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Shaman or sham? Troubling past of Princess of Norway's HIV positive groom - who was engaged to man who helped him raise $20,000 for a kidney transplant
When he marries into royalty in two days time, it will crown a remarkable rise to the top for Shaman Durek - going from being arrested for failing to pay his bus fare to being part of one of Europe's most eminent royal families.
However, Durek Verrett, 49, the American 'spiritual healer' - who counts Gwyneth Paltrow among his celebrity clients - has insisted that his relationship with Princess Martha Louise, the King of Norway's only daughter, hasn't taken him too far out of his comfort zone.
By Durek's own account, in a 2020 interview with Vanity Fair, he grew up in extreme wealth with domestic servants and private planes thanks to his successful architect father.
The trouble is, his own mother has refuted his version of a priveleged upbringing - and there are plenty of other questions raised about an undoubtedly colourful past, which saw him spend a year in jail as well as being arrested several times.
In 2002, Durek - who has previously spoken about being HIV positive - sensationally claims he died of renal failure and came back to life, cementing his path to being a shaman.
A decade later later, the spiritual healer - who flits between describing himself as a 'third and sixth generation shaman' - raised more than $20,000 for kidney transplant surgery, with his sister as his donor.
The controversial American Shaman who once claimed he came back from the dead and has been known to associate childhood cancers with unhappiness will wed Martha Louise on August 31
The fundraiser was supported by his fiancé, masseur Hank Greenberg, who he was in a relationship with for eight years from 2007.
Things came to an end when Durek was arrested in 2015 for attacking him at their California home. Hank would later describe his former fiancé as 'not a good man'.
The incidents have gone largely under the radar after being overshadowed by more recent controveries, including his suggestion that childhood cancer is caused by unhappiness.
Durek was dropped by his publisher shortly after the couple announced their engagement in June 2022 over pseudoscientific claims he made in his book 'Spirit Hacking'.
A deeper dive into his past, reveals a pattern of conflicting information about his family background, as well as allegations of controlling behaviour by his former assistant.
Here, Femail reveals the strange past of the man who charmed a princess and will walk down the aisle with her on Saturday, while Netflix cameras capture their big day.
Own mother disputes his account of a 'wealthy' childhood
Over the years, Durek - who was born Derek David in 1974 - has claimed that he grew up on a range in California before moving with his parents into a mansion in Foster City.
Appearing on the Juells Ville Verden podcast in Feburary, Durek said his mother Veruschka Urquhart walked out on his father David Benjamin Verrett when he was two years old.
Undated photo of Shaman Durek with his mother Veruschka Urquhart, who has given interviews to local media in recent months
Durek as a child, pictured with his sister Angelina, who would later donate her kidney to him
Although Durek claims to have memories from when he was a baby, he says he vividly remembers watching his mother leave with his half-sisters for a two-week holiday - and was left 'devastated' when they didn't return.
Not long after this, Thomas' father got into a relationship with a new woman - who was Hawaiian, Filipino and Japanese - and would spend every school break visiting her family in Hawaii.
He's said that he was beaten by his father and stepmother if he tried to channel his shamanic powers, which emerged at a young age, and came from his father's side of the family.
He singled out his great-grandmother Mamal who was a ‘powerful medicine woman from Ghana’ who started ‘visiting’ him his dreams when he was five.
‘When the slave traders infiltrated the African tribes, Mamal fled to Haiti where she studied hoodoo and became a spiritualist before ending up in New Orleans. Mamal’s shamanic powers are legendary in my family,' he said.
He added that his father was an ‘apprentice for his grandmother Mamal and for his aunt’ in New Orleans, and had ‘witnessed firsthand the trials and tribulations’ of being a shaman.
Despite this, his father was physically violent towards him if he tried to indulge in his spiritual gifts or he caught him studying books on shamanism.
Durek's aunt Shirley Verett was a famed opera singer. Pictured playing Queen Elizabeth I In Donizetti's Opera Maria Stuarda
Durek's father David Benjamin Verrett, pictured the year before he died, with the shaman's sister Angelina
Records show, however, that Mamal – whose real name was Eugenie Morel – was in fact his great-great-grandmother who was born and died in New Orleans, calling into question that she arrived there from Ghana via Haiti.
