Richy Maria Jacob
When the world saw the polygamous nature of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints unfold, nobody really knew what they were in for. In a chain of spiritual exercises, leaders of this particular sect kept and propagated the practice of keeping teenagers as wives. The practice saw a major backlash when charges of sexual exploitation were slapped against Warren Jeffs, the leader of the group. As explored in NBC’s ‘Dateline: Unbreakable,’ this was around the same time his father’s once-wife Rebecca Musser came forward with some significant allegations against the group too.
Rebecca Musser Has Been One of the Loudest Voices Against FLDS
Rebecca Musser was married to Rulon Jeffs, Warren Jeffs’ father. She is one of the 70-something wives Jeffs is believed to have had. Living with other sister-wives, she faced her own set of traumas married to an 85-year-old man. Married at the age of 19, through a divine calling on Rulon Jeffs’ part, she underwent sexual abuse till he passed away in 2002. After this, she was married to Warren Jeffs in his ritual of marrying all of his father’s former wives. After being forced by Warren Jeffs to marry someone else, she ran away and started a new life. In an interview in 2013, she recollected her experience and said: “Warren came down very hard on me and said, I will break you. You will be married within one week. I begged him not to, and he said you know this is what God wants.”
Following her escape, Rebecca actually traveled to Oregon to live with her brother, only to then gradually adjust to the real world and build an entirely different life for herself. She has since narrated her experience through her book, ‘The Witness Wore Red: The 19th Wife Who Brought Polygamous Cult Leaders to Justice’ (published in 2013). She also gave one of the lead testimonials against Warren Jeffs, which became instrumental in his being sentenced to life in 2011. In addition, she was also the person who assisted the police raid in one of the FLDS camps. Post the trial; she was faced with some death threats, especially from members of the FLDS community, but she powered through.
Since then, she has been vocal about speaking against slavery, religious fundamentalism, and sexual exploitation of any kind. As a part of this, she went forward to create a non-profit organization called ClaimRED. It aspires to bring dignity and healing to victims of human trafficking. We should even mention she is the sister of Elissa Wall, who also escaped from the confinements of the community and wrote a book about her experience titled, ‘Stolen Innocence’ (2008). She was actually forced to marry her own cousin at the age of 14, so her traumas are different than Rebecca’s.
Rebecca Musser is a Devoted Activist and Mother
It was back in 2004 when Rebecca tied the knot with fellow former FLDS member Ben Musser in a cozy yet beautiful ceremony, following which they settled down in Oregon for good. So that’s where she also welcomed her two children into this world – son Kyle and daughter Natalia – before the couple ended up divorcing owing to some irreconcilable differences. So, despite her being a single mother as well as a survivor, she has managed to wonders in the activist industry by turning all her emotional pain into an unwavering passion and empathy for others.
In other words, Rebecca is not only a proud mother of two and a New York Times Best Selling Author but she is also a Public Speaker, Advocate for Human Rights, and a key witness in all of Warren Jeffs’ prosecutions. As for her personal life, her social media platforms make it evident that she is a devoted mother too – whenever possible, she makes sure to spend quality time with her children while also supporting them in their every endeavor. We should even mention she is now based in Idaho and has two dogs named Jaxe and Scarlet, with whom she often even celebrates events like National Dogs Day and Earth Day. She has since taken up activities like hiking and rock climbing too, which she enjoys not only in her base state but also in others to also fulfill her other interest of traveling.
Read More: Who is Warren Jeffs Now?
