Male Supermodel Hoyt Richards Marries Donna Flagg — Years After a Cult Tore Them Apart

Hoyt Richards, one of the most recognizable male supermodels of the 1980s and '90s, married Donna Flagg on September 4, 2026, on Jetties Beach in Nantucket, Massachusetts — closing a decades-long loop on one of the stranger love stories in recent memory. The wedding came years after Richards had abruptly vanished from Flagg's life in 1998, four years into their relationship, leaving her with no real explanation.

For Flagg, his disappearance was especially surreal because Richards' face was inescapable in New York City. She'd walk into a Macy's and find a life-size foam-core standee of her missing boyfriend posing as a model father with a wife and two kids. At the time, she rationalized his emotional unavailability as a side effect of being so thoroughly objectified by the modeling industry — she believed he simply didn't understand romantic love.

The real explanation was far darker. Richards had been drawn into a religious cult whose leader prohibited members from forming personal attachments outside the group. The ideology demanded that followers' exclusive devotion be directed toward God, making romantic relationships effectively forbidden. Richards' indoctrination explained his sudden and complete withdrawal from Flagg — though she wouldn't learn the full truth until much later.

The story gained wider public attention through a recent HBO Max docuseries that examined Richards' years inside the cult. The two had originally met in June 1994 in Los Angeles, introduced through a mutual friend, film producer Moe Lospinoso. Flagg, newly divorced and visiting from New York, recalled that her first reaction to Richards wasn't starstruck awe but genuine warmth — she found him charming and kind. Decades later, they finally made it official.