‘My Five Wives’ Cast News: Rosemary Williams Reveals Childhood Sexual Abuse, Says She Was ‘Afraid’ To Come Forward [PHOTO]
Fresh off the heels of the family celebrating baby news, the Williams family of TLC's My Five Wives is reeling from a shocking revelation by third wife Rosemary.
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Rosemary has publicly revealed for the first time that she was sexually abused as a child, claiming she was molested more than two decades ago by her own father, Lynn A. Thompson, the leader of one of the largest organized polygamy groups in Utah, the Apostolic United Brethren, The Huffington Post reports.
Williams claims her father fondled her when she was just 12 years old, but has said she does not plan on filing criminal accusations or lawsuits against her father, because she doesn't believe it would help the situation, though she does hope coming forward will prevent him from abusing others, following his recent appointment as the president of the AUB.
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William also said she hoped to be an advocate for abuse victims in patriarchal societies like the one she was raised in, where mothers are often afraid to report abuse because of repercussions from rebelling against the society's leaders.
"The reason people are afraid to say anything is because they are upholding somebody in a position of authority and they're taught to respect them," she said. "They are afraid of the repercussions. They are afraid of Utah coming down on them and carrying their kids out of their home."
Williams, her husband Brady, and his other wives-Paulie, Robyn, Rhonda and Nonie-are no longer members of the church, after having slowly withdrawn from it in the mid-2000s after realizing they didn't fully agree with the core beliefs, though they do still practice polygamy because they enjoy doing so.
Brady also spoke up about how confessing to what happened to her will likely affect Rosemary in the future.
"She knows it will be very strong reprisal," he said. "Her family will probably disown her along with many of her friends."
It is unclear if Rosemary's children with Brady-Kimberly, Taylor, James and Brandon-or any of Brady's other 20 children with his other wives-have had contact with Thompson.
My Five Wives airs Sundays at 10 p.m. on TLC.
