Nine Years in Polygamy: The Story of a Runaway Sister-Wife
- By Kalina Galabova
- Published 05/8/2008
Lareena Smith had quit college to marry a polygamist. He had kidnapped his nine children from his first wife and flew
with them and Lareena to Mexico to join the LeBaron sect—a sect that justified
murder in the name of God. Though the FBI saved Lareena from potentially huge
trouble, it took her nine years and three marriages before she saved herself
from polygamy.
Lareena became interested in polygamy because the mainstream Mormon Church could not give her all the answers she sought and
because the man she fell in love with was already married. Polygamy could be a
fix for both.
It turned out, however, that sharing a husband was a high price for sharing household duties. The jealousy between sister-wives grew
unbearable, the rivalry merciless. Lareena was still childless (which in
polygamy was a clear sign of sin) and desperate to get away and look for
happiness elsewhere.
How about in another polygamist family, only this
time as a first wife?
Her next marriage in polygamy was bliss…until a
comely teenage girl joined the household six months later. To read more, visit
my article on Lareena Smith.