There’s also different version of events in the biography of famed opera singer Shirley Verrett who was Durek’s paternal aunt.
Dubbed the ‘Black Maria Callas’, she performed all over the world, including at the Royal Opera House in London.
She recalled Mamal, who was her great-grandmother, raising her children and grandchildren in a strict Catholic household.
Shirley’s own mother Elvira strongly disapproved of anyone who practiced voodoo, which she described as ‘negative arts’, again conflicting with Durek’s version of events that his father was an ‘apprentice’ to Mamal at the age of 11. Indeed, she died when David was eight-years-old.
Durek also recalled being sexually abused by a male babysitter, which plunged him into drug and alcohol abuse.
'When I was young, I used to drink like crazy,' he wrote in his 2019 book Spirit Hacking. 'I would spend my days training in shamanism, and then I’d get wasted while playing video games with my buddies.'
He admitted that he'd then go with his friends to 'shoot paintballs at the gay guys coming out of the clubs'.
'I didn’t just have a drinking problem, I was also homophobic,' he admitted.
Elsewhere in his book, Durek says he used to 'hate being Black' as a child and used to buy skin bleach. He added: 'I bleached my hair, too — to the point where it fell out, which is why I still don’t have hair to this day.'
Speaking to the New York Times, Durek explained how he dropped out of high school and couldn't decide if he wanted to be a model, dancer or shaman.
His ambitions were put on hold by several run-ins with the law as a young man.
In 1991, Durek - who went by the name of Derek at the time - was sentenced to five years in prison for hosting an illegal party at an unoccupied house in California, which subsequently burned down. He ultimately served a year in prison.
Following his release, the shaman was arrested on three more occasions around the state of California for avoiding bus fares, trespassing and theft of services, according to reports of court documents.
He had to represent himself in court because he couldn't afford a lawyer.
After teaching Pilates, he then tried out acting too and made a brief appearance in the 2006 thriller movie Family.
Pictured: Durek Verrett in the 2006 thriller film Family. After dropping out of high school, the royal groom also dabbled in modelling and dancing
Earlier this year, Durek's mother Veruschka hit back at his claims that their family had servants, drivers and private planes in an interview with Se og Hør’ - insisting that the shaman had 'brainwashed' the Princess.
Meanwhile, Durek's aunt Shirley Verrett has also claimed that his father was a contractor, who went bankrupt twice.
The shaman and Martha Louise sent Veruschka a cease and desist letter, and publicly stated she wouldn't be coming to the wedding.
His half-sister Demi DeLaNuit then launched a blistering attack on the couple and claimed they were threatening to sue her 'for millions of dollars'.
Demi DeLaNuit, the estranged sister of Shaman Durek Verrett, has launched a blistering attack on her brother via Instagram in which she promises to see him in court after claiming he has threatened to sue her for 'millions of dollars'
'You are riding our 81-year-old mother a little too hard for my taste,' she said in a video message.
'I have worked tirelessly to separate myself from you since that incident that happened four years ago. It's all gonna come out soon.'
She did not explain which incident she was referring to.
In response to his mother's initial claim that he didn't grow up in a wealthy home, Durek and Martha-Louise turned to one of his childhood friends Danielle Washington - who lived across the street from him growing up - to back up his claims that he was 'one of the richest kids' at their school.
Her Instagram statement read: 'Many kids were jealous of his family's wealth as it seems like he had it all when it came to material items. It didn't help that Durek was the ONLY person in school that had limos and taxis outside of the ones taking him to school because that wasn't what people did here in Foster City.
The final image in Martha-Lousie's Instagram carousel is a statement from a woman called Danielle Washington, who claims to have attended school with Durek
'However, it always felt like his parents were too busy to take time out of their lives (and happiness) to take care of him.
'When Durek became a shaman, it didn't surprise me. He has lived his entire life dedicated to sharing love with all. You'd think growing up with tons of money and very little parental love would make him bitter or arrogant.
'He is neither bitter, arrogant or acts like he is better than the next person. Durek is still the same jovial spirit I met many years ago who is open to sharing his gifts with all and someone I'm proud to call a friend.'
