Was I In A Cult? - The Cult of Warren Jeff’s FLDS: “Keep Sweet”

Episode Date: July 23, 2025

Before he was your favorite podcast host, Tyler Measom was… just a dude with a camera and a crush.It was 2005, and Tyler found himself driving deep into FLDS polygamist territory - with his co-director-slash-maybe-love-interest (hey, Jennilyn) - to make a documentary about the "Lost Boys" exiled from a fundamentalist Mormon cult run by none other than slimeball Warren Jeffs. That little film? Sons of Perdition premiered at Tribeca. And one of the mothers at the heart of that story? Jorjina Broadbent.This week, Jorjina, mother of twelve (yes, twelve), former sister-wife - joins us to recount what life was really like inside the FLDS: arranged marriage, relentless obedience, magical underwear, and raising a family in a trailer where babies sometimes had to sleep in drawers.And the escape is hair raising. And Tyler was there to capture it.This is Part One of Jorjina’s extraordinary story.___Follow Us for More Culty Content:Instagram & TikTok: @wasiinacultWATCH THE FILM:Sons of Perdition (Tyler’s baby)Stream on Amazon, Tubi, Apple TV, YouTube TV, Sling, PlexFREE for Patreon members!Support the Show:This show is listener-powered. If Jorjina’s story moved you - please rate, review, and share. Thank you to our Patreon members!! We appreciate you. And if you would like ad-free episodes and exclusive content, consider joining our Patreon.Share Your Story:Have a cultic experience of your own? We want to hear it.Email us at [e-mail] Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Agent Nate Russo returns in Oracle III, Murder at the Grandview, the latest installment of the gripping Audible original series. When a reunion at an abandoned island hotel turns deadly, Russo must untangle accident from murder. But beware, something sinister lurks in the Grandview shadows. Joshua Jackson delivers a bone-chilling performance in the supernatural thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series.

Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. The views, information, or opinions expressed by the guest appearing in this episode solely belong to the guest and do not represent or reflect the views or positions of the hosts, the show, Podcast One, this network, or any of their respective affiliates. O young people, eternity was within your reach if you will just live faithful so the Prophet can place you properly in marriage.

There are no monogamous in heaven. The men have many wives. And that is the way men become gods and their wives become heavenly mothers. But what happens to people that turn away from it? The Revelation says they will be destroyed. Welcome back everyone to Was I an Occult? I'm Liz Ayacuzzi. And I'm Tyler Meesum. And today is a bit of a personal episode from my co-host over there.

It sure is, Liz. This one hits a little close to home, right? So let me step back, way back, 2005. Let's all get in the time machine way back then, before TikTok, before Twerking, before Liz made me say millennial lines on this podcast, I was living in Salt Lake City. Before BBLs. Do you know what BBLs are? What, BBL? BBL.

BBL, boy, fan, lover? I'll let you fill that one in, Rob. That would be a Brazilian butt lift. A surgery to increase the size of your buttocks. Does insurance cover that? If you got a really flat ass, yeah. I think if you're on the Kardashian insurance plan, it's covered. You have to sit for a long time. It probably does. If you're a bus driver, it probably covers it.

Okay. Okay. I think it's covered in the new big beautiful bill. The BBB. Okay. So 2005, right? I'm living in Salt Lake City. I'm directing commercials, but I always wanted to be a filmmaker, ever since I was 10. However, I hadn't made a film yet. So, at the time, in the news, in Utah, and kind of nationally, there was a great deal

of talk about what they were calling the lost boys of polygamy. Now, these were essentially young boys that had been kicked out of their polygamist community of Colorado City, which is the headquarters of the Fundamentalist Latter-day Saints, the FLDS, where they practiced polygamy. They were kicked out because religious reasons? Well, religious reasons, but I mean, look, it's a very confining place to live in Colorado City.

These kids couldn't go to school, they couldn't read magazines, newspapers or books. They couldn't watch movies. They had to work construction sites. They had to wear long sleeves, pants and shirts all the time and part their hair the right way. You know, they didn't follow these rules. And they had to have 17 wives. No, the fathers did.

To get into heaven, you had to have multiple wives. And that's part of the reason why they kicked these boys out. Right. Yeah, they would say, well, you're breaking rules or you're not, you know, you're not obeying or as simple as you're not parting your hair the right way. So basically it was like the competition. Dad wants to marry Gina. So I have to go. It's simple math. If there's 50 percent men and 50 percent women, well, you have to get rid of some of the boys, right?

And so they would kick these kids out, 15, 16 years old, no experience with the outside world, kind of throw them to the curb and say, you're no longer a part of this community, you're no longer a part of this family, and you're going to hell. And they would send these boys out. And for two and a half years, me and another filmmaker named Jenni Lynn Merton, she wasn't a filmmaker, she was a writer. And yes, I was interested in her, of course.

I don't think anyone actually asked. I know, but I did need to say it, but you know, there's nothing wrong with that, right? So for years, Jenni Lynn and I followed three boys who had been kicked out of Colorado City. Did you guys date? Yeah, we did. Yeah, we did. And there's nothing wrong with that, right? So for years, Jenny Lin and I followed three boys who had been kicked out of Colorado City. Did you guys date? Yeah, we did.

Yeah, we did. Yeah. And we threw ourselves into this world of the FLDS. We went into places we never should have. We did crazy things. I got arrested by polygamous policemen. What do you mean arrested? I got arrested for misleading an officer.

Yeah, it's funny because I was one of the kids was speeding the polygamous kids and the cop was pestering me and I wouldn't tell him. And finally he arrested me because he thought I lied to him. And when I sat in his police car and on the dashboard, he had a picture. Now, this is a policeman in a city. He had a big picture of Warren Jeffs, who was the leader of the FLDS. Yeah. So there was no, you know, no real barrier between church and state there. Get used to that. So, yeah, we just kept shooting this movie.

