“I enjoy going to meet-ups, and he just didn't have any interest in that.” In November 2019 she wanted to go to the Dallas Flat Earth International Conference but he refused to accompany her. “I wanted to go out and do observations,” she says. Though her boyfriend was the person who introduced her to the conspiracy, he didn't care about researching it further. The world didn't make sense to her until she discovered flat Earth.

This became all too real for Dottie Sutherland, who is 34 and lives in Washington. “We’re not talking about whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican, or vegan or not vegan. Sargent has heard “horror stories” about people being unable to reconcile their relationship with their flat Earth belief. “'We can't have a conversation about anything real.'” “Quite often they say, 'I'm not allowed to even discuss this at home',” she says. Love, who used to start gatherings of flat Earthers that have run since 2017, has seen marriages come under strain: the partner resents the new belief they cannot understand the flat Earther realises they are happier among flat Earthers. David Weiss, a flat Earther in his mid-50s from Connecticut, says: “They’re so deep inside the Matrix that they can’t see it.”Īnd, for some, a belief in a flat Earth can be the catalyst for ending a relationship. “Conversations can be difficult with mainstream people,” she says.

Charlotte Love, a 48-year-old flat Earther in Birmingham, says she no longer watches TV or reads newspapers.

Ex flat earthers