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A CHURCH has slammed a film's depiction of its founder Gwen Shamblin Lara, who taught members to follow a dangerously strict diet before her untimely death.

The Remnant Fellowship Church, which is now run by her daughter Elizabeth, has hit back at the movie and called it "yet another Hollywood and media attack on a beautiful religion."

Gwen Shamblin: Starving for Salvation will premier on Lifetime and focuses on  the controversial cult leader who pushed for members to lose weight
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Gwen Shamblin: Starving for Salvation will premier on Lifetime and focuses on the controversial cult leader who pushed for members to lose weightCredit: Facebook
Actress Jennifer Grey portrayed Shamblin in the film and said Shamblin's obsession with weight loss 'became like a virus'
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Actress Jennifer Grey portrayed Shamblin in the film and said Shamblin's obsession with weight loss 'became like a virus'Credit: Lifetime
Shamblin, left, stands with her daughter Elizabeth who now leads the church  'along with a large team of over 130 men and women'
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Shamblin, left, stands with her daughter Elizabeth who now leads the church 'along with a large team of over 130 men and women'Credit: Not known, clear with picture desk

The late 66-year-old founded the church in 1999 where she advocated for weight loss and taught that overeating was a sin.

Her teachings at the church centered around the Bible and her book The Weigh Down Workshop.

She led the church before tragically dying in a plane crash along with other church members in 2021.

A new movie by Lifetime titled Gwen Shamblin: Starving for Salvation details her life and successful program.

However, the church disagreed with the depiction of Shamblin, and told The U.S. Sun: "The fabrication of Gwen Lara’s life is absurd, as she was actually one of the world’s kindest people we have ever known.

"She spent her whole life simply trying to help others.

"Our children are strong, happy, healthy, and fully taken care of with the most beautiful loving care.

"We teach nothing but love and kindness, and we have helped thousands to be set free from additions thru the principles taught at Remnant Fellowship."

Shamblin's daughter, Elizabeth, now leads the group "along with a large team of over 130 men and women."

Actress Jennifer Grey portrayed Shamblin and spoke to KGET about the role and how she prepared for it.

“She was everywhere and touted as this incredible faith-based diet guru and then she started her own church.

"Then it got really, really dark. Then it became the idea that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely," she said.

Grey did say she believes Shamblin started from a place of virtue and tried to help those suffering with her own methods, but "it became like a virus that took over."

In 2002, Shamblin bought 40 acres of land in Brentwood and donated the entire property for the building of the Remnant Fellowship Church. 

Ever since, the church has based its ministry on the Bible-based teachings of Gwen Shamblin through Weigh Down Ministries, according to the church's website.

Since its inception, the church has grown in membership with more than 150 churches in the United States and Canada, and across several continents. 

The organization claims to help people through problems such as alcohol and drug addiction and to those "weary of the constant battles in today's world."

"Rising crime, financial problems, broken homes, alcohol and drug abuse, rebellious children, disappearing morality - it seems like the world is growing further and further away from God and Christ, and the results are obvious," the church's website reads.

Members who support the church have praised it for helping them through the "hopelessness" in their lives.

However, some former followers have spoken out against the church, with one woman saying that she's suffering irreparable damage to her kidneys thanks to the diet.

Read More on The US Sun

According to the description of the film, "Gwen demanded that church members alienate themselves from anyone who was not a member, banished those that became overweight, threatened legal action against dissenters, and advocated for strict punishment of those who failed to follow church tenets."

The movie set to detail this story airs on Saturday at 8pm ET.

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