We just kept financing it ourselves, bootstrapping this whole thing for a long time. And it did well. It did do well. In 2010, we premiered the film Sons of Perdition at the Tribeca Film Festival. And then it was bought by Oprah. It became part of the Oprah Documentary Club. Now, if you guys haven't seen this movie, you can go watch it before you listen to the episode. It might give you more insight to what you're about to hear, but you can also just watch

it after. There are a few links in our show notes about all the ways in which you can watch the movie. Sure. For a while it was on Netflix, but now it's on Amazon, it's on Tubi, it's in Sling, it's Apple TV, it's YouTube TV. It's kind of run all over the place. This is the one time I feel it's actually appropriate for you to plug one of your movies. Yeah, I'm gonna, I'm unabashed going to do it, this episode.

Today's guest, she was part of this story and part of your film. Her name is Georgina Broadbent and she is the mother of one of the three boys that Tyler followed for two and a half years. Meet Georgina Broadbent. I used to live in Colorado City and I fled the community back in 2007. Now yours is an interesting story because I was a part of your story. Yes, you were there when I first left. I got very close to your family for a long period of time. Yes.

It was a big part of my life. We also had some fun times afterwards. Yes, we did. We went to California. We went to New York We also had some fun times afterwards. We went to California. We went to New York. Yeah, we went to the Tribeca Film Festival and that was awesome. Yeah, you were a movie star. That was a good time. That was a good time. So tell me a little bit about where you're from. We had a 13-bedroom, 9-bathroom home in Riverton, Utah. I was in the FLDS, Fundamentalists Latter-day Saints. Yeah, my father was a polygamist, so he had two wives, my mother and my stepmom.

I got along really well with my father. I was six months old when he married my stepmom. I just grew up in it that way, and I figured, oh, okay. I guess this is what it is. Now, how many brothers and sisters did you have growing up? I have 22. 22? How? Why? How? Mostly how? How? Where in the fuck does everyone sleep and shit and I don't know. Your little non-Mormon brain can't comprehend such things. My mother had 11 children and my stepmom had 11 children. So yes, we had a lot of people in our home.

Can you rattle off the names of all of your brothers and sisters? Oh, let's see. Michael, Lyman, Merlin, Gawain, Spencer, me, Rochelle, Rebecca, Adriana, Jacob, Joseph, Nephi, Enique, Benjamin, Sarah, Sharon, Rulan, David and Lydia. We just all live together in a big, happy family. OK, Liz, your turn to name all your siblings.

Franny and David. That wasn't as fun. And we had a lot of property and all kinds of animals. We had fields of alfalfa that we'd run through and hide and play hide and seek at dark. We grew our own food. And we did a lot of fun things together as a family. Our stepmom was a school teacher.

She taught us a home school. I finished out school to eighth grade and that was it. My dad wanted us to still dress modest so he told us he wanted us to wear dresses over our jeans. But we didn't have to wear long, long dresses and we wore short sleeves and we wore swimming suits. We've dressed very moderate. My dad didn't make us put our hair up.

I had my hair cut for many years. What could you and couldn't you do growing up? Were you allowed to go to movies, watch TV, listen to music? Yes, every Christmas our dad would take us to the theater and we watched a Disney movie. I listened to all kinds of music when I was growing up. Abba was my favorite. It brings out lots of love in your heart. Before Tay and Bay, there was Ab favorite. It brings out lots of love in your heart. Before Tay and Bay, there was ABBA. ABBA. ABBA. I've always said ABBA. I've never said ABBA. Continue. Yeah, you were wrong. Yes, look, I talk about old white male music on this podcast every once in a while, but everybody loves ABBA. And ABBA is what happens when two couples form a band,

they conquer the world, then they divorce each other, and they keep writing songs about it in the same room with harmonies. Me, I love ABBA. I would never really tell someone they're wrong, but if you don't like ABBA, well then you're just wrong. Right. So ABBA, from Sweden, they won the Eurovision in 1974 with the song Waterloo.

Waterloo, good in this heat, but I wanna walk on water Which, I don't know, somehow made Napoleon sexy. And then they went on a pure, like, just Scandinavian domination. Hit after hit. Take a chance on me. Play it Rob. You can change your mind. I'm the first in line. Funny I'm still free. Take a chance on me.

Mamma Mia. Mamma Mia. Here I go again. My my. How can I resist you? Dancing Queen. My favorite. Gimme Gimme Gimme was a good one as well.

Fun fact guys, the name ABBA or ABBA, however you want to say it, is an acronym of their first names. Agnèsa, Bjorn, Benny and Anifred. So wait, you're telling me they got divorced while they were still in the band? They sure did. Agnatha and Bjorn were married, Benny and Anifred were married, and then at the peak of their success they got divorced. Bjorn wrote, The Winner Takes All. Play it, Rob. About their breakup.

And Agnatha sang it the year later. So, Knowing Me, Knowing You. Wow, those lyrics are different. But weirdly, Never Have Sad love songs made me want to get up and dance so badly. Yes. Gimme, gimme, gimme. Now, Abba, or Abba as Liz says it. Tomato, tomato, Abba, Abba. I know that there's not one British listener who is like it's Abba. They're like well toilet it's Abba. I listen

to Abba in my Jaguar. That's Rob by the way who chimes in every once in a while. If you don't know Rob, you're fired. Now Abba, they sold over 400 million records worldwide. Okay, I just looked it up. Sorry, this is a huge tangent, but now I'm down the rabbit hole. Agnetha and Bjorn divorced first, then a year later, or two years, I don't know, Benny and Anifred divorced in 1981. And then in 1982, Abba stopped touring and releasing music altogether. The final divorce, I guess, the band itself.

