A woman raised in a polygamous “cult” alongside 44 siblings and four mothers has shared the strict expectations that shaped her childhood.
Janet Z, born in 1994, spent her early years in a splinter group of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a community led by convicted sex offender Warren Jeffs.
She grew up in a large 13-bedroom, 15-bathroom house with her father, her mothers, and dozens of brothers and sisters, in an environment she says placed women beneath men.
Along with being instructed to dress “modestly,” Janet said she was taught that becoming a wife was something women should view as an honor rather than a choice.
“My whole life, I was raised that it was a privilege to marry a man as one of his wives.
“As a woman, you are treated like a second-class citizen.
“Some men are amazing, but some do not consider their wives’ emotions or how hard it is to raise their family with so many kids.
“The way the cult was set up is that your dad is your leader, and when you marry, your husband becomes your leader.”
Daily life was tightly structured for all 44 children. Janet said the day began with an 8am start, followed by an hour spent reading religious scripture.
Homeschooling then filled the rest of the day, covering subjects such as English, maths and history, before lessons ended at around 3.30pm.
“We had a very strict schedule with homeschooling; my biological mother would lead the lessons, and my sister would help out, too.
“In 2010, all of my younger siblings went to school because homeschooling was becoming too overwhelming with so many kids.
“I stayed home to help run the household and graduated from online school.”
As she got older, Janet said she began to see that the future she’d been promised didn’t match reality. At 20, she left the community to start over in Salt Lake City.
“A lot of my sisters had already married, so I was doing a lot of cooking, cleaning and helping raise my siblings,” Janet added.
“My dad was worried for me, he said he thought I was going to waste my life, and he didn’t know what was going to happen to me.”
Janet said life outside the group felt “freeing,” and she added that her biological mother later managed to leave too.
Her father, whom she remained in contact with, died in 2024.
“My mum still lives in the family home. She is living her life separately from the rest of the family, but still lives there.
“She realized she didn’t want to be told what to do all the time by men and decided to leave.”