Miranda Derrick is speaking out for the first time since the May 29 premiere of Netflix’s Dancing for the Devil: The 7M TikTok Cult documentary. In the three-part series, Miranda’s parents and her sister, Melanie Ekeler (née Wilking), tell producers that they believe Miranda is in a cult run by Robert Shinn, the pastor at LA’s Shekinah Church and founder of 7M Films, the management company that handles Miranda dance career.
“Hey guys, I hope your’e having a wonderful day,” Derrick said in an Instagram Story published on June 4. “I just wanted to hop on here really quick and first of all say thank you to everybody who’s been so supportive during this time. In the next couple slides I’ve included my statement of this documentary that’s just been released. I can’t go into too much detail because of legal purposes, but I wanted to add my side of the story a little bit.”
Robert Shinn is a pastor at the “invite-only” LA church.
In the written statements on the following slides, Derrick clarifies that she has seen the documentary, but “due to pending litigation, in which I am a plaintiff in a defamation lawsuit, it’s not appropriate for me to comment on specific allegations. Though I will state that I do not condone abuse in any way.” In the docuseries, Shinn is accused of sexual assault by multiple women.
“I cannot speak for anyone else but myself,” Miranda says.
Regarding her relationship with her family, she notes that she loves both of her parents, as well as her sister, “and they will forever be a part of my life.” However, she says, “the truth is, we just don’t see eye to eye at this time.”
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.”
Everything the family has done and said in the wake of the Netflix documentary.
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.
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).
