A Florida fitness coach has revealed she was forced to picket a child’s funeral before her Westboro Baptist Church-going family banished her for breaking a rule.
Lauren Drain, 31, is a fully-trained cardiac nurse and personal trainer whose racy selfies have earned her a huge online following.
She began her career in healthcare at the age of 16 and has been a cardiac registered nurse for over eight years, snapping up 3.6 million Instagram followers along the way.
Lauren has worked in a number of roles throughout her career including intensive care units as well acting as a charge nurse in operating theatres, and regularly works gruelling 13-hour days.
And now she has spoken out about her time in the controversial Westboro Baptist Church.
Lauren Drain, 31, is a fully-trained cardiac nurse and personal trainer whose racy selfies have earned her a huge online following
Putting in the hours: In a blog post, the social media mogul told how she ‘trained her a*** off’ after signing up to her first WBFF (World Beauty Fitness & Fashion)
Her father got them involved with the church and said they were the only ‘true church’ left in America.
Lauren eventually escaped the cult when she was 21, leaving behind her family, including her sister Taylor, 26, brother Boaz, 15, and youngest sister Faith, 13, who have all remained devoted members.
She was kicked out after her father discovered an email she had sent to someone who was not a member of the church.
Discussing the time she was forced to picket a child’s funeral, she told Mirror Online: ‘I tried to be as far down the picket line as possible so my sign wasn’t as visible and I was hoping the media wouldn’t approach me that day.’
The fitness extraordinaire has a strong passion for health, wellness and quality of life and has used every opportunity to help promote those values to her patients and clients – championing her belief that an active lifestyle is key to long-lasting health.
Lauren said: ‘After eight years in professional healthcare, I have never seen a natural athlete stuck in a terrible health crisis.
‘There’s a reason for that: fit, active lifestyles reduce the risk of disease and promote overall wellbeing.’
Hard-working: Lauren began her career in healthcare at 16 and has been a cardiac registered nurse for over eight years, snapping up 3.6 million Instagram followers along the way
The real deal: Lauren has worked in a number of roles throughout her career including intensive care units, and regularly works gruelling 13-hour days
Self-taught: After YouTube-ing to find out about the scene she bit the bullet and signed up for her first bikini show where she placed ninth out of 30 competitors
Starting out: To get in shape for her first fitness show, Lauren hired a coach, entered more and more shows, and finally got the top spot in an amateur show, earning her her pro card
The blonde bombshell insists she is not genetically blessed, saying: ‘I worked to build more muscle mass in all the ‘right’ places, becoming stronger, healthier, and happier in the process’
After years of helping patients in hospitals, Lauren realised it was having a detrimental effect on her on wellbeing.
She felt overworked, overstressed, overweight, fatigued, and extremely unhappy so she decided to take control of her life and get her priorities straight. She decided to take a different tact in the way she could helped people.
‘I wanted to be a healthy, fit, strong, confident woman, actively preventing disease instead of treating everything with pills and medication,’ she said.
Doing it her way: ‘The booty and legs you see now are not genetic blessings or surgical projects, they’re the product of hard work,’ Lauren wrote in a recent blog post
Lauren recently told her followers: ‘I see girls on social media time and time again calling themselves fitness models, fit chicks, etc… when in reality, most of them were blessed at birth when they won the genetic lottery’
The stunning fitness guru says of her approach: ‘I wanted to change my life for the better, and I wanted to help others before they lost control of their health too’
Not just a pretty face: Despite her blonde bombshell image, Lauren insists she doesn’t mind getting her hands dirty and is not ‘just a model’
The ultra fit beauty insists she never set out to become a ‘fitness model’, and her road into the lifestyle is one most of us can relate to
In a bid to get in shape, Lauren embarked on a paleo challenge, which involves eating a caveman style diet and produced motivating results leading her to research entering shows
‘I wanted to change my life for the better, and I wanted to help others before they lost control of their health too.’
The ultra fit beauty never set out to become a ‘fitness model’, and her road into the lifestyle is one most of us can relate to.
She said: ‘I let the winter and holiday seasons get the best of me. I was unhappy with what I saw in the mirror and I felt even worse, so I decided to make a change for the better.’
Practising what she preaches: The fitness extraordinaire has a strong passion for health and wellness, and has used every opportunity to promote those values to her patients and clients
Lauren said: ‘After eight years in professional healthcare, I have never seen a natural athlete stuck in a terrible health crisis. ‘There’s a reason for that: fit, active lifestyles reduce the risk of disease and promote overall wellbeing’
Strike a pose: Lauren has worked in a number of roles throughout her career including intensive care units as well acting as a charge nurse in operating theatres
Lauren embarked on a paleo challenge, which involves eating a caveman style diet and produced motivating results leading her to research entering competition shows.
After YouTube-ing to find out about the scene she bit the bullet and signed up for her first bikini show where she placed ninth out of 30 competitors.
She hired a coach, entered more and more shows, and finally got the top spot in an amateur show, earning her her pro card and giving the opportunity to compete for money in professional body building, fitness and aesthetic shows.
Lauren now has her own fitness website where she helps others reach their true potential with her own personal blends of diet and exercise routines.
Insta-fame: Lauren has racked up a staggering 3.6 million followers thanks to her sultry selfies and bikini shots
Brains AND beauty! Lauren holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and is an NASM-certified personal trainer in between working shifts at the hospital
Spreading the word: Lauren now has her own fitness website where she helps others reach their true potential with her own personal blends of diet and exercise routines
Explaining her fitness philosophy, Lauren said: ‘I wanted to be a healthy, fit, strong, confident woman, actively preventing disease instead of treating everything with pills and medication’
Before getting into fitness, Lauren’s job left her feeling overworked, overstressed, overweight, fatigued, and extremely unhappy so she decided to take control of her life
In a recent blog post, the social media mogul told how she ‘trained her a*** off’ after signing up to her first WBFF (World Beauty Fitness & Fashion).
She wrote: ‘Since then, I’ve worked to build more muscle mass in all the ‘right’ places, becoming stronger, healthier, and happier in the process.
‘The booty and legs you see now are not genetic blessings or surgical projects, they’re the product of hard work.
‘I see girls on social media time and time again calling themselves fitness models, fit chicks, etc… when in reality, most of them were blessed at birth when they won the genetic lottery.’