Princess Martha Louise then proceeded to share photos of the Californian mansion Durek claims to have grown up in, which was listed for over $3m when it was last on the market, on Instagram.
She continued: 'This is the house Durek grew up in in Foster City, California. It is worth more than NOK 30mill today and is 321 square meters(3460 square feet).'
The images show a sprawling open-plan living and kitchen area and large front garden.
Princess Martha-Louise added: 'It is not important to me whether he was from a family with money or not as a child, but the fact is that he was, and I am sick and tired of Se og Hør’s lies about us. And about Durek.'
In his 2019 book Spirit Hacking, Durek also appears to have given a conflicting account about his mothers' ethnicity.
He wrote: 'My mother is a powerful seer and a fountain of wisdom. Ancient Viking spirituality runs deep in her roots.
'Rejected by her stepfamily early on because they were black, and she was white, my mother spent the bulk of her childhood apprenticing to a woman she referred to as her spiritual mother - a Romanian gypsy.'
Veruschka is said to be of Norwegian-West Indian descent - but Durek has also previously said his mother has Native American heritage in the past.
Died and came back to life
Although Durek has claimed he had his first spiritual experience at four years old, it was 'coming back to from the dead' in 2002 that 'strengthened' his powers and 'devotion to Spirit'.
'I already identified with being Shaman Durek, but it became more clear when I came back from dying,' he explained.
It's believed he's referring to a medical emergency that occurred in 2002, although reports of when the incident actually happened vary.
His own book says he was 27, a new interview with Hello! ahead of his wedding puts him at 28, in a video on his Facebook page he says he was 29, while another interview suggested he was 30-years-old.
'I woke up in the middle of the night to find a spirit sitting on top of me, reaching into my body. The next thing I knew, I was strapped to a gurney in an ambulance with my friend Marcus sitting next to me, looking all kinds of freaked out,' he said in his book.
By his own account, he suffered seven seizures on the way to hospital and his organs started shutting down. He was clinically dead for four minutes before being revived.
'My dead grandmother appeared in the hospital room and told me to relax into the pain and to let death take me, he explained.
In a Facebook video, the shaman recalled dying and coming back to life at the age of 29. In his book, he said the incident happened when he was 27
Pictured: Durek Verrett's older sister Angelina gave him one of her kidneys in 2012 and shared this image to Facebook
During those minutes, where he was 'dead', Durek said he 'went to the other side', where he was shown 'what we are and where we come from and what this is all about, and we are making it so much harder than it has to be.'
He spent two months in a medically induced coma and lost the use of his legs.
'I was told that I had brain damage, and that I would never walk again. My kidneys were in such bad shape that I spent the next eight years of my life on dialysis-an experience that forced me to walk through the fires of human suffering.'
Some seven years after the medical emergency, Durek's partner Hank launched a fundraiser for the shaman to have a kidney transplant, saying that his health had gone downhill after 'years of enduring agonizing hemodialysis treatments three times a week'.
He explained that Durek had pulled through another 'life-threatening emergency' and had luckily found a living kidney donor in the form of his sister Angelina.
'Being HIV + it has been incredibly difficult to get an opportunity to receive a kidney transplant,' he explained.
In an interview for the website Sooper Articles in 2012, Durek also spoke of the same difficulty in getting a transplant. It is unlcear when he was diagnosed.
He said: 'I'm going through excruciating pain every day, but I'm out there doing charity work, putting my energy into the community to make this world a better place. I force myself out of bed every morning, even if I'm nauseated or in pain, and put my best foot forward.'
At the time, Durek's partner Hank Greenberg said: 'Durek is the bravest person I know, and he never complains. He has taught me why I'm here.'
In 2012, Hank raised $20,000 for Durek's kidney transplant on crowdfunding websites.
In May 2018, Durek paid tribtue to his donor Angelina in a gushing Instagram post for Mother's Day - describing her as his 'sister mother'.
He wrote: 'I honor you as my mother for when our parents divorced you pick up the helm of being my mother for so many years you stood on stools to reach the stove to make me dinner when you were only a year older than me.
