The fascinating biopic ‘Gwen Shamblin: Starving for Salvation’ on Lifetime explores the life of Gwen Shamblin Lara, a church leader and diet guru who lives in Tennessee and is known for her Christian diet regimen
Lara is featured in the film. Throughout the course of her life, she was frequently involved in a number of issues that concerned her policies as well as charges of abuse made against her and other church leaders by former members of the congregation.
After the death of the religious leader in May 2021, her children, Michael and Elizabeth, assumed leadership roles at the church and were propelled into the public front as a result.
If you are interested in learning more about them and where they are at the moment, please have a look at what we discovered.
Also Read: Gwen Shamblin: Starving for Salvation: Is It Based on a True Story?
Gwen Shamblin: Children
Gwen, who was born in Memphis, Tennessee, wed her first husband, David Shamblin, in the year 1978. David Shamblin was from Tennessee. The couple raised their two children, Michael and Elizabeth, together throughout their forty-year marriage, which ended in 2018.
After her marriage to David ended in divorce, Gwen wed the actor Joe Lara, whose real name is William Joseph Lara. Her son Michael Shamblin is a well-known artist who made his debut in 2011 with the release of his tune titled “Keep Your Guard Up.”
In 2014, he launched his debut album, which was titled ‘Golden Streets.’ Since then, he has produced a total of four albums.
Image courtesy of Erin Frisby Shamblin and may be seen on her Facebook page. Michael and Erin Frisby Shamblin
Michael generally dabbles in Christian and rock genres, and he frequently composes the background soundtrack for his mother’s live events for the Remnant Fellowship, which is the church where she is an active member.
In addition to that, he has composed musicals for the church and Gwen’s Weigh Down Workshops, and he has also released music under the label True Religion Records.
In his personal life, Michael is a father to four children, all of them were born to him and his ex-wife, Erin Frisby Shamblin.
This encompasses a son by the name of Christian as well as three girls named Gabriele, Garland, and Gates. After Gwen’s passing, Michael stepped up to the plate and assumed the role of leader at the Remnant Fellowship.
On the other side, Gwen’s daughter Elizabeth Hannah (née Shamblin) was a well-known youth leader in Remnant Fellowship when she was younger.
She served in that capacity during her formative years. She wed Brandon Hannah in 2003, and the couple went on to have four children: Grace, Gweneth, Gloria, and Charles Grantham.
Grantham Brandon was an accomplished real estate agent who passed away on May 29, 2021, as a result of the terrible plane catastrophe that also took the lives of Gwen and Joe Lara.
Elizabeth found solace in her religious faith following the passing of both her husband and her mother, and she assumed the roles of leadership in the church that had previously been held by the deceased diet guru.
Gwen Shamblin: Family
Michael’s involvement with the Remnant Fellowship came to an end sometime in the year 2022, despite the fact that he had initially attained a position of authority within the church.
Aside from that, he and Erin went their own ways about the same time, and it would appear that he no longer resides with them.
According to the documentary series ‘The Way Down: God, Greed, and the Cult of Gwen Shamblin’ that aired on HBO, Michael reportedly battled challenges related to his mental health, infidelity, and body image throughout the entirety of his adult life.
According to former members of the Remnant Fellowship, the musician had left the church on multiple occasions in order to pursue a career as an independent musician.
It is said that he felt stuck due to the familial duties that he had to the church. Despite this, Michael has now fully embraced the concept of privacy and maintains absolutely no profile on any social media platforms. He has now changed his name and now goes by Michael S. Black.
He is in his forties, lives in Brentwood, Tennessee, and avoids the public glare as much as possible. In October of 2022, he published a song titled “Down,” in which he talked about the heartbreak he has had in his life.
Even yet, Elizabeth currently resides in Brentwood with her four children, and she maintains a strong relationship with both her father and her ex-sister-in-law.
She maintains her position as a leader within the Remnant Fellowship and frequently disseminates the teachings of the church to the general populace.
Elizabeth has the ambition of continuing the work begun by her late mother and assisting a greater number of people in establishing a connection with God. In addition to this, she is a very involved mother to her children and works hard to realise the wishes of her devoted husband to provide them with a healthy Christian upbringing.
Gwen Shamblin: Early Life
She was born on February 18, 1955, in Memphis, Tennessee. Her education in nutrition came from the University of Tennessee, where she received her degree.
After finishing her undergraduate degree, she continued her education at Memphis State University and received a master’s degree in food and nutrition there.
