Former followers allege abuse in Greg Baer's Real Love retreats

Greg Baer built Real Love as a healing movement, but former followers now describe a setting where spiritual trust and personal vulnerability gave way to control. At retreats, NBC News reported, attendees lined up for a chance to sit in Baer’s lap as if they were babies, and some former participants say the encounters went far beyond affectionate role-play.

Real Love presents itself as a Georgia-based nonprofit corporation and registered 501(c)(3), with an EIN of 46-4774012. The organization says Baer founded it after selling his ophthalmology practice and has spent the last 25 years teaching what it calls Real Love principles. On its mission page, the company says it aims to teach unconditional love and that many clients are self-referred, a detail that underscores how people often arrive seeking help on their own, not under pressure from a court, school or employer.

The company’s own materials portray a broad media and training enterprise. Real Love says it has produced two documentaries, more than two books, more than two worldwide seminars and more than two radio and television programs. Its parenting arm says it offers a 45-hour video training and more than 90 archived conference calls with Greg Baer. Donna Baer is listed as a business partner and events planner, extending the organization’s reach beyond a single retreat circuit.

Baer has also publicly rejected cult allegations on the company’s website, saying Real Love is not a cult and that its leaders only love and teach, not control people. That defense now sits alongside accounts from former followers who say the atmosphere was emotionally intense and, in some cases, abusive. NBC News reported that Baer told followers to call him Daddy, a dynamic that critics say blurred the line between care and submission.

The allegations raise familiar questions about oversight in self-help and spiritual communities, where charismatic leaders can build loyal followings with little outside scrutiny. Real Love says Baer has conducted seminars and trainings around the world from Phoenix, Arizona, while the organization remains based in Georgia. For former followers who came seeking peace, confidence and healing, the claims now point to a deeper reckoning over how coercive behavior can hide inside the language of transformation.