Durek Verrett

Durek Verrett (born November 17, 1974, as Derek David Verrett) is an American businessman, alternative therapist, self-professed shaman and author. He has been characterized by Norwegian media and other observers as a conman and conspiracy theorist. He is engaged to Princess Märtha Louise of Norway.

Background
Verrett grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area town of Foster City, California, and legally changed his name to Durek Verrett in 2014. On his personal website from 2011 to 2020 he claimed to be a 3rd generation Shaman. 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.

In multiple 2019 interviews including Vanity Fair, Verrett claimed he was raised by a wealthy architect father "with a private plane and domestic servants." Several of Verrett's relatives contradict such claims, including his paternal aunt, singer Shirley Verrett, who said Verrett's father was a middle-class contractor who twice went bankrupt, and Verrett's stepmother was a customer service agent for Alaska Airlines. United States census data shows Verrett's childhood neighborhood was considered lower middle class for the time period.

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, and he has also claimed "she was white." 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 "Native American Blackfoot Indian." Verrett's parents divorced in April 1977 when he was 2. When Verrett was 3, his father married Verrett's stepmother, Geraldine Roy (1943–2009).

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."

From 2007 to 2015, Verrett had a male fiancé, a masseur named Hank Greenberg, who was also his business partner. 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 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. In 2015, Greenberg broke off their engagement after Verrett assaulted him in their home.

For several years between 2012 and 2017, Verrett lived periodically 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."

Legal problems
In 1991, Verrett was convicted of felony arson and trespassing and sentenced to five years imprisonment in California after he illegally organized a party in an unoccupied house that was set on fire and burned to the ground. Verrett has stated that he served one year in prison before being released on parole.

In 1993, after Verrett was released from prison, he was arrested on three separate occasions in Santa Clara and San Mateo, California, charged with crimes including trespassing, theft of services, and riding public transportation without paying fares (fare evasion), for which he spent additional time in jail and fined monetary penalties. Court records show that Verrett couldn't afford legal representation, so a public defender was appointed to represent him.

In 2005, Verrett entered into a sham marriage with Zaneta Marzalkova, a Los Angeles resident of Czech nationality, when she was 21 years old. In 2008, Marzalkova filed for divorce from Verrett, which was granted by Los Angeles Superior Court. Marzalkova claimed that the marriage was an illegal arrangement by Verrett, whom she paid to help her obtain a United States Green Card. Verrett has claimed that Marzalkova "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 2011, Verrett was accused of harassment, non-payment of rent, and making threats of murder and "black magic" in a lawsuit filed against him by his landlord in Los Angeles.

In 2015, Verrett was arrested by the Los Angeles Police Department for domestic abuse after he attacked his then-fiancé Hank Greenberg at their home. Verrett was charged with assault and battery. He later entered into a private agreement with Greenberg to not cooperate with prosecutors in exchange for monetary compensation. After Verrett was released from jail, Greenberg claims that Verrett reneged on their arrangement.

In July 2022, Verrett advertised and sold a medallion that he claimed cures COVID-19. The Norwegian Consumer Ombudsman declared Verrett's undocumented claims to be a violation of Norwegian law. As a result, in 2023, Verrett ceased selling that product and began selling another medallion for over 2,000 Norwegian kroner that he claims can cure dogs of various ailments, which has been criticized by the Norwegian Veterinary Association as not based on science.

Career
Verrett states the most important figure in his shaman career is a woman named "Mamal," whom Verrett identifies as his great-grandmother and spirit guide, and who he says "was a powerful medicine woman from Ghana, where she worked in service to her tribe," and that she "fled Africa in the early 1800s when her tribe was invaded by the Dutch." However, United States census records show that Eugenie "Mamal" Morel was not from Africa; she was born in 1862 in New Orleans, Louisiana, where both of her parents were also born, and she was actually Verrett's great-great-grandmother.

Verrett has also claimed to have been initiated spiritually by 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.")

At age 27, Verrett claims he had a near-death experience which was a pivotal “rite of passage to become a shaman." In 2018, Verrett stated in multiple interviews that his near-death experience happened in Los Angeles, California, where a friend drove him to a local hospital. However, since 2019, Verrett has changed the story, stating that it occurred in a Belize jungle while he was with a medicine woman, and that he was transported to a hospital there via ambulance. In all versions of the story, Verrett claims he underwent emergency tracheotomy (surgical opening of the throat) and sternotomy (surgical opening of the chest). Media observers have pointed out that Verrett bears no scars on his throat or chest, which are always present after such invasive surgeries. In interviews and his own publications, Verrett has failed to identify any doctors or hospital staff who he claims saved his life, and whom he claims spent months nursing him back to health.

