Inside The Fundamentalist Church of the Latter Day Saints

Legal Adult Women Are Also Forced Into Marriage

It’s not just children who are forced into marriage. Young women, who may be legally old enough to consent to marriage but are still teenagers, are often forced to marry much, much older men. For Brielle Decker, an activist who managed to escape from the FLDS five years ago, this meant committing to an elderly man who had dozens of wives. Decker said she was forced to marry 61-year-old Warren Jeffs. She became his 65th wife when she was just 18 years old. Decker hopes to buy Jeffs’ 41-room mansion and transform it into a place where those who escaped the faith can ease themselves into the mainstream world.