While she was attending Memphis University, she held positions as a dietitian, a consultant, and the director of the health department for the state.
Also Read: Gwen Shamblin Lara: Net Worth, Bio, Wiki, Career, Controversy, Affairs, Family, Bio And More
Gwen Shamblin: Career
- 1980 was the year in which she established herself as a professional weight-loss counsellor. She conceived up a programme that she called the “Weight Down Workshop” and developed it when she was working on her master’s degree at Memphis State University.
- The idea was such a huge success that it was eventually extended to include several nations in Europe. More than 600 churches located in at least 35 different states across the United States participated in the initiative during the year 1994.
- In a relatively short amount of time, the project spread to more than one thousand churches in all 49 states, as well as areas of the United Kingdom and Canada.
- Lara established the Remnant Fellowship Church in the year 1999. The Shamblin family invested in the purchase of forty acres of property and expanded what was once a small gathering place.
- In 2004, they successfully finished the building. People from all over the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Canada, and Australia, make up the congregation of this church.
- She had also been featured on a number of other television shows and media outlets. Her appearances on several shows, such as CNN’s Larry King Live, BBC’s A Current Affair, The View, and The Early Show, were featured on a number of different programmes.
- In addition, Lara had been featured on the covers of other magazines, including Quick & Simple, People, Good Housekeeping, and First.
- Life as a Married Woman She had two marriages in her lifetime. Her first marriage was to David Shamblin, and their children Michael Shamblin and Elizabeth Hannah were the result of that union.
- After 40 years of marriage, they finally divorced each other. In 2018, Gwen’s spouse changed his name to Joe Lara. She is a grandmother to seven grandchildren.
Gwen Shamblin: Net Worth (2023)
As of the year 2023, it is anticipated that Gwen Shamblin will have a net worth of $5 million.
Her fortune was spent on authoring Christian diet books, especially advocating weight-loss programmes and other diets that she claimed were in keeping with Christian standards. She claimed that these diets were in line with Christian ideals.
Since its publication in 1997, she has managed to move more than 1.2 million copies of her book “The Weigh Down Diet.”
Other significant works by Gwen include “Out of Egypt: Inspiration for Conquering Life’s Strongholds,” “Rise Above: God Can Set You Free from Your Weight Problems Forever,” and “History of the Love of God: Volume II: A Love More Ancient Than Time.”
Gwen Shamblin: Death Explained
Gwen, her husband, and five other members of the Remnant Fellowship Church were all killed when the plane they were travelling in crashed into a lake in Tennessee on May 29, 2023.
A plane had a forced landing in Percy Priest Lake, which is located close to Smyrna, Tennessee, not long after it had taken off.
According to the information provided by county officials, members of the board are Jennifer J. Lara, Gwen S. Lara, David L. Martin, Jessica Walters, Jonathan Walters, and Brandon Hannah. The authorities have confirmed the death of each individual.
Gwen Shamblin: Relationship
David Shamblin and Gwen have been married since 1978 and will remain so till 2018. Michael Shamblin and Elizabeth Shamblin Hannah were the couple’s children.
Michael was a boy, and Elizabeth was a daughter. Gwen tied the knot with Joe Lara, an American actor, in 2018. William Joseph Joe’s first wife, Natasha Pavlovich, gave birth to their daughter, Lara, who was named after him.
Lara’s actions during the inquiry of the death of a youngster named Josef Smith, who was eight years old, gave rise to a controversy that was initiated by Shamblin.
Reports claim that his parents acknowledged to beating their child because they were members of Lara’s Revenant Fellowship Church, which she created and which glorified violent behaviour.
Lara sparked a debate when she asserted that the idea of the Trinity was in direct opposition to the teachings of the Bible. She was of the opinion that Jesus Christ was not God himself but rather God’s son and not the true God.
As a direct response to her statements, Thomas Nelson Publishers made the decision not to publish her book Exodus. Gwen provided additional context for her earlier comments in a letter to the people who had supported her campaign.
Gwen Shamblin: Spouse
To return to his private life for a moment, he has been married twice and has been divorced once. Her first husband was David Shamblin, who also served as her first spouse.
They first tied the knot in 1978 and remained a married couple until finalising their separation in 2018. During the course of their marriage, they welcomed two children into the world: Michael Shamblin and Elizabeth Hannah.
The year 2018 was the occasion of the couple’s wedding to actor and model Joe Lara. They continued to be partners up until the tragic event that took both of their lives in May of 2021.
She was also criticised for using the name of Christianity while progressively expanding her business, and this was one of the reasons why.