In 2018 and 2019, Verrett claimed that he worked at Shamir Medical Center in Israel for several months during 1998, where he said he treated children for cancer using shamanistic methods. However, in 2019, the hospital's Human Resources department stated that Verrett never worked at their institution.

In 2019, Verrett released a book titled Spirit Hacking which was set to be published in Norway. However, major publisher Cappelen Damm dropped the book a week prior to its scheduled publication over concerns about its content. The book was later released 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". Verrett also says that he can turn atoms and literally reduce age. Cancer experts called Verrett's views on cancer "dangerous." Major newspaper Dagbladet described the book as "the ravings of a lunatic." Verdens Gang called the book "nonsense, garbage and dirty talk," and said it is an unoriginal "rehash of the standard repertoire of the most cynical part of the alternative [i.e. New Age] culture."

Verrett claims to have had a limited career as a model and in appearances on television shows. Although Verrett publicly identified as gay prior to 2019, Vanity Fair wrote about him identifying as bisexual since meeting Norway's Princess Märtha Louise, and their activities to promote his brand of new age shamanism in celebrity circles. Verrett claims 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 also claims to be a reincarnated Pharaoh from Egypt.

In 2019, Verrett claimed that he foresaw the September 11 attacks two years before they happened, but he said that everyone must "accept their destiny" and that it was not his role to intervene.

In 2021, Verrett stated that he considers himself to be a reptilian, and asserted that "I'm a hybrid species of reptilian and Andromeda, and I also hold the energies of the ancient spirits from the old world. There have been lies told about our species that I want to address. We are a cluster of beings, that means that we’ve come here to create structures that help people to come into liberation. Reptilians are here to shake up the system in a big way." According to extremism researcher John Færseth, Verrett's ideas about being a reptilian are based on the Reptilian conspiracy theory advocated by British anti-Semite David Icke. Verrett has stated that he considers the 5G technology to be a conspiracy by "those who enslave the planet."

In December 2023, Verrett posted a controversial video on Instagram in which he claimed that demonic beings can inhabit children and torment them. Therefore, he advised parents to speak directly and loudly at troubled, aggressive, and acting-out children, commanding the dark spirits within them to come "into the light." Many observers considered Verrett's parenting advice to be a harmful encouragement of exorcism.

MSN included Verrett as one of "20 famous conspiracy theorists" alongside David Icke and Alex Jones in a 2024 article.

Relationship with Princess Märtha Louise and reception in Norway
In May 2019, Verrett began dating and professionally collaborating with Princess Märtha Louise of Norway. Their relationship has been heavily scrutinized, with many Norwegians voicing their disapproval and calling Verrett a "charlatan." He has also been characterized by Norwegian media and other critics as a conman and a conspiracy theorist,    and his statements on various topics have been widely criticized and ridiculed in Norway. The former Prime Minister of Norway Erna Solberg described Verrett's views as "very strange" and "not based on facts," and said that "the ideas that he promotes is something that we combat as conspiracy theories." Solberg further said the criticism of Verrett is reasonable. State Secretary of the Norwegian Ministry of Health and Care Services, Ole Henrik Krat Bjørkholt, described Verrett as "an unscrupulous and dangerous charlatan" who engages in fraud. In 2023, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre strongly condemned Verrett, calling his statements on child rearing "dangerous."

On his podcast "Ancient Wisdom Today" in 2019, Verrett openly discussed his and his girlfriend's sex life and his techniques for controlling his orgasm to maximize partner satisfaction. He also offered sex advice in a webinar titled "Soul Sexual Webinar."

In 2019, Verrett and Märtha Louise co-organised seminars titled "The Princess and the Shaman," which also were widely criticised for the claims made by Verrett about healing cancer and for exploiting Märtha Louise's constitutional role as princess for a private business venture. The newspaper iTromsø noted that Märtha Louise has faced extensive criticism for associating with a conspiracy theorist and over her "commercialization and abuse of the title 'princess'".

