Lifetime’s fascinating biopic, Gwen Shamblin: Starving for Salvation, explores the life of Gwen Shamblin Lara, a church leader and nutrition guru living in Tennessee and known for her Christian diet
Lara can be seen in the film. Throughout her life, she was frequently implicated in a range of matters affecting her politics, as well as allegations of abuse brought against her and other church leaders by former members of the congregation.
Following the religious leader’s death in May 2021, her children Michael and Elizabeth assumed leadership roles in the church and were propelled into the public eye as a result.
If you’re interested in learning more about them and where they are right now, please check out what we discovered.
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Gwen Shamblin: Children
Gwen, who was born in Memphis, Tennessee, married her first husband, David Shamblin, in 1978. David Shamblin was from Tennessee. The couple raised their two children together, Michael and Elizabeth, during their 40-year marriage, which ended in 2018.
After her marriage to David dissolved, Gwen married actor Joe Lara, whose real name is William Joseph Lara. Her son, Michael Shamblin, is a well-known artist who made his debut with the release of his track Keep Your Guard Up in 2011.
In 2014 he released his debut album entitled Golden Streets. Since then he has produced a total of four albums.
Image courtesy of Erin Frisby Shamblin and can be viewed on her Facebook page. Michael and Erin Frisby Shamblin
Michael is generally involved with Christian and rock genres and often composes the background soundtrack for his mother’s live events for the Remnant Fellowship, the church of which she is an active member.
He has also composed musicals for the church and Gwen’s Weigh Down Workshops, and has also released music under the True Religion Records label.
In his personal life, Michael is a father to four children, all born to him and his ex-wife Erin Frisby Shamblin.
They include a son named Christian, as well as three girls named Gabriele, Garland, and Gates. After Gwen’s death, Michael took over and assumed the role of leader of the Remnant Fellowship.
On the other hand, Gwen’s daughter Elizabeth Hannah (née Shamblin) was a prominent youth leader in the Remnant Fellowship when she was younger.
She served in that capacity throughout her formative years. She married Brandon Hannah in 2003 and the couple had four children: Grace, Gweneth, Gloria and Charles Grantham.
Grantham Brandon was a accomplished real estate agent who died on May 29, 2021 as a result of the horrific plane crash that also claimed the lives of Gwen and Joe Lara.
Elizabeth found solace in her religious beliefs after the deaths of her husband and mother and took over the leadership role in the church previously held by the late nutrition guru.
Gwen Shamblin: Family
Michael’s involvement with the Remnant Fellowship ended sometime in 2022, although he initially attained a position of authority within the church.
That being said, he and Erin went their separate ways around the same time, and it seems he doesn’t live with them anymore.
According to the documentary series The Way Down: God, Greed, and the Cult of Gwen Shamblin, which aired on HBO, Michael reportedly struggled with challenges related to his mental health, infidelity, and body image throughout his adult life.
According to former members of the Remnant Fellowship, the musician had left the church on several occasions to pursue a career as an independent musician.
It is said that he felt stuck because of the family responsibilities he had towards 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 is now called Michael S. Black.
He’s in his forties, lives in Brentwood, Tennessee, and avoids the glare of the public eye as much as possible. In October 2022, he released a song titled “Down” in which he spoke about the heartbreak he was going through in his life.
Despite this, Elizabeth currently resides in Brentwood with her four children and maintains a close relationship with both her father and ex-sister-in-law.
She maintains her position as leader within the Remnant Fellowship and frequently spreads the Church’s teachings to the general populace.
Elizabeth has ambitions to continue the work started by her late mother and to help a larger number of people connect with God. In addition, she is a very dedicated mother to her children and works hard to fulfill her devoted husband’s desire to provide them with a healthy Christian upbringing.
Gwen Shamblin: Early Life
She was born on February 18, 1955 in Memphis, Tennessee. She received her education in nutrition from the University of Tennessee, where she graduated.
After completing her bachelor’s degree, she continued her education at Memphis State University, where she received a master’s degree in food and nutrition.
While a student at Memphis University, she held positions as a nutritionist, counselor, and director of the state Department of Health.
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Gwen Shamblin: Career
- 1980 was the year she established herself as a professional weight loss consultant. She conceived and developed a program she called the “Weight Down Workshop” while working on her master’s degree at Memphis State University.
- The idea was such a huge success that it was eventually expanded to several nations in Europe. More than 600 churches in at least 35 different states in the United States participated in the 1994 initiative.
- In a relatively short period of time, the project has spread to more than a thousand churches in all 49 states and areas of the United Kingdom and Canada.
- Lara founded Remnant Fellowship Church in 1999. The Shamblin family invested in purchasing forty acres of land and expanding what was once a small meeting place.
- In 2004 they successfully completed 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 has also appeared 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 have been featured on a number of different programmes.
- Lara has also been 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 life. Her first marriage was to David Shamblin, and her children, Michael Shamblin and Elizabeth Hannah, were the result of this union.
- After 40 years of marriage, they finally divorced. In 2018, Gwen’s spouse changed his name to Joe Lara. She is grandmother of seven grandchildren.
Gwen Shamblin: Net Worth (2023)
As of 2023, Gwen Shamblin is expected to have a net worth of $5 million.
Her fortune was spent authoring Christian diet books, specifically advocating weight loss programs and other diets that she claimed conformed to Christian standards. She claimed that these diets were consistent with Christian ideals.
Since publication in 1997, she has managed to move more than 1.2 million copies of her book The Weight Down Diet.
Other notable 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: Declared dead
Gwen, her husband and five other members of the Remnant Fellowship Church were all killed when the plane they were traveling in crashed into a lake in Tennessee on May 29, 2023.
A plane made an emergency landing at Percy Priest Lake, located near Smyrna, Tennessee, shortly after takeoff.
According to county officials, board members include Jennifer J. Lara, Gwen S. Lara, David L. Martin, Jessica Walters, Jonathan Walters and Brandon Hannah. Authorities have confirmed the deaths of each individual.
Gwen Shamblin: Relationship
David Shamblin and Gwen have been married since 1978 and will remain so until 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 investigation into the death of an eight-year-old boy named Josef Smith led to a controversy initiated by Shamblin.
His parents reportedly admitted hitting their child because they were members of Lara’s Revenant Fellowship Church, which she founded, which glorified violent behavior.
Lara sparked debate when she claimed that the idea of the Trinity was in direct contradiction to the teachings of the Bible. She was of the opinion that Jesus Christ was not God himself, but God’s son and not the true God.
In direct response to her comments, 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
Coming briefly to his personal life, he has been married twice and divorced once. Her first husband was David Shamblin, who also served as her first spouse.
They first married in 1978 and remained a married couple until 2018, when they finally ended their separation. 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 until the tragic event that took their lives in May 2021.
She was also criticized for using the name of Christianity while gradually expanding her business and this was one of the reasons why.
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