gans and her playwright husband Alex Horn in San Francisco in the 1970s and then reopened under a different name in NYC in the 1980s.

Following Gans’ death of Covid-related complications in January 2021, several former members of the group, including Schneider, have revealed how they were forced to pay for the ‘lectures’ at ‘$400 a month to fund their leaders’ lavish lifestyles.

Adam Driver’s mother-in-law, Cynthia May, 67, reportedly used to teach classes for an alleged NYC cult that has been accused of emotional abuse and pressuring members to commit infidelity. Pictured are Driver and his wife, May’s daughter, Joanne Tucker in New York in 2021

The group was allegedly founded by ‘Slaughterhouse Five’ actress Sharon Gans and her husband Alex Horn in San Francisco in the 1970s and then reopened in NYC in the 1980s

Schneider, now 62, joined the group in 1989 and then married May within months under Gans orders, according to his new book, Manhattan Cult Story: My Unbelievable True Story of Sex, Crimes, Chaos, and Survival. 

Schneider spoke to The U.S. Sun about the cult, which has a history of alleged mental abuse, physical abuse, homophobia, racism and child abuse, the outlet reported. 

He claimed Gans would force people to reveal their greatest insecurity or fear so others could verbally assault and berated them.

Schneider also talked about how his situation was ‘no way near as bad as others.’

‘She had gay people marry straight people, because she believed in gay conversion which of course doesn’t exist, and she would also break up marriages.

‘I didn’t realize how bad it was until I was about 10 or 15 years in and I finally saw how mercilessly she treated people, and how they weren’t trying to improve anyone’s lives but instead hurt them.

‘But I couldn’t get out because of how wrapped up my whole life was in that group.

‘I was very afraid of leaving.’

Schneider’s arraigned marriage to May lasted until 2009 when the pair got a divorce. He said he does not know if May – who lives in Brooklyn – is still involved. And said that May’s daughter and son-in-law actor Adam Driver ‘have no involvement in it whatsoever.’

‘None,’ stated Schneider. ‘I know Adam and Joanne very well, they’re my stepdaughter and son-in-law.’

‘They have no involvement in it, [but] I think Joanne knows about Sharon, you know, she knows about that,’ continued Schneider. ‘But they all have no involvement at all and they didn’t like Sharon, the kids.’

‘They all hated her,’ he added. ‘They all hated her.’

May’s ex-husband Spencer Schneider, 62, wrote a book about the alleged cult, which has a history of alleged mental abuse, physical abuse, homophobia, racism and child abuse

Schneider’s new book new book, ‘Manhattan Cult Story: My Unbelievable True Story of Sex, Crimes, Chaos, and Survival’ claims to reveal an insider’s look into the secret cult

As for May, Schneider said he has his doubts if she’s still in involved. 

‘I have my doubts if she’s still involved,’ Schneider said. ‘She might be, but she was also cut out from Sharon’s will several years ago, so she may have been on the outs.’

‘And there are other things that make me think she’s not in it anymore,’ he added.

In 2021, the alleged cult bought a $925K retreat in upstate New York where they allegedly forced people to work around the clock.

‘They get members to do all the work,’ a source told the Post in July 2022. ‘Long hours. No pay. Intense. People are taken there [Margaretville] without knowing where they’re going.’

Later the same year, two women sued the group claiming they had to pay to work as unpaid housekeepers, cooks and assistants for Gans and her husband.

Stephanie Rosenberg and Marjorie Hochman filed a lawsuit against the Odyssey Study Group, which marketed itself as a study group but was actually an alleged cult, in Manhattan Supreme Court on Monday. 

The lawsuit also names the estate managers for actress Gans.

Sharon Gans, who died in January at age 85, ran the ‘ultra-secret cult’ Odyssey Study Group

Schenider wrote in his book that Gans held herself in the same esteem as ‘Christ and Buddha’, imparting what she called ‘ancient oral wisdom’

The two women, who defected in 2019 and 2016, say they paid $400 a month in membership dues beginning in 2005 for the privilege of serving as unpaid ‘personal assistants, cooks, housekeepers, drivers, and personal shoppers for Gans’ who lived in luxury with her husband at the Plaza hotel.

Rosenberg and Hochman say they witnessed physical and mental abuse, child abuse, sexual abuse, private adoptions, arranged marriages, and financial crimes during their time in Gans’ group.

Examples of the more serious allegations are not spelled out in the 21-page-lawsuit.

‘Through methods traditionally utilized by cults to groom, intimidate, weaken, gaslight, and exploit their victims, OSG coerced and tricked its members,’ the suit states.

‘The members of the cult made Defendants Sharon Gans and others very rich.’

The two women who filed the lawsuit and other members allegedly worked as many as 80 hours a week and paid for things like groceries out of their own pockets as part of their participation in the group.

Their  ‘Odyssey’ group in New York allegedly treated its members as slaves and demanded monthly $400 dues that allowed Gans to buy an $8.5 million apartment in the Plaza Hotel

Members of Gans’s 1970s San Francisco theater group said they saw children being neglected backstage while their parents performed countless chores

Gans won an Obie Award for Best Actress in 1966 for her performance in Soon Jack November. She then starred in a 1972 film version of Slaughterhouse-Five. She died in January at age 85.

Gans and her husband Alex Horn fled San Francisco in the late 1970s after similar allegations about their first group, Theatre of All Possibilities, were published in the San Francisco Chronicle in December 1978.

Theatre of All Possibilities members told the Chronicle and San Francisco officials they paid thousands to learn the techniques of Russian philosophers George Ivanovich Gurdjieff and P.D. Ouspensky.

Members of that group said they were beaten if they didn’t sell enough dinner show tickets to people they were told to confront in the street.

They also alleged child neglect as children were left backstage while their parents rehearsed or performed ‘countless other chores.’

 Gans and her husband reportedly believed that the path to self-development involves labor and intentional suffering, according to the New York Post.

After the San Francisco debacle, Sharon and her husband set up shop in New York in the early 1980s and were eventually able to buy an $8.5 million apartment at Manhattan’s Plaza Hotel with money collected from their subjects, according to the Post.

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