In June 2022, Märtha Louise announced that she and Verrett were engaged. Verrett claimed that when he was a child his mother foresaw him marrying a Norwegian princess, however, his mother publicly denied this as a fake story that Verrett created himself.

In 2022, Aftenposten journalist Ingeborg Senneset wrote an open letter to Verrett, where she addressed his habit of sending her voice messages like "Hey, my love" on Instagram and telling her that the "Illuminati" is real and that celebrities and powerful politicians corroborate his claims, before blocking her when she asked critical questions about his Illuminati claims.

Both Verrett and Märtha Louise have complained about the negative reception of Verrett in Norway, and Verrett claimed he was criticized because "people don't want a black man in the royal family." Verrett also claimed that "I have never experienced so much racism as when I came to Norway" and said that he is misunderstood, comparing himself to "geniuses [like] Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, the Wright brothers and Helen Keller." His claims of racism have been criticized, with former Norwegian cabinet minister Abid Raja (of Pakistani descent) accusing Verrett of "playing the race card" to distract from the criticism of his conspiracy theories and "dangerous" views, and comedian Jonna Støme, of African American descent, saying that Verrett's claims undermine the real fight against racism and that people in Norway react negatively to Verrett because "he is a conman who says horrible things." The political editor of Nettavisen Erik Stephansen criticized Märtha Louise's complaints about the coverage of her and Verrett, and wrote that she has "actively sought the spotlight with her entire family, exploited the princess title in every conceivable way – including commercially – and is now fully engaged in milking her own glamorous celebrity wedding in Geiranger for all it's worth."

Verrett has claimed that he will become the first black person who becomes a part of a European royal family, although Sudanese citizen Mary Nyanut Ring Macha married into the Austrian House of Habsburg in 1999, Angela Brown married into the House of Liechtenstein in 2000, and Meghan Markle married into the British royal family in 2018. In October 2022, Crown Prince Haakon of Norway, Märtha Louise's brother, told Norwegian broadcaster NRK that the matter of Verrett's position in their family is difficult and will take time to solve.

In November 2022, Märtha Louise relinquished her remaining royal duties to focus on her alternative medicine business with Verrett.

In 2023, Verrett claimed that Märtha Louise's late husband, Ari Behn, who died by suicide in 2019, had contacted him from beyond the grave.

Verrett and Märtha Louise announced they plan to marry on 24 August 2024.

Märtha Louise's antagonistic relationship with the media, stemming from the criticism over what critics describe as her commercial exploitation of the title "princess," led her to declare a total boycott of Norwegian media in 2024.

Reputation management controversy
In 2024, Norwegian media reported on a covert, year-long reputation management project Verrett and Märtha Louise organized to improve Verrett's reputation ahead of their planned marriage, and that the couple hired conservative politician and lawyer John Christian Elden as a reputation management consultant in connection with this effort. On their behalf, Elden complained about the inclusion of quotes by former Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg that appear in the Wikipedia article about Verrett, in which she criticised Verrett for promoting "strange ideas" linked to conspiracy theories. Lawyer and media law expert Jon Wessel-Aas publicly stated that it is futile to demand the removal of a correct quote from a public statement by a prime minister, and Norwegian media criticized Verrett and Märtha Louise for attempting to censor a former prime minister's freedom of speech.

The political editor of Nettavisen, Erik Stephansen, wrote that "the revelation of Verrett's repeated attempts to change or remove unfavorable information from Wikipedia" is one of the most striking examples of attempts to hide unfortunate traces from the "con artist shaman's" past life.

In March 2024, Verrett publicly complained that he is described in the media as a "self-professed" shaman and claimed that he was appointed as a shaman by the ghosts of his ancestors. Verrett also requested that his alleged career activities as a dancer, model, TV personality, poet, and choreographer be included in online articles, although he offered no substantiation of such career claims.

In April 2024, Märtha Louise objected to public data indicating that Verrett didn't grow up wealthy, and claimed instead that everyone was jealous of his family's wealth. Royal correspondent Tove Taalsen questioned why Märtha Louise places such emphasis on her boyfriend's alleged wealth as a child, and wrote that it is out of touch with Norway's more egalitarian values.

Published work

 * Spirit Hacking: Shamanic Keys to Reclaim Your Personal Power, Transform Yourself, and Light Up the World (Ed. St. Martin's Essentials, 2019). ISBN 1250217105