I accidentally started cult and had to physically remove them from my home after one member threatened to commit suicide. AMA.

During some volunteer work, I (30F) made about 6 or 7 female friends ages 23 - 27. They all looked up to me and we became pretty close. They were all moderately insecure and would ask me for so much career and personal advice that I jokingly told them they need to start referring to me as mother, which they did. Part of my advice was explaining to them that being insecure at that age is natural, and that the experience of blossoming from a young lady into a grown woman is beautiful and divine. That’s where it went wrong - I should have never used the word divine, especially not when they’d refer to me as mother. Next thing I know, everything I did and said was the one and only truth. They would come over and refuse to leave for days. They’d bring their boyfriends over and make me play “mother goddess the judge of who’s right.” Things got bad when I had one refused to leave my place for so long that she dropped out of school and lost her job. When I told her she needed to leave and this wasn’t healthy, she would say she’s scared that she’d hurt herself if she had to be alone. Ultimately had to pack her things and physically pull her out of my apartment and into her car. I blocked everyone and moved two weeks later. AMA.