Yes, however, in the year 2000, they were offered by a consortium, a billion dollars. That's billion with a B to go on tour and they passed. I mean, each of the members is worth 400 million. And so they turned it down. But you can also see the hologram ABBA band, by the way, if you wanna go see them live. I turned you into an ABBA-sayer.

That's ABBA, I'm still gonna say ABBA. I went down an unnecessary hour long wormhole about the four of them and what happened with their Love Lives post band, which sadly we don't have time for, but it is quite fascinating. I highly recommend you guys do the same. So Georgina, she may have been a dancing queen to ABBA songs about love and heartbreak, but we weren't allowed to be alone with boys. We weren't allowed to date. No, we were just supposed to keep our virtue.

I knew what periods were. I knew what a little bit of sex was. I'd looked at magazines and read about a few things, but that was about it. Well, my mom taught us how to cook and clean and what to do if we ever got married and how to take care of ourselves. My dad taught us that we were to be obedient to our husbands and do what they asked us to do.

Exactly how I'm raising my son actually, to be obedient to his wife and cook and clean the motherfucking house, kid. Happy wife, happy life. Don't they say it? I think it was 1980 or 1981. I was 18 at the time. So one night my father said that he wanted me to come with him and we would drive up to Leroy Johnson's house. Leroy Johnson was the leader slash prophet of the FLDS church at the time.

He came into power around 1954. And then when we got there, he told Uncle Leroy Johnson how good of a girl I was. I was obedient. I did what I was told. And he just said, well, I guess I'll need to find you a very special guy. And I told him I didn't want to marry an older guy. I said, I want to marry somebody that's my age. And he says, well, I'll consider it.

A month later, so my father got a phone call saying that there was someone coming over to the house to meet me So I answered the door and I opened it and he says oh you must be the one What is your name? I'm like what? Nobody even told you what my name was so I told him what my name was and then he told me his name was James He was 21 I would say he was handsome. He was 510 and he had braces. He was very skinny So I'm like, well, I guess that'll do I didn't know what to expect Nothing hotter than a skinny 21 year old dude with braces and no job

Sexy, I have 22 kids. I can job. Sexy. Wanna have 22 kids? I can't wait. They didn't have 22 kids. They only had 12. So. Only 12. It's a weekend. We sat down in the living room

and my mom and dad came down and we visited and talked for a few minutes. And then he came down into my bedroom and I had a big poster of Abba on the wall. And he goes, wow. And then he left and then we spent the whole next week getting our blood tests done, our birth certificates and different things like that that we were supposed to do. We just both went together in his car and started getting to know each other a little bit. He grew up in a huge family too, so he had a lot of brothers and sisters and many mothers. We held hands and we kissed. It was amazing because I'd never expected

anything like that before. I got to like him. I think I actually ended up getting to love him down the road, but then it got really hard. Different things that come up. But then it got really hard. Different things that come up. All right, question. Why do men run like 20 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than the rest of us? Yeah, I don't know. And why are women so cold all the time? Why do you have to wear sweaters in the movie theater in June?

I don't understand it. I don't know what's going on inside our men's bodies, but I'm used to waking up feeling like I slept inside a Dutch oven. My husband too. Summer hits. And suddenly our bed feels like a steam room. Yeah. So we finally got bowling branches per kale sheets. And I'm telling you, we did love them game changer. These are not your average sheets guys. They're made from a hundred percent organic cotton and woven in a way that actually makes them feel cool. not just light,

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It's a great deal. Limited time only. Exclusions do apply. Ah, young forced love. Georgina had to move fast. Yeah, we got married in a week and we went down to Colorado City to get married by the prophet. Oh, I was so nervous. My mother was there, my stepmom was there, my dad was there. We just stood by each other and then he had us hold our hands in a certain way. And then he said

all the things that they say, but it's reworded for our religion. It talks more something about that the wife will obey everything that her husband wants her to do and be submissive. Wait, hold on. I'm taking notes for my son's future wedding. Continue. Everything is what the wife is supposed to do for her husband. I'm like, okay, I guess that's what's supposed to do. And he said, go ahead and multiply and replenish the earth. And then we said, I do. And then we kissed and then I sat and cried because it was just really weird. It was a whole new step for me in life that I was moving forward.

I was moving out of the family and I was moving away from my family, me coming apart, his family. But I was moving forward, I was moving out of the family, and I was moving away from my family, me coming apart his family. But I was happy with it. I was happy with him. Then what happens? There's a honeymoon? We went to Lava Hot Springs, and I did not like it because it was so hot.

So I dipped my feet in, got right back out, and he goes, do you not like this? And I said, it's way too hot. Tucked into the southeastern corner of Idaho, yes, Udaho, Tyler, sorry. So stupid. Tucked into the southeastern corner of Idaho, there's this little magical town called Lava Hot Springs.

It's basically a spa built on natural geothermal hot springs where the natural hot springs, how many times can I say hot springs in one sentence? You can throw another one in. The natural hot springs sit around a 112 degrees Fahrenheit. That's 44 degrees Celsius for anyone outside the dumb United States who thought it was cute to be different and wildly dumb. And the metric system, we are long overdue to jump ship

to the metric system. But how else would I measure my ex-boyfriend's penis if I didn't know the inches? It doesn't matter how many centimeters you say it is, it sounds small. That's right. It's bigger in inches. It's always bigger in inches.

