A brand new Netflix collection is going deeper into the abuse at the fingers of Warren Jeffs, his father Rulon, and the FLDS church. How many wives did Rulon have?
Rulon Jeffs with one of his wives
The latest true crime collection to hit Netflix — Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey — takes a deeper glance into the sinister practices of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS Church) below the leadership of Warren Jeffs. Jeffs is recently serving out a prison sentence of existence plus two decades in Palestine, Texas, for sexually assaulting two women, however his follow of abuse went a ways past that.
Before Jeffs become the "prophet" and leader of the FLDS, his father Rulon Jeffs was once in rate. The follow of marrying underage girls was also carried out by means of Rulon, and continued by Jeffs. How many wives did Rulon Jeffs have? Here's what we know.
(L-R): Rulon Jeffs and Warren Jeffs
How many wives did Rulon Jeffs have?
It's unclear how many wives Rulon Jeffs if truth be told had at the time of his loss of life, as the quantity changes relying on who you ask. According to his obituary that ran in The New York Times in September 2002, Rulon was "survived by 19 or 20 wives — no one could say for sure — about 60 children and hundreds of grandchildren."
In August 2011, the Daily Mail reported that of the 78 wives Warren Jeffs had at the time of his arrest, 29 of them have been married to his father first.
We're prone to consider Rebecca Wall, one of Rulon's wives/victims who in the Netflix collection claimed she used to be one of 65 wives. Rulon Jeffs used to be 93 years previous when he kicked the bucket.
Rulon Jeffs with some of his wives
These marriages had been non secular, no longer criminal.
In 1882, the Edmunds Anti-Polygamy Act was once handed and signed into regulation by means of then-president Chester A. Arthur. Under it, polygamy was once deemed unlawful and declared a prison. History.com studies that after it was passed, 1,three hundred men were imprisoned. Women were not arrested because they had been considered sufferers of their state of affairs, and rightfully so.
Because of this legislation, the a couple of marriages that passed off in the FLDS church have been considered non secular, not legal.
Alicia Rohbock, one Rulon's wives, spoke of his dining room in Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey. Photos of his wives have been proudly displayed in descending order of when Rulon married them. Every night time the wives needed to line up out of doors of Rulon's bedroom so they may take turns kissing him goodnight.
FLDS wives
For the Netflix collection, director Rachel Dretzin (Who Killed Malcolm X?) wanted to stay the center of attention on the girls who survived this abuse, choosing to additionally shine a mild on how they have got healed since leaving the church. "The women in our film managed to leave the FLDS with no real education or skills, no money, no support whatsoever. For their whole lives they had been valued solely as plural wives and as breeders of children," Rachel said in a statement, in step with Rolling Stone.
She went on to say, "To leave meant saying goodbye to everything and everyone they loved to start over in a society they didn’t understand. ‘Badass’ doesn’t begin to describe how fierce they are. I am proud to be connected to them and grateful to have had the opportunity to tell their story." And we in flip are grateful the story is out there.
Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey is lately streaming on Netflix.
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