‘My Unorthodox Life’ star shares her truth in memoir “Brazen”
(NewsNation) — Netflix star Julia Haart joins NewsNation’s Ashleigh Banfield to discuss her escape from an extremist religious sect and her new book, “Brazen: My Unorthodox Journey from Long Sleeves to Lingerie.”
Below is a full transcript of the interview, edited for grammar and clarity
Banfield: Julia Haart has just dropped a new memoir called “Brazen,” where she spills the tea on a lot of what she’s been through. But in February, her dream life came crashing down. She was fired from her CEO job, she was accused of embezzling company money, and she filed for divorce. So you’d think that would be stuff you wouldn’t want to talk about? But Julia Hart is here with me live. What’s going on? How are you, and what’s happening?
Haart: I’m so happy to be here. Thank you so much for having me. I’ve been fighting for my freedom for a long time. And every difficulty I’ve faced, I have managed to prevail, and I will prevail on this one as well.
Banfield: When you write a book, and you come out, and you’re public, that opens the door for a lot of critics to come out and take their shots. And so they did. Some of the people say they grew up with you, they say you invented this whole story about a repressed life in the Orthodox community and that it was not repressed at all. Why would they say that?
Haart: Well, you know, that’s why, because of that backlash on the TV show, on the book, I’ve done something very different. If you go to brazenbooks.com, what you’re going to find is a link called “sources.” In there, is a massive amount of information that proves every word that I’m saying. It’s all the source material, all the things that I was taught, all the laws, and the woman who helped me with sourcing all of this her name is Penny Gold.
Banfield: Your husband is accusing you about lying about work, lying about your life story, embezzling company funds, are you going to sue him?
Haart: Luckily for me, I have two court cases that are soon to be decided. And you know, I’ve told myself every day, when they go low, we go high. And I will wait for justice to speak for itself. You know, to me, this is not something that I should be using the press to damage or attack. I love the company that I’ve been working for, for the last two years. that I brought from a company that was valued at $90 million to a company that was valued at over $1.2 billion, where we have offers for over $500 million in two years through COVID. So I’m very proud of what I’ve done. And you know, there’s a great saying: ‘A lie gets halfway around the world before truth has time to put its pants on.’