A woman who was raised in an incestuous polygamous cult has candidly laid bare the horrific abuse she endured at the hands of her own husband.
Shanell Snow Derieux appeared on a recent episode of the Cults To Consciousness podcast alongside host Shelise Ann Sola.
She revealed how she grew up in Utah as a member of The Order – a cult that decided to branch off from the original Mormon church when the mainstream religion ceased practicing polygamy.
Shanell said she was coerced into marrying her own cousin at just 18 who became verbally, physically and sexually abusive before she ultimately broke away.
In the podcast, Shanell revealed that she could have up to 200 siblings after losing count at 163.
The cult promotes incest in a bid to keep bloodlines ‘pure’ with the aim being to have as many children as possible.
Shanell said that they forced members to marry early to ‘lock you in as young as they possibly can to make it harder for you in the future if you did try to leave.’
Her father John Daniel Kingston – known as Daniel – married 14 women, four of which were his half-sisters, with others being his cousins.
Asked why The Order continues to be incestuous, even with the latest generations, Shanell said: ‘I honestly don’t know why they believe this but they believe that they are direct descendants from Jesus Christ and that’s why they want to keep the blood pure or clean.’
Elaborating further about her own experience with relationships in the cult, she explained: ‘They’ve ingrained it into us so hardcore from when we were two or three years old.
‘But I want to say that they started pressuring me to start making my list or have an idea of certain [boys] that might be my marital choices when I was 10 – maybe younger.
‘I remember being 12 or 13 when we were in one of our marriage preparation classes and I remember [Daniel] telling all of us that some of his own kids would marry each other.’
Hellbound and Down 