'You were my guardian my guide, you are my light my torch in the darkness. You stood by me through all my painful trials to becoming a man.'
According to Se og Hør, in 2023 Durek was still struggling with 'severe kidney disease' and his wedding to Martha Louise was put on hold.
During an Instagram Live, Durek said: 'Now I am waiting for friends to offer me a new kidney so that I can have a kidney transplant. I want to continue to heal and do great thing.'
However, Durek and Martha-Louise have not commented any further on his condition and he is well enough for the wedding to go ahead. Hello reports that he is still having dialysis.
Pictured: Durek Verrett seen recovering from his kidney transplant operation in 2012 - after receiving a kidney from his sister
In 2012, Hank raised $20,000 for Durek's kidney transplant on the crowdfunding website BackerKit. Pictured: Durek and his sister Angelina after the surgery
Durek's ex-fiance Hank Greenberg raised $20,000 for Durek's kidney transplant on the crowdfunding website BackerKit in 2012
Relationship with Hank fell apart
In 2015, Durek was arrested at the California home he shared with his ex-fiance Hank Greenberg on domestic violence charges.
During their eight-year relationship, Durek and Hank reportedly ran wellness sessions called 'Heaven and Earth' in LA.
Speaking to the Daily Mail's Jan Moir in 2019, Hank explained: 'I loved Durek dearly and wish him all the best, but I don't have anything nice to say about him.
'I loved Durek dearly and wish him all the best, but I don't have anything nice to say about him.
'He has immense talent and I believe in his mission that love is the answer, but I don't believe in the man any more.'
Durek with his former partner Hank who went on to describe him as 'not a good man'
Durek with his former assistant Tiana who claimed she was under his 'influence'
At the time, it was reported that Durek's management asked Hank to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement - but he has always refused.
According to Se og Hør, Durek and Princess Martha-Louise threatened Hank with legal action in 2020 if he continued speaking about their relationship publicly.
What's more, Durek's former manager Tiana Griego - who worked for him for six years - also claims to have received a similar legal letter.
She told Se og Hør: 'Durek controlled my whole life. It was as if he was jealous of anything that took the attention away from him. I was not allowed to start serious relationships or be busy with my son. It was all about Durek.'
Describing how she was under the influence of Durek, Tiana said she could understand Princess Martha-Louise's position.
She added: 'I heard a lot of negative things about him in the beginning, but I refused to believe that it could be true. Even the most incredible stories I was told bounced off me. I was in a kind of trance.
'Durek was everything to me. He told me what I wanted to hear, and gave me what I wanted. That is the key to Durek's influence.'
'Heal the world tour' and 'predicting 9/11'
In 2015, Durek embarked on a 'heal the world' tour, which included spreading his message around Israel, Turkey and Iceland.
Speaking to TimeOut Israel, he explained: 'I am only in Hollywood when I treat certain people and then I fly to my next destination. I used to have a home in Hollywood but one morning I woke up and told myself I need to be there for people who need me.
'I am paying for a home in Hollywood where I’m not there a majority of the time and own five sets of pants and a suitcase. I don’t want to have one home base.'
In 2018, Durek also claimed that he worked at Shamir Medical Centre in Israel in 1998. The following year, the hospital's HR said they had no record of Durek's employment, Tatler reports.
Later that year, Durek said he foresaw the 9/11 attacks in the US two years before they happened - but believed it was not his place to intervene. He also said that he predicted a 'plague' would come for humanity in 2020.
In October 2021, Durek raised eyebrows in Norway when he claimed in a now-deleted Instagram post that he is a 'hybrid of space lizard'.
He captioned the post: 'I am a hybrid of a space lizard ('reptilian') and Andromedia (princess from Greek mythology), and I also have ancient spirits from the ancient world. Lies have been told about our species that I want to address. We are a cluster of beings, and that means we have come here to create structures that help people to liberation.
'Space locks are here to loosen the system in a significant way. Everything that is locked in structures that actually limit or prevent people from seeing liberation, we shake. We come as disruptors to disrupt frequencies.'
He has spoken in the past of being able to get patients to vomit to get rid of 'poisons' in their bodies and says he keeps a bucket in sessions in case they need to throw up.