And that's why we keep it. I think we ended up just going back to the motel room and we sat and talked and visited and learned about each other and what was expected of me. And what was that? Are you listening, son? Uh, Liz, your son is three. And Dr. Nate early, Tyler, come on, you know that. To be a good wife, to be a good mother. He asked me how many children I wanted, and I told him I only wanted

six. And he says, well, you're not the one that's going to decide how many children you have. And I says, oh, yes, I am. It's going to be my body, and I'm going to decide how many children I want. He says, no, you're going to have as many children as the Lord wants to give you. I ended up having 12, and I love every one of them. They're just beautiful souls. Nat. What about consummating the marriage? What happened? James. I didn't know what was going to happen. We just got in bed and, I don't know, it was just weird. It did hurt. He said, did I hurt you? And I said, yeah, that hurt. He said,

well, it was supposed to get better. Nat. Thanks for mansplaining how my body is supposed to feel, James. James. So I guess his father explained to him what he was supposed to do and all that stuff, but I had no idea what it was. I guess that was what he was supposed to do and all that stuff, but I had no idea what it was. I guess that was what it was supposed to be like. It was supposed to just get on, get off, whatever, and be done. It's not supposed to be enjoyment.

It's supposed to be to have children, and that's about it. So let me get this straight. Mormon women are raised to be obedient, stay fertile, and moo when they're happy. He really didn't have a job. His father and all his brothers were doing amway at the time. Cults working in cults. And then I said, this isn't really bringing in any kind of income.

How are we going to survive and live? And we got us our own apartment, and then he started working for this trucking company. And then he was bringing in an income. But we saved up money for probably the next couple of years so we could buy us some property down in Colorado City and start building a home. And then that's where we were told to find us a place to live and live down there. Now, we could explain a bit about the FLDS and polygamy, but Tyler did make an entire

movie about it. So we're just going to let his hard work explain it for us. Sure. This particular scene in the film, Sons of Perdition, is where we have someone explain the community while he was spackling a garage. He's writing on the walls with a pencil to describe what he is saying. Sexy. My name's Kevin. I've been out of Colorado City now for close to 11 years.

They practiced polygamy there. It came about in 1890 they made polygamy illegal in the Mormon Church. And a group of them, the group that I was raised with, or in, moved to the Short Creek area, or also known as Colorado City, and started their own religion. They call themselves the F-L-D-S, which stands for fundamental Latter-day Saints. They believe that polygamy was never supposed to be outlawed, and they live it no matter what the consequence. You're hired, Kevin.

To explain or to spackle your garage list? All of the above. Just so you know, the town of Colorado City was originally called Short Creek, but the locals still call it the Crick, as in going down to the Crick. So you finally moved down to Colorado City. Yes, we were living in a piece of shit trailer. All broken windows, all broken pipes. And then his brothers and his father pitched in and got all new windows and got the plumbing

all fixed. But it was a piece of crap is what it was. It was a run down piece of garbage, but it was home. And I got to make my own curtains for the kitchen and for the dining room, then I made the place really nice, even though when it rained, it would leak on the top of our bed. And when Sabrina was born, we had to keep her away from the water that dripped from the ceiling. So she slept in a drawer in our dresser. Okay, so now you've probably seen pictures and video of polygamists in their long dresses, their hair up high.

That is typical of the FLDS. And like the Mormons, the FLDS wore magical underwear. Oh, yes, magical underwear. I know it has been a long time since we have spoken about... So long. Two minutes to be exact. Magic Mormon underwear. But the FLDS, well, they have underwear that's even more magical. So magical it could fly.

But only with your husband's permission, of course. We made our own underwear. It went to your wrists and up to your neck, base of your neck, to your ankles. And it had snaps that went from the crotch all the way up to the front right here. And then we wore a slip, and then we wore pantyhose, and then we wore leggings, and then we wore our dress. And during the summer, it was very hot. When did you have to stop listening to ABBA, most importantly?

Yes, after I got married. My husband took all my records, all my cassettes, and smashed them all and threw it in a big dumpster right there where we lived in our apartments. And so I had a radio. So when he was gone during the day, I turned it on and I listened to my music. He never knew. Nat. What did you think of people on the outside? Mary. I thought they were different because they dress different, they look different, and we were told they were evil people

and we weren't supposed to associate with them or not even smile at them or anything so we never did. All right so while we were filming this movie we would often drive down to Colorado City and it's right on the border of Utah and Arizona now it is a stunningly beautiful spot tucked in under a red cliff mountain in the background. There's miles of empty desert surrounding this small town. But the town itself is very creepy. It's filled with empty rundown houses. There's quiet streets and there's only white trucks and white vans in the community. Warren Jess wouldn't allow any other color. Just to look as pedophilic as possible.

Yeah, exactly. Well, they didn't have much color or anything different. In fact, at one point, Warren Jeffs outlawed the color red for some reason, just because apparently Jesus, when he comes back, he's going to be wearing red. And I guess you couldn't wear red because you didn't want to show him up. But I would drive down to Colorado City, me and Jenny Lynn, and I had a tan Volvo at the time and I had an Obama sticker on the bumper. And immediately coming into this community, I'd get followed, I'd get harassed. They'd put out an alert that I'm in town and the streets would clear out. And they did not like me and my movie. In fact, as I mentioned earlier, I got arrested by a polygamous policeman.

So a lot of crazy adventures there in Colorado City. You were like, yes, we can. And they were like, no, you can't. Obama. So after Leroy Johnson died in 1986, 77 year old Rulon Jeffs took it over that same year. Rulon had been part of Johnson's inner circle and was a trusted insider. And he pushed even more extreme patriarchal views. I would say there was like 3,500 people there at the time. I would say there was like 3,500 people there at the time. In 2000 or 2001, when Rulan died and Warren took over, is when he wanted all the people

that lived in Salt Lake and all the surrounding areas was to all move to Colorado City so he could control them more. Now that's Warren Jeffs, whose Rulan son. He took over in 2002 when his father died at 92 years old. So let's say if Rulon enforced obedience, well, Warren, he escalated everything to the next level. And Warren was 46 years old when he became prophet. So then we ended up having more like 6,500 people that lived down there.

