Suit claims Stefan Molyneux listened in on therapist wife and clients

eavesdroppingIn the December 19, 2014 issue of Toronto’s Globe and Mail, reporter Tu Thanh Ha* writes that Stefan Molyneux has been accused of listening “in on his therapist wife as she met with distraught patients.”

This disturbing news raises further questions about both Molyneux and his wife, Christina Papadopoulos. Molyneux is a self-styled philosopher and ethicist who preaches about living a “virtuous” lifestyle to members of his on-line community. Papadopoulos is a family counselor who practices in Mississauga, Ontario.

Molyneux admits he would sometimes suggest to patients through the vent system that they donate to his Freedomain Radio community.

Molyneux frequently advocates a complete separation from family and friends as part of adopting a “virtuous” lifestyle. Tu Thanh Ha reports:

Already controversial for counselling his followers to shun their parents, a Toronto-area podcaster is facing allegations he listened in on his therapist wife as she met with distraught patients.

Stefan Molyneux is a self-described libertarian philosopher. His wife, Christina Papadopoulos, is a psychological associate in Mississauga.

The College of Psychologists of Ontario found Ms. Papadopoulos guilty of professional misconduct in November, 2012, faulting her for adopting Mr. Molyneux’s views and using the Internet to counsel people to sever ties with their families.

The allegations come as part of a suit brought against for his fraudulent use of the DMCA to take down the YouTube account of a popular critic, Tru Shibes.

The evidence of Molyneux’s interactions with his wife’s clients was found on Podcast 251, the public version of which has been edited to remove Molyneux’s description of his actions. Among Molyneux’s admissions found on the unedited version:

“I’m in the vent system, listening, and I’m – she calls it heckling, but I don’t really call it heckling, I just call it providing suggestions about how things should go and that the people should donate to Freedomain Radio,” he says in the podcast.

The College of Psychologists has declined to comment on these latest allegations against Ms. Papadopoulos.

Full text of the Globe and Mail article can be found here.

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*In 2008, Tu Thanh Ha was one of the first journalists to bring the unusual psychology practices of Freedomain Radio to public light. Although his original article has been archived and no longer appears on the Globe & Mail site, it has been preserved at the Ross Institute Internet Archives for the Study of Destructive Cults, Controversial Groups and Movements. The article can be found here.