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she was always aware that she was being groomed to marry Jeffs

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when Briell was married to Jeffs her family was not allowed to attend

after the ceremony she was told to return to her house, gather her belongings because she was no longer to live there

she was not allowed to tell her siblings that she was married to "the Prophet"

she explains that when she moved into Jeffs house with 45 bedrooms, she felt "trapped within the walls of her own community"

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Briell was aware that she was being groomed to marry Jeffs from a young age

she attended school that was FLDS and run by Jeffs

during her marriage she was punished if she would not abide to what Jeffs asked her to do

these tasks typically led to sexual abuse

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in her testimony, Briell talks about how Jeffs banned socialization and contact with the outside world

he began splitting families apart, taking young girls as his own brides, and excommunicating members, mainly young men, from the church.

Jeffs was her principal at Alta Academy, an FLDS-only school

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Briell still finds herself speaking in FLDS terms although she hasn't been apart of the church for decades now

Briell was granted ownership to Jeffs' old home which she has now turned into a rehab centre for ex-FLDS women and their children

Briell understands the struggles of leaving the FLDS, many of these women have many children and no finances.

the home offers residence and meals for $100 a month

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when she was 13 her father was expelled from the community and she was not allowed to contact him, all photos of him were destroyed and his possessions were discarded

Faith had a boyfriend when she attended university, which was not allowed as all relationships had to be managed by Jeffs

she was then expelled from the community and her family began to reject her

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Faith was removed from the church and her family and friends rejected her and she was no longer allowed to contact them

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like many FLDS members, Faith was born into the community. When she was born her father had two wives

this indicates that since birth all these children have seen their fathers with multiple wives and viewed it as normal

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was taught that these types of families were superior to others

FLDS had its own private schools which all the children attended

there was no separation between church and school

teachings of Warren Jeffs were played throughout the day

when her father was expelled, Jeffs told her family that he was their new father

was forced to write a letter to Jeffs expressing their loyalty to him

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Faith explained that some of her biggest adjustments to living outside of FLDS were the most mundane things. Such as putting on make-up and learning how to style her hair down.

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being married at age 14 to her older cousin

Elissa begged for more time to find another husband but her mother and step-father supported the decision and encouraged her to go through with it

was abused sexually and psychologically during her four-year marriage

frequent rapes and miscarriages

when she left, she was hated by her family and other members

she stated that every bad thing that happened to them was her fault

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attended church-run private school that taught her absolute obedience and faithfulness to the religion

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having to grasp the outside world challenges

fiscal, psychological, and practical

Elissa to this day will walk down the street in her heavily ex-FLDS community and people will come up to her and yell at her

Elissa explains that although she has been out of the FLDS for years she still feels like she is in the trenches

a quote by Elissa after running into her ex-husband on the street:

“This person had tortured me and held me captive for 10 years, and here he was, in plain clothes,” she said. The sun had just sunk out of sight of the school’s windows, and a sherbert sunset was taking shape over the cliffs. “He said my name. It was one of those moments when all the progress you think you’ve made comes crashing down. I couldn’t talk about it for three weeks.”

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experienced sexual abuse from the ages 8-16

was sexually assaulted by Jeffs, her father, at age 8

she was taught in school that boys do not touch girls. she explains that when her father started abusing her she felt guilty and ashamed of herself

her younger sister told her about how she was sexually abused at the hands of their father, Warren Jeffs (this was Rachel's breaking point)

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"I think, as a child, you don’t realize when something’s bad all the time," Blackmore recalled. "I think, for a lot of us, that’s how it was. … I felt protected from the world. I was taught that the outside world was wicked."

children would attend a FLDS led church that would teach the children about the prophet and tell them that the world was evil

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"And there were the continual teachings of polygamy where there was a leader, one man, and you never questioned him. … We were taught that if we wanted to go to heaven, we had to live polygamy. We had to have sister wives and marry a man we were told to marry, not who we wanted to choose. All of those restrictions were accepted because that’s all we knew."

members like Rachel conformed to the rules because they thought this was their only way to go to heaven

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Warren Jeffs forbade Rachel to share her experience and threatened her with with punishment if she did

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within the FLDS, Rachel's grade 8 education was enough for her to each grade 3 in the community but once fleeing the community with her five children, the lack of education limited her accessibility to find a well paying job to financially support herself and her children.

leaving the community, she moved from Utah to Texas to Montana

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It is no question that these women had no emotional trauma from living within the FLDS combine. From watching their fathers being exiled, learning about sibling abuse, experiencing abuse themselves and being married off at a young age with one purpose to reproduce there is no hesitation when considering the emotional trauma these women have been through. All these women were born into the church, therefore at a young age they all witnessed a polygamist family but there was no question for concern at their age. Instead they all thought of it as something unique, they had many brothers and sisters. But as time passed, some women expressed the hardships of this, such as battling for attention from their parents. All children attended an FLDS ran school, that did not expose them to the outside world. Therefore they were taught about the prophets, the Book of Mormon and the evils that existed outside. Some were even taught by Jeffs, himself. Mind control was demonstrated through brainwashing by the teachings at school, the lectures at church and the family prayer sessions they would have.

One common similarity that struck my interest was that a lot of these women were planning on leaving much earlier than when they actually did. For many, they expressed that although they knew what was happening in the combine was wrong they were scared of the outside world. Or were scared to leave their multitude of family behind knowing what they would be leaving them to more time of abuse and brainwashing. This caused them to stay in the combine until one pivotal situation happened that forced them to say 'enough if enough'.

Finally, they all had struggles recovering from leaving. Many, if not all, were very much under educated which limited their abilities to get a job, thus hindering their demand to financially support themselves and their children. They needed to rebuild a trust with the world and society but also regain the ability to perform mundane task, as mentioned before with deciding what to wear or how to style their hair. A lot of the time these women relied on food banks or would have to move from home to home before establishing some stability.

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7. Nolasco S, Fox News: Polygamist cult leader’s daughter breaks free, says false prophet abused her: “The world could see the shame” Fox News, 2024 Available at: https://www.foxnews.com/us/polygamist-cult-leaders-daughter-breaks-free-says-false-prophet-abused-her. Accessed June 17, 2024.

8. Bramham D: Daphne Bramham: Rachel Jeffs on Life after polygamy | vancouver sun, 2017 Available at: https://vancouversun.com/opinion/columnists/daphne-bramham-rachel-jeffs-on-life-after-polygamy-and-why-she-testified-against-the-blackmores. Accessed June 18, 2024.

9. Torres L: The daughter of infamous cult leader Warren Jeffs opens up about escaping the polygamous Mormon sect - and the moment she knew she had to leave: “there’s healing after trauma” Business Insider Available at: https://www.businessinsider.com/secrets-of-polygamy-rachel-jeffs-blackmore-warren-jeffs-daughter-flds-2024-1. Accessed June 17, 2024.