Then he took over and he said, I'm going to be like Hitler. I'm going to erase all the evil people that are out there. He actually said, I'm going to be like Hitler. Yeah, and I'm going to erase and eradicate all the evil people out there. And he wasn't talking about all the people that live out here. He was talking about how he was going to control all of the people in the community to do exactly as he wants them to do.

Because he said, I'm going to be God. I believe that's what was going to happen. Warren Jeffs, the current prophet, has over 80 wives. He was slowly turning things from a religious place to more of a cult. No more public gatherings, not even church. When Warren Jeffs took over, he ordered all the elders to take all their kids out of public schools.

Boys are sent out to work on construction sites at a very young age. There was really no recreations left. No TV, no bicycling, no sports. You can't read magazines or newspapers or books. Zero dating, absolutely no connection of any kind. When you're ready and chosen to be married, you are given the person that they see fit.

That's when I started noticing different things, when stuff like that was changing. And we went to church every Sunday when we did exactly as we were told to do I believe this is how the world was supposed to be Did you meet Warren? Yes. He always seemed creepy to me whenever he'd sit down or shake his hand It was always slimy and I did not have a good feeling I mean I did at first slimy and I did not have a good feeling. I mean, I did it first because he was the prophet and I was excited to see him when I did see him, but when things started getting different

and difficult is when I didn't want to even be around him anymore. All right. So while making this film, I was able to access some pretty crazy materials, right? Archival materials, photos, videos, and frankly some downright heartbreaking photos of Warren Jeffs with young ladies. This guy is a sick fucking bastard, like a truly one-of-a-kind pedophile. Yeah, he really is, and more on that later of course, but also, like many cult leaders, oddly enough, Warren Jeffs, well, he fancied himself a singer. What's up with all of these cult leaders who want to be singers? Manson, Mel Lyman, David Crash, Jim Jones, Father Yod.

I mean, Marcus Mumford, the lead singer of Mumford and Sons. Do not you dare bring Marcus into this, Tyler. So anyways, Warren was a unique guy, right? So what he would do is he tighten the screws in this community and he would say, you cannot listen to any other music. Outside music is evil. It's bad. It will corrupt you. But at the same time, he said, you can only listen to my sermons and my music.

So one day while I was filming the boys, these kids who had been kicked out of polygamy, they said, you know, Warren is actually a really good songwriter. And I said, no, he's not. He can't be a good songwriter. And they go, no, he's a really good songwriter. He's a really good songwriter. And they popped in a cassette tape of Warren singing. And mind you, he said, don't listen to any music from the outside. It's evil.

Okay. And they popped in a tape and this, this is what played. Stop it. This is a Warren Jeffs original. Stop it. Shh. How many roads have you walked down? Yeah.

Yes. Stop it. Before you call him a man? He claimed he wrote this? Yeah, this is Bob Dylan, Blowing in the Wind. This is one of the greatest songs of all time. And the boys thought Warren Jeffs wrote this? Well, this is Bob Dylan, Blowing in the Wind. This is one of the greatest songs of all time. Warren Chefs wrote this. Well, why wouldn't they? They didn't know any different.

They hadn't heard Bob Dylan. And this is just one of them. He covered Gordon Lightfoot. He did Wildfire. He covered Springsteen, for God's sakes. Like he was covering all these bands saying, don't listen to outside music, just listen to me. Meanwhile, he's doing blowing in the wind.

He just took psychopath to the next level. And the fact that this community was that controlled that didn't even know blowing in the wind. Yeah. What was next? Hey Jude. We will put this entire song on Patreon for you folks to listen to and rock out to. The Warren Jeffs cover.

No, Bob Dylan covered Warren Jeffs. Oh, I'm sorry. You're right. Yes, of course. But yet, in addition to covering some of the greatest songs of all time. He also would write other songs like this one. Suzanne plays the piano to one of those songs, and we sing it. It's called Keep Sweet. Keep sweet, feel sweet. Sweet no matter what,

which means that we weren't to have any bad feelings towards another person. You weren't supposed to get angry. You weren't supposed to lose your temper and just be happy all the time. I'm also happy all the time. We'll be right back. Keeping sweet, Liz. Keep sweet. If you sigh

So recently I've been trying to be more intentional about what I buy. Like fewer trendy impulse buys and more just quality good staples. And honestly, Quince is where I find most of them. And I love Quince. You guys know we love Quince. We've talked about Quince for a while on this show. I recently just got this beautiful linen dress, the kind that, I don't know what it is, it would easily be like 200 to $300 anywhere else, and it was 79 bucks.

I also grabbed a cotton gauze maxi dress that was only 50 bucks, and it's quality. I got a bunch of easy summer tees and tanks. Everything feels really well-made. It's like a timeless style that I can keep reaching for. And the best part, Quince works directly with top artisans and cuts out the middlemen, which is why you're getting luxury pieces without luxury markup. Everything is basically half the cost of similar brands. And it's all ethically made, which I love even more. So you listeners give your summer closet an upgrade with Quince. Go to quince.com slash cult for free shipping on your orders and 365 day returns.

That's Q-U-I-N-C-E dot com slash cult to get free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince dot com slash cult. Don't forget the slash cult. So did you know that Bjorn... No, wait, wait, wait. Are you literally looking this up right now? During the break, which isn't a real live break, but Liz literally used that 20 second pause we take.

