Originally appeared on E! Online
Andrew Keegan hates the way people think he's a cult leader.
The "10 Things I Hate About You" actor recently set the record straight on claims that he started his own religion after he bought an abandoned temple in 2014 to host a series of spiritual gatherings.
"There was this interesting group of hippie types, if you will, in Venice," Keegan clarified on the Feb. 12 episode of "Pod Meets World." "I was connected with some folks and we had this opportunity. This old Hare Krishna Temple, it was sitting there empty and we were like, ‘Why don't we get some people together, and let's open this place up?'"
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Calling the group "Full Circle," the "7th Heaven" alum and some friends organized a string of dinner parties and other spiritual events at the temple over three years — but Keegan said defining that group as a cult is simply "click-bait central."
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"There was no doctrine," Keegan insisted. "We were just getting people together."
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The 45-year-old added, "For all intents and purposes, it was a really cool community center for a bunch of people in Venice for a few years."
Of course, not everyone saw it that way at the time, and the strange rumors continued. But while Keegan — who shares daughter Aiya Rose, 7, with partner Arista Ilona — admitted he could have been "a little more media trained" during interviews about the group when all the cult allegations first started, he doesn't regret that period in his life.
"We opened it up and spent three years and really did build an amazing friend group," Keegan shared. "We went through something really significant from 2014 to 2017."
In fact, people still reach out to him to gush about how significant the events were for them, according to the "Party of Five" actor.
"It was really beneficial to a lot of people," Keegan said. "I still hear about it now, where people are like, ‘That was such a great time.'"
