Brave Rebekah Vardy reveals she was sexually abused aged 12 – and accuses her Jehovah’s Witness church of a ‘hush-up’
BRAVE Rebekah Vardy has claimed that she was abused at the age of 12 before the crimes were hushed up by the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Becky, now 41, whose family were members of the Christian sect, branded it a “dangerous cult” as she made the allegations.
The WAG made the revelations while fronting a new Channel 4 documentary interviewing former Jehovah’s Witnesses (JWs) and confronting the movement’s “dangerous” culture.
She claimed that a friend of the family had sexually abused her from the age of 12.
However, the abuse was covered up by the “elders” (leaders of the JW community) because it would bring shame on her family, said Becky.
She told the Mail on Sunday: “I call it a cult. People are manipulated, brainwashed, it’s coercive behaviour and it is handed down from generation to generation.
“Once you’re in it, it’s so hard to see the bigger picture, which is that it’s wrong and immoral.
“I spent my childhood fearful, being told we were going to die in Armageddon if we didn’t pray enough. I felt I had to constantly strive for perfection so that God would not be angry with me.
“Jehovah’s Witnesses call someone who’s not a Witness a ‘worldly person’. I am the worst kind of worldly person because I have