Did you know Bjorn got remarried? Editor's note. Sorry to have to cut in here, but Liz spent about an hour and a half of our precious recording time reading the entire Wikipedia article about ABBA. So I'm gonna spare you from having to listen to that totally off-topic content. Actually, hold up, wait, let's just listen to

Gimme Gimme Gimme a little bit longer. ["Gimme Gimme Gimme a Little Bit Longer"] a little bit longer. Let's give you a taste of what you're missing. So the band breaks up. What did I say? Eighty two. Eighty two. He remarries right away to this music journalist, Lena. I can't pronounce her last name, I'm not going to try.

They have two daughters together apparently. They're married for 41 years. Okay. Then in like 2021, he marries this chicky babe named... What's her name? Is it Swedish? So it sounds like an Ikea cabinet or something. I told you you weren't missing out on anything.

Let's cut right to the end. Can you hear the bells, Fernando? That's what I always say. Well thank you, Liz, for continuing that wormhole of the marital status of the members of ABBA. Thank you. I'm here for it and I'm here for you guys. There are no Fleetwood Mac, but... Oh my god, Fleetwood Mac will be a whole other episode of ABBA. Thank you. I'm here for it and I'm here for you guys. There are no Fleetwood Mac, but- Oh my God, Fleetwood Mac will be a whole other episode of breakups, get togethers, secret affairs.

I immediately realized that I made a mistake basically prompting Tyler, but you can't get the toothpaste back in the tube because he decided to, without the help of a Wikipedia page, talk about Fleetwood Mac for about an hour and a half of our precious recording time. Let's just skip right by that one. So Georgina, she is making a family. We built our own home. It was a three-bedroom, two-bath.

So we had plenty of room for a few years. How many more children? I had Sabrina, then Suzanne. I had Jimmy, Nathan, and and Joe and then Hillary and Russell. Philip was my sixth baby. William was my last baby and I was 45 at that time. I love it. She got exhausted just naming her kids. I feel you, mama. I feel you. Yeah, that's a lot. That's a lot. She didn't even get them all out. Doesn't she have 12?

She had more after that. Yeah There's she skipped. She's sorry to the middle few She actually didn't include a few kids in there. She's too tired. I I feel it. I feel her right but then one fine day after giving many children and many years of marriage, obedient marriage no less to James. He says, I'll be back in a little bit. And he wanted me to get his suit all cleaned and ready for him. And I'm like, I'm wondering if he's getting a second wife.

OK. So he left and he came back and brought her. And she was so pretty. Her name was Rachel. She was 24 and he was 50 something. Yeah. Yeah. I'll be back usually implies a run to get some eggs and butter, not a 24 year old wife. But hey, I got to go get some eggs and butter. I can't afford eggs or a 24 year old wife. And how did you feel about it when she came in?

I loved it. It was awesome because when my mom and moms were growing up, they couldn't stand each other. And I told myself that if I ever got a second wife, I was going to treat her like I wanted to be treated. So we became very best friends and we did everything together. We sewed. She was an excellent seamstress. She didn't know how to cook worth a damn, but I taught her. She didn't know how to do her wash, so I taught her that. She taught me how to sew.

Nat. So were you at the wedding ceremony? Mary Ann Yes. So there was actually four other marriages going on that day. There was a good two or three hundred people there of all their families that were getting married and they did it exactly the same As when I got married say yes, you're gonna be obedient to your husband and do everything You were told to do the submissive and no talking back no doing what you shouldn't do so part of the trove of materials we went through when making the film were hundreds of hours

of Warren Jeff's sermons on tape, which was the only thing that the members could listen to. Well, in addition to his greatest hits, albums, which includes The Sound of Silence. Of course, Born to Run. Fire and Rain. American Pie. Cats in the Cradle. September.

Suzanne. Rich Girl. All of those. Every single... All of those written by Warren Jeffs himself. But Warren in these sermons, he certainly had that monotone, slow, hypnotizing pattern of speech. And we put a few moments of the sermon in the film. Many a young lady gets married thinking her husband should submit to her will and wishes. But a woman's duty is to bless her husband every moment of her life.

How does a woman try to rule over her husband? What tools does she use? I'll call them tools of the devil that she calls forth, complaining, criticism, jealousy. It is a woman's innocence and obedience that has power with her husband. When other sister wives are griping and complaining, she will say, Well, let's just obey and do what father wants. Did you get that? That's really helpful because I've actually been practicing for my son's wedding toast and, uh... Yeah, do it, Liz.

Let me know what you think. Please. And, uh... Yeah, do it, Liz. Let me know what you think. Please. What tools does he use? I'll call them tools of the devil, complaining, criticism, jealousy. It is a man's innocence and obedience that has power with his wife. When other brother husbands are griping and complaining, he will say, well, let's just obey and do what Mommy wants us to.

Did you get that? Now, if only you could cover Born in the USA, Liz. Oh, I wrote, I actually wrote that song. You would be the cult leader I would follow. Did they go away on a honeymoon? They did, but what was interesting is they left. About an hour later, he calls me and says, I forgot my shaving kit. So I drove down to the gas station there, dropped it off.

And he says, I don't know what I'm doing. I'm kind of, I said, just relax, just go and enjoy yourself. And those two knew so much about each other more than me and him did when we got married. She would bend over backwards to make everything perfect for him. But I got tired of doing all that for him. Hey, when you put it that way, I totally feel you, Georgina. I totally get it, Georgina. Let the second lady come in.

