A former member of Warren Jeffs’ fundamentalist Mormon sect has openly recounted how she was accused of committing adultery after having sex with her own husband.
The 37-year-old, known as @cali_girl_at_heart on TikTok, grew up in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS). After marrying at the age of 15, she had eight children before eloping with her family.
In a recent video, she recalled how she and her now-ex-husband began to question religion after, on Jeffs’ orders, they “sworn and swore at a meeting that they would no longer have marital relations.”
“At some point we disregarded this decree,” she explained. ‘After they told us we were guilty of adultery.’
TikTok user @cali_girl_at_heart grew up in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), led by convicted child rapist Warren Jeffs
She and her now-ex-husband were 15 and 19 respectively when they married as strangers, and they went on to have eight children in total
In our minds we thought, “Yeah, no, I don’t think so. I don’t think that was adultery.” That was the revelation to us,” she continued. ‘It was the first time ever that something in our life was so important that we thought, ‘What the hell?’
In 2011, Jeffs was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of aggravated sexually assaulting two children, ages 12 and 15
Jeffs, who is believed to have about 78 wives and at least 60 children, was sentenced to life in prison in 2011 after being convicted of aggravated sexually assaulting two children, ages 12 and 15, whom he took as wives was.
The FLDS leader has also been accused of sexually abusing some of his own children, as well as his niece and nephew, who have made their allegations.
The TikTok user explained that Jeffs ordered the sex ban while he was behind bars, prompting speculation as to his true intentions.
“A lot of people have the theory that he couldn’t get one, so neither could they,” she explained. “Now that I know what I know about him, it’s probably right.”
After being found guilty of adultery, she was told her husband would be sent away and she would have been placed in the care of another man.
The TikTok user explained that she and her husband were among the FLDS members who vowed not to have marital relations while Jeffs was behind bars
Their children, who qualified to join the United Order – a program of economic and moral reform – would be forced to live with another family.
She recalled how she and her husband had to make the difficult decision of believing what they were told and separating their family or “finding another way.”
“That was the time. That was the big wake up for us,” she said. “Looking back, it’s a bit unfortunate because we should have just left completely, but instead we joined an FLDS apostate group who claimed they were the true FLDS, as most religions do.”
In another video, she explained how she and her former husband were kept away from the media and only found out about Jeff’s crimes when they joined the group.
They began to question their religion and Jeff’s leadership after they were found guilty of adultery for having sex with each other
As punishment, they were told they would be separated and their children would have to stay with another family
The mother of eight was 17 when she gave birth to her first child
“So we bought into those bulls**t and propaganda for a while before finally walking out completely,” she said of the FLDS eventual escape.
She explained that her husband should quit his job because the company was part of the religious sect and she also had to look for a new apartment.
“Because we asked, we were immediately cut off,” she said. “Everyone avoided us. We were at a loss.’
The mother-of-eight noted that she was never married to Jeffs, who is actually her half-cousin. Her mother, who also escaped the religious sect, was half-sisters to Jeff’s mother, “meaning that their mothers were sister-wives married to the same man.”
At the age of 35, she made her mother, who had also fled the religious cult, a grandmother
“You could say we were very groomed, brainwashed,” she said. “Our parents, it happened to them, it happened to everyone we knew”
The TikTok user explained that she is half a cousin of Jeffs. Her mother was half-sisters to Jeffs’ mother, meaning their mothers were sister wives married to the same man.
“You could say we were very groomed, brainwashed,” she said. “Our parents, it happened to them, it happened to everyone we knew, it had to happen in order for you to be a good girl, a worthy woman, a wonderful holy mother of Zion.”
Looking back on her own wedding anniversary, which took place when she was just 15, she recalled how terrified she was of being married off to “an old man.”
“I had a 45 minute deadline to prepare for my own wedding,” she explained. “I didn’t know who I was marrying. You didn’t tell me.’
She was relieved to learn that her husband was 19 years old. They immediately tried to have children, but she didn’t have her first child until two years later. They had a total of eight children.
When asked about her ex and if he’s still in a relationship with her children, who range in age from six to 20, she was quick to defend him.
She and her now-divorced husband joined an FLDS apostate group before eventually leaving the faith with their eight children
When asked about her ex and if he’s still in a relationship with her kids, she said he’s a “great dad” and an “amazing person.”
She noted that she was surprised at how nice people were when she left the religion, saying she had been told for years that “everyone in the outside world was bad and evil and terrible.”
“He’s a great father. He’s an amazing person and I never want to demonize him,” she said. “He was 19. I was 15. We left at the same time, so in a way he was a victim too.”
In other videos, she shared how her older children reacted to leaving FLDS, saying they hated her and her first-year ex over fears of being sent to hell.
She admitted her kids were also bullied for their FLDS clothes when they first started public school because she didn’t know how to dress them in anything else.
However, she was surprised at how nice people were overall after years of being told that “everyone in the outside world is bad and evil and terrible.”
“One thing that really struck me after we left was how nice people were and how shocked and surprised I was,” she explained. “You know, when I met someone at Walmart, they smiled or made every effort to be polite, friendly, decent people.”