Shaman Durek has now claimed he’s from Turkey – after previously stating that his parents are Native American, Haitian, Norwegian, West Indian and African.
Durek Verrett, a bisexual HIV-positive American Shaman, tied the knot with the Norwegian Princess Martha Louise on 31 August, after throwing an extravagant three-day ceremony.
The 49-year-old – who counts Gwyneth Paltrow among his celebrity clients – recently took his wife, the daughter of King Harald, away on a surprise honeymoon to Bodrum.
He posted the snaps on Instagram, where he claimed that he spent the ‘early years’ of his life growing up in the Middle Eastern country.
Shaman Durek wrote: ‘After our breathtaking, love-filled, and truly enchanting wedding, shared with the most beautiful, creative, and inspirational family and friends, I whisked my beloved wife Princess Martha Louise away on a surprise honeymoon – one crafted for the purest of hearts.
‘We journeyed to a paradise where I spent my early years, surrounded by the loving and nurturing spirit of Turkey’s rich culture.
Shaman Durek the snaps on Instagram, where he claimed that he spent the ‘early years’ of his life growing up in the Middle Eastern country (pictured with Princess Martha Louise in Bodrum)
‘Our private villa by the sea Villa Macakizi became the perfect haven to share our love, devotion, and the dawn of our new beginning as husband and wife.’
Pictures posted by the Shaman to his Instagram account showed the loved-up couple slow-dancing together, and relaxing by the side of the pool.
Last month, the couple raised eyebrows after they unveiled a new unofficial monogram which honours ‘their past life together in Egypt’ after their nuptials.
The spiritual newlyweds said they first met during ancient times, when Durek claimed he was a Pharaoh.
This is just one of the many countries that the Shaman has claimed to have lived in over the years, including Israel.
The Shaman – who was born Derek David in 1974 – previously said 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.
The spiritual newlyweds said they first met during ancient times, when Durek claimed he was a Pharaoh in Egypt
Elsewhere in their trip, the couple enjoyed dinner by the sea, and spent the day on a yacht with picturesque views
In his post, Verrett called the trip ‘paradise’ and said he’d crafted the trip for his new wife, the ‘purest of hearts’
Not long after this, his father got into a relationship with a new woman – who was Hawaiian, Filipino and Japanese – and said he would spend every school break visiting her family in Hawaii.
However, in interviews with celebrity magazine Se og Hør, Veruschkalabelled her son ‘dangerous’, alleging that their family was not as wealthy as Durek has tried to make out.
Princess Martha Louise shared 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.
The royal also caused uproar when she reportedly used her title when sending a cease-and-desist letter to her estranged mother-in-law, which is thought to have threatened legal action over the 81-year-old’s ‘slander’ and ‘false statements’.
The spiritual healer – who describes himself as a ‘third and sixth generation shaman – said his shamanic powers 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.
Durek’s mother Veruschka Urquhart is said to be of Norwegian-West Indian descent – but he has also previously said his she has Native American heritage in the past
Durek Verrett tied the knot with the Norwegian Princess Martha Louise on 31 August, after throwing an extravagant three-day ceremony
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.
However, records show 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.
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.
Princess Martha Louise was also forced to step down as a working royal because of her husband’s controversial views.
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’.
Durek as a child, pictured with his sister Angelina, who would later donate her kidney to him
Among the claims were that children ‘can get cancer from being unhappy’.
Durek has also claimed he once came back from the dead, recovering from a month-long coma, by letting his soul ‘burn’ and he has also spoken of having to undergo a kidney transplant from his sister as a child.
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 caused a stir 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.
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