Let the substitute come in and do the hard work. I'm going on vacation. I'm gonna go have sex with a hot, young Costa Rican. I did talk to some people about how sex is handled in polygamous communities and polygamous families, right? So just so you know, like when a man has four or five wives, he would spend one night a week with each of these wives, right? Right, so you have to schedule it, just like monogamous people. Which is once a month. On Tuesdays.

But you know, so a man would have to have, would sleep with a woman once a week, right? And a woman would obviously want to have sex that once a week. But the man, because he has five wives, he had to do it every single night. So it's not as easy as you think, this polygamy guy, it's not as easy as you think. Poor man. Poor man. He was in construction. He had a business and they did underground water sewer systems. But he gave a lot of his money away to Warren Jeff, so it made me very upset because I'd go to ask him for some clothes or personal things or material so I could sell the girls some dresses or make some clothes.

And he says, well, I don't have very much money. And I says, you just barely got a whole bunch of money from a big old job. He says, well, I can give you some. So he'd give me like $150 and that's supposed to take care of all the children, which doesn't. So we just did what we had to do. So one of Georgina's daughters, she's cute, she's blonde, she's smiley, she's a firecracker named Suzanne. And she's also featured in the film. And Warren Jeffs wrote a song about her called Cecilia. Talk a little bit about Suzanne.

Suzanne is a mini version of me. She is a very outgoing, outspoken person. She didn't put up with people's crap. She was a tomboy. She was like me growing up. I was a tomboy. Her and Sabrina me growing up. I was a tomboy. Her and Sabrina both were hit on by a lot of boys. Yeah, Sabrina was 17 when she got married and she had four children in four years.

That Suzanne, she got older and she noticed that things weren't the same. Things started getting more restricted to her. She couldn't go out anymore. And so she'd sneak out at night. She wanted friends. She wanted to her. She couldn't go out anymore and so she'd sneak out at night. She wanted friends, she wanted to expand. She didn't like how Sabrina was home all the time with either pregnant or nursing or baby and she just like, no, there's got to be more out there.

I probably have six kids right now, I wouldn't doubt it. Because for almost two and a half years while I was out there, those two and a half years, father freaking hounded me to get married. I'm like, freaking hounded me to get married. I'm like, I don't want to get married. He's like, yeah, you're not going to be living here under my roof forever. I'm like, I don't plan to. He never thought that I'd leave until one day I just left for a whole week. I think she finally told Megan and Brigham that she wanted to get out.

And who were Megan and Brigham? Megan was her best friend, lived down there in the creek, and Brigham was her husband. Both of them were out of the religion. They were, I think, living in St. George. This is Megan and she makes an appearance in the film a few times. I know there are a lot of names to remember. We had guards around our house and every time you leave, then you had to stop and tell them exactly where you were going. If they didn't believe you they'd get in their car and follow you through town. So we were at Thanksgiving dinner and Suzanne asked James if she could go home and change out of her dress so she could go play football. She called Megan and Brigham and they come and picked her up right outside

Colorado City, right out on the highway there. And that's the day she'd escaped. Nat. When did you find out about that? Julie. An hour later. Jimmy came back to where we were having Thanksgiving and James looks around and he says, where's Suzanne? He was supposed to stall until she got Claire away, which he did. He stalled for a couple hours. By then she was cleared down and into St. George's where no one could find her. I'm like, what? What? How did you feel?

Well, it's sad because I wondered why she left. If I'd done something wrong, why she left? Because he told me that anything bad happens to the children is mother's fault. But if good things happen, it's the father's praise and glory. Because we were taught that they were going to partake of all the evils in the world, and it's scary, scary to think that you did something wrong, that all your children are going to go to hell. James and his brother and a bunch of his brothers all started on the rampage of trying to look

for her and find her. But she didn't want to come home. She says, no, I don't want to go home. There's nothing there. I want to get out. I want to do something with my life. The only reason why they kept trying to get her back is because Warren says she was a precious gem.

She says, Anne didn't want that. For a whole week, every damn night, he tried coming down and getting me. He succeeded five times. They treasure the girls. The father always told me when I was growing up that girls are precious gems in the eyes of God. They didn't keep tabs on the boys at all. The girls were always in there like sewing or cooking. Tending the kids. You know, sewing.

Hi, I'm Jessi Prey and I'm Andi Cassette. Welcome to Love Murder, where we unravel the darkest tales of romance turned deadly. Our episodes are long-form, narrative-driven, and deeply researched, perfect for the true crime aficionados seeking stories beyond the headlines. Like the chilling case of Blanche Taylor Moore, the so-called Black Widow who left a trail of poisoned lovers. Or the shocking murders of Chad Shelton and Dwayne Johnson, where family ties masked a sinister plot. Subscribe to Love Murder on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.

So Suzanne, she was the first of Georgina's kids to leave the community. And then came Jimmy. Jimmy just ended up getting a wheelbarrow and filling it full of stuff and disappeared. Nobody had heard from him. It was winter and I had no idea what happened. He was frozen somewhere on the side of the road. James heard from him a couple weeks later saying, I'm okay, I'm in Vegas. I got me a job. So he wasn't allowed to come back. None of the boys were allowed to come back but only the girls because the girls would be married so they didn't want any of the boys to come back because the boys would be the ones that married the all the girls and Warren

didn't want competition. So another one of Georgina's children was Joe he was one of the main characters in the film. Cute blonde smiley firecracker named Joe. He was one of the main characters in the film. Cute, blonde, smiley, firecracker named Joe. He is actually, he's a hell raiser. Tell me a little bit about when Joe left. Don, which was Suzanne's husband, he came out of the house and he picked up Joe and left. I'm Joseph Broadbent. I have two moms, I have 21 siblings,

and I ran away Broadbent. I have two moms. I have 21 siblings. And I ran away from Colorado City. Gathered up my stuff and two wheelbarrows, brought them out there to the truck. Loaded them in and I was like, go, go, go. We're left. Out there, we are so crammed into this little piece of earth that I thought that that was earth. And once we leave and we see the whole world, what do you say to that?