'Martha doesn't put up with my nonsense'
Speaking to Hello! ahead of the wedding, Durek gushed that he loved Martha-Louise's 'spitfire energy'.
He said: 'She says what's on her mind. She doesn't put up with up my nonsense. I'm a very strong person , I have a very strong personality.
'So for someone like her to have the courage to speak up to me whenever, it feels very nurturing and so loving because I've finally met someone who is able to hold that space of power.'
The European royal, 51, is marrying the celebrity shaman in Geiranger Fjord in western Norway next weekend.
The couple were introduced by friends in 2019 and have claimed to have known each other in a past life, specifically from the days of ancient Egypt.
Ingeborg Senneset - who works for Norway's largest newspaper Aftenposten - was one of the journalists to highlight Durek's claims that cancer in children can be caused by 'being unhappy'.
The reporter told the publication: 'He has been talking about removing bad spirits from children.
'In 2021 he left me a series of voicemails and tried to convince me of the existence of the Illuminati.
'It’s kind of important people know just how far out he actually is.'
The Illuminati is said to be a conspiracy theory that politicians, doctors, celebrities and other high-profile people are members of a secret group that controls the world.
The Norwegian journalist's claims come after it was revealed members of the Royal Family will 'avoid being filmed or photographed' at the wedding as a result of the couple's controversial Netflix and Hello! magazine deals.
Similar to the BBC in the UK, the Norwegian Broadcasting Company (NRK) and Norwegian News Agency (NTB) typically cover royal occasions such as this.
Speaking to NRK, Reidun Kjelling Nybø from the Norwegian Editors' Association said: 'Here a key member of the Norwegian royal family is breaking what has been a long and good tradition.
The couple arrive at the government's party celebratation of Norway's Princess' 18th birthday at Deichman Bjoervika
The couple were introduced by friends in 2019 and have claimed to have known each other in a past life , specifically from the days of ancient Egypt .
'Major events have been documented via Norwegian broad media, such as NTB and NRK, on behalf of the entire press, which has passed the images on to the people and to other newsrooms that want them, including foreign ones.'
The publication says it has been told that national media will 'have limited access' to the nuptials and 'not able to document the wedding'.
The Royal House of Norway's head of communications Guri Varpe told NRK that members of the Royal Family will therefore avoid being photographed or filmed by Netflix and Hello! as other media outlets will not have the same access.
Norwegian media outlets have been told that they will see Martha-Louise and Durek when they greet royal fans after the wedding.
What's more, 'one or more' photos of the bride and groom with their family will reportedly be released at Hello's discretion.
NTB news editor added: 'It is historic if we do not have that access. We have been to all major public events and celebrations and anniversaries related to the Norwegian royal house ever since King Haakon arrived in Norway in November 1905.'
Princess Martha-Louise's first wedding to author Ari Behn in 2002 followed the Royal Family's media protocol.
However, the mother-of-three relinquished her royal role in November 2022, in a move that was dubbed 'Norway's Megxit'.
Princess Martha Louise and Ari Behn married in 2002 and have three children together Maud Angelica, Leah Isadora and Emma Tallulah
Following their wedding in 2002, the royal said the father of her three children - who made a name for himself as an author -said he didn't receive good reviews of his work.
She added: 'His mental health depended a lot on him getting criticism in the media.
'But I am not saying it was anyone's fault. It is always how you handle criticism. The press took self-criticism after he died, that they were perhaps a little harsh towards him, and that he only received criticism and was actually a very nice person.'
In June 2022, the newly-engaged couple appeared in a video together on Durek's Instagram account where the American spiritual guide - whose celebrity clients have included Gwyneth Paltrow, Nina Dobrev and James Van Der Beek - hit back at online trolling they've faced.
He said: 'One, they don't want to see a black man in the Royal Family because there's never been one in the history of the European royal family.
'Second, she's a female - it's different when a royal prince chooses a woman of colour because it's like, "oh he's a man, he can choose whoever he wants".
'But for a princess to choose a man of colour, has never been done in history. So it's really though for a lot of people to be able to handle that.'