Durek Verrett

He has sometimes claimed that his father, David Benjamin Verrett (1929-2017), was of African and Haitian origin, while at other times stating his father was "a Native American Blackfoot Indian".

When Verrett was 3, his father married Verrett's stepmother, Geraldine Roy (1943-2009).

Durek Verrett (born November 17, 1974, as Derek David Verrett) is an American businessman, alternative therapist, self-professed shaman and author.

He advocates several conspiracy theories and has been characterized by Norwegian media and other observers as a conman.

He is engaged to Princess Märtha Louise of Norway.

Verrett's parents divorced in April 1977 when he was 2.

They married in 2005 when she was 21 years old.

From 2007 to 2015, Verrett had a male fiancé, a masseur named Hank Greenberg, who was also his business partner.

In 2008, Marzalkova filed for divorce from Verrett, which was granted by Los Angeles Superior Court.

Verrett has claimed that his wife "exploited" him, and that in 2008 he reported her to the immigration authorities as an illegal resident which caused her to be jailed and deported from the country.

In a 2009 interview Verrett claimed to be "born into the lineages of Haitian voodoo and indigenous Norwegian medicine".

However, his aunt Shirley Verrett's autobiography contradicts his claims, as she describes the Verrett family's strict Catholic and Seventh Day Adventist lineages, and refers to non-Christian practices such as voodoo by stating their family "strongly disapproved of anyone who practiced those negative arts."

Verrett has said that he was convicted of arson and sentenced to five years imprisonment in the United States after he organized a party in an abandoned house that was set on fire.

He said that he served one year in prison before being released on parole.

He was formerly married to Zaneta Marzalkova, a Los Angeles resident of Czech nationality.

On his personal website from 2011 to 2020 he claimed to be a 3rd generation Shaman.

In 2012, Verrett and his then-fiancé Greenberg started an Indiegogo crowdfunding page to raise money for Verrett's kidney transplant in which they stated that Verrett is HIV positive.

Verrett lived for six years with his then-manager Tiana Griego, who said that "Durek controlled my whole life. It was as if he became jealous of anything that stole his attention. I was not allowed to start a serious romantic relationship or raise my son. It was all about Durek."

Verrett had a limited early career as a model and in appearances on television shows.

Vanity Fair wrote about Verrett being bisexual and summed his early activities up as an eclectic early career and this helped propel his brand of new age shamanism into celebrity circles as he had grown up partly in that world.

Verrett claims to demystify spirituality by making it attainable and understandable for not only the layman, but also for the more spiritually advanced, and everyone in between.

Verrett states that his "true mission is to bring the ancient practice of shamanism to the mainstream, helping people to 'get lit' by cultivating love and acceptance of themselves and others."

Verrett claims to have been initiated spiritually by one of his grandmothers (who according to fact-checking site Vantrú, died before he was born) and an American woman who calls herself "Princess Susana von Radić of Croatia" (who is described by fact-checking site Vantrú as "a fraud who claims to be a princess.")

Verrett claims to have worked at Shamir Medical Center in Israel, where he says he treated children for cancer using shamanistic methods, but the hospital denied that he had ever worked there.

Verrett also claims to be a reincarnated Pharaoh from Egypt.

Verrett grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area town of Foster City, California, and changed his name to Durek Verrett in 2014.

In 2015, Verrett was arrested by the Los Angeles Police Department for domestic abuse after he attacked Greenberg at their home.

Verrett was charged with felony assault and battery, and Greenberg soon after broke off their engagement.

In multiple interviews, Greenberg has described Verrett's true nature as manipulative and dangerous, and stated that Verrett has a "brainwashed" cult of followers where "his word is law."

In multiple 2019 interviews including Vanity Fair, Verrett claimed he was raised by a wealthy architect father "with a private plane and domestic servants."

However, several of Verrett's relatives contradict such claims, including his paternal aunt who said Verrett's father was a middle-class contractor who twice went bankrupt, and Verrett's stepmother was a longtime employee of Alaska Airlines.

Verrett has claimed that his mother, Sheilah G. Farmer, who goes by the alias Veruschka Urquhart, is of Norwegian-West Indian descent, although he has alternately described her as being of Native American heritage.

In 2019, his book Spirit Hacking was set to be published in Norway, but the major publisher Cappelen Damm dropped the book a week prior to its scheduled publication over concerns over its content.

It was later published by a small publisher.

In the book Verrett advocates numerous "absurd medical theories."

He claims children get cancer because they want it, and suggests that chemotherapy doesn't work and is only given to cancer patients because the doctors make money from it.

He also writes that casual sex attracts subterranean spirits, that make an impression on the inside of women's vaginas, which he sells exercises to "clean out".

Since 2020, he changed his claim and began describing himself as a 6th generation shaman.

In a 2023 interview, however, Verrett's mother stated that no shaman lineage exists in their family whatsoever, and that Verrett has simply fabricated such stories in an effort to boost his career.

In multiple interviews in 2022 and 2023, Verrett's mother described him as "ingratiating", "manipulative", "dangerous", "prone to lying", and said she no longer has contact with him.