Did he tell you he was going to leave? No. None of them did. They just got a hold of friends and their own brothers and sisters and like, we want to get out of here. We want to go away. They were tired of church, tired of always on Saturday projects where they were with their dad all the time. And James had a very bad temper. One of the kids, if they'd left their bike out and he'd kick their butts, if they'd left a rake out, then kick their butts.

I mean, he threw Joe down the stairs one time. He was six years old because he'd left his bike out or left one of the tools out. And I couldn't say anything about it or do anything about it. Moms don't have opinions. Moms don't have anything they can say. They can't go comfort their children if they get hurt.

Yeah, there's a great scene in the film, of course, of Joe talking about that. Yeah. Out there Warren says straighten your sons up to get all the evil out of your house. I got thrown around in Dad's office. He just threw me around just, oh my God. He never would just sit down and talk. He just beat the shit out of the kids.

One time he slapped me so damn many times I peed my pants. One of the reasons why I left is I didn't want to have Warren take Dad's family away. I got caught like six or seven times with movies and music and if I would have stayed, it would have tore our family apart, you know? Warren would have took Mother away and married her off to some other sickening-ass bastard. One of the best things that could happen to me right now is to have mother leave.

Just having her live out here and just be herself. It says, Mom, one of these days I'll come back and get you. I'm like, oh, I wouldn't even think of that. That's the most horrible thing to think about, wanting to leave and take your children with you. I thought that was horrible But I was very obedient. I I did everything he told me to do so we were happy Were you no, I? Was putting on a front because I just did it to please him But really deep down inside I wasn't

very happy. My mom could tell. She says, no, you've got to get past those feelings. You cannot have feelings. You got to do exactly and do everything you are taught to do. That's why this is our religion. So I just did it. What would have been an alternative? There was no alternative. You can't ever get a divorce. You can't ever leave. You are a prisoner. You were supposed to pray and be obedient, and I guess that's what it was supposed to do. So this is just part one of Georgina's story.

Yeah, you've heard about her childhood, her marriage, her kids and what it was like living under Warren Jeff's version of heaven on earth. But next week, we get into the breaking free, where we hear the numerous, incredible escape attempts of Georgina and her family. And they are like a Tom Cruise thriller. Kind of are. It's pretty badass. Stuff's pretty badass. I turned off my phone because I didn't want James to find me or know where I was. But I remember I was so freaking scared.

Because I felt like he'd threatened so many times to take my kids away. If I ever tried to leave. So I figured he'd probably gonna find me, take my kids away from me. We stayed there for that night at Suzanne's and the next morning I turned my phone back on and James had my phone already. He had a tracer thing on it so he knew exactly where I was. So I've seen Sunturbedition. It was the first thing I watched of Tyler's work. And it is the reason he's here today, guys, because if I hated that movie, I would have never worked with you, Tyler. Yeah. If you could only turn back the hands of time.

True. No, I did love this movie. I was very impressed. It's very moving. It's like you said, it's guttural, it's visceral, it's guerrilla style filmmaking, and it's great. So we have the links in our show notes. You can stream it on Amazon, Tubi, Plex, whatever that is, YouTube TV. Or you can buy it on Apple TV, and yes, Tyler will make a few cents.

Yeah, and Apple can make some money because they need it, they're hurting, right? They really do. Yeah, they really do. But our Patreon members, well, they can watch it for free. It's up there right now. Go ahead and enjoy it. Was I in a cult? Was I in a cult? This is me doing it. Was I in a cult? I actually wrote this. He's taking credit, but I wrote all. You are the Warren Jeffs to my Bob Dylan. Yes, yeah, you wrote it.

But I'm claiming. I'm claiming. Was I in a cult is written, hosted, and produced by Warren Jeffs. And that's it. He's responsible for everything you heard today. No, it was written, hosted, and produced by Liz Danson, Queen Ayacuzzi. And Tyler, can you hear the bells, Fernando? Me some?

I can, I can. And Rob, money, money, money, para. And Greta S.O.S. Stromquist, which is what she says every time she has to work with us. Also, Sons of Perdition was directed by me and Jennie Lynn Merton. It was produced by Julie Goldman, the very talented musician Mark Gehry wrote the music, many of which you can hear throughout this episode. He also has some great albums, my favorite being called Opium is the name of his album. So what happened to Jennie Lynn?

We went on the ABBA post-divorce, but you guys dated and then what happened? We dated, it didn't work out. It didn't work out. And that's okay, we're still great friends. We made a wonderful movie together, we had a great time. We were really close and we created something magical. What happened? Just, you know, things don't work out, Liz.

She said, if you're not going to give me 11 kids, it's over. We just didn't work. It didn't work. She broke up with you. It didn't work. She will always have an important part of my life. She wasn't as obedient as you wanted her to be. No, she wasn't an obedient wife.

She did not keep sweet. She was not as sweet as I'd like. And real quick, did you know that... Oh, no more Abba. No more Abba, Liz. And names and friends. No, no, no more. No more.

Before we leave, we'll send you off with a little quote from our favorite prophet of doom. And pedophile. I love you. I love you for what you can become. You can become like God. Have a wonderful keepsweet day. All summer long with movies like Gladiator, Mission Impossible, Beverly Hills Cop, Good Burger, and Transformers Dark of the Moon.

Bring the action with you and stream for free from all your favorite devices. Pluto TV. Stream now. Pay never.