A former Jehovah’s Witness has opened up about her family
Ohio native Vanessa recently appeared on the We’re All Insane podcast with its host Devorah Roloff.
The 46-year-old explained how she grew up as “one of seven children born to a brother and sister” – a fact that she found out when she was nine years old.
“I was in third grade. I didn’t really understand whether that was right or wrong. I didn’t know,” she said.
“My grandmother was happy that her children found somebody to love and it just kind of became normal.”
She explained how her parents married back in 1974, when her mother was 19 years old and her dad was 28.
“I guess back then they didn’t have to show a lot of ID. They had different last names. They did have different fathers…
“They swore under oath they were no close of kin than second cousin and they walked out with a marriage license.”
However, around the same time the pair joined the church, and their close relations caused tension among members.
“The entire congregation knew,” Vanessa explained in the clip that was shared on YouTube.
“I know people there didn’t like it but if you talk against a decision you’re going to get labeled an apostate so they kind of had to deal with it.”
In total, Vanessa’s mum had nine children, two of whom died.
She said that, of her siblings, ‘none of us really had any serious issues’ aside from one of her brothers who was born without a “properly structured urinary system” and a “dead kidney.”
“So my mother was pregnant by her brother a total of nine times – seven live births and two miscarriages – and still got to be a Jehovah Witness in good standing,” Vanessa shared.
“She wasn’t that motherly. I honestly don’t know why she wanted so many children,” she added.
