Kriti Mehrotra
With A&E’s Myles Reiff-directed ‘Secrets of Polygamy’ carefully exploring the dark side of several fundamentalist non-monogamous religious sects, we get a documentary series that is simply haunting. After all, it comprises in-depth interviews with ex-members and exclusive audio-video footage to really underscore the way these groups have the power to affect countless individuals for the worse. Amongst those to thus share his side of the story here is actually former FLDS member Brandon Seth Blackmore.
Who is Brandon Blackmore?
It was reportedly back in 1983 that Brandon was born to Brandon James Sr. and his third polyamorous wife, Emily Gail Blackmore, within the FLDS Church in Bountiful, British Colombia, Canada. The truth is Blackmores are the ones who’d founded Bountiful, but this community split in 2002 after self-proclaimed Prophet Warren Jeffs excommunicated their bishop, Winston Blackmore. He was the former’s uncle as well as the man who’d made him leave school long before graduation to work long hours every day for a group-owned log company for wages often amounting to only $1 an hour.
“We were building these log cabin kits for Warren Jeffs,” Brandon, a brother to 21 boys plus 16 girls, said in the original. “I ran a log lathe, so I was very involved with building all the log cabin kits.” However, everything changed for him in April 2008 when a raid of a Texas compound uncovered his missing sister — she’d disappeared in 2004 at age 13, and they were told she was on a mission. It turns out she’d actually been married off to their leader Warren the same day he’d tied the knot with his wife; this is also how he found out undera ge marriages were very prevelant in his sect.
“That immediately – – I now had proof positive in my mind I had been lied to,” Brandon candidly expressed in the production. “That was a very, very big deal to me. My foundation, which I thought was secure, wasn’t. That’s not why I worked my entire life… I don’t support this.” He hence began questioning many of his church’s practices before eventually reaching the conclusion it would be best for him to leave to experience the real world. He did so in 2012, just to soon meet Warren’s apostate daughter Rachel Jeffs through his brother (in around 2014) and fall utterly head over heels in love.
Brandon Blackmore is Focusing on Family Today
According to reports, Brandon has https://vancouversun.com/opinion/columnists/fighting-to-free-his-children-former-fundamentalist-mormon-speaks-outresided in several places over the years — Utah, Montana, as well as the Cranbrook area in British Columbia — yet his heart has belonged to Northern Idaho. He and Rachel apparently had their first date there at Mugsy’s Tavern & Grill, following which they stayed at the Log Inn, at which point he knew he wanted to settle down in this place for good. They did so in 2016; a year before they officially tied the knot, helped his parents be convicted of making his sister marry Warren at 13, plus publicly stated they wanted sole custody of his four kids.
“I never wanted to take them from [my ex-wife] Maria,” Brandon had said back then. “I wanted to accommodate them [Maria and the church] to some degree.” Yet once it became clear that they weren’t doing the same — they’d been skirting court orders or getting them overturned — he decided to come forward in the hopes of saving his impressionable youngsters from their religion. They were 12, 10, 8, and 6 at the time, and he was desperate to at least ensure their education: “I want them to have a choice — like I didn’t have — to pick and choose their careers and when they want to leave.”
But alas, it’s unclear whether Brandon has been able to achieve this goal. What we do know is that he has accomplished his professional aspirations — he wanted to become a police officer ever since he was a young boy, and now he is. This former devout FLDS member actually enrolled in the academy in 2017, only to graduate in December of the same year, serve at Boundary County Jail for a few months, and finally get an opportunity to evolve into a Bonners Ferry Police Officer in May 2018. From what we can tell, this happily married father — he now shares a son with Rachel too — holds the position to this day.
Read More: Where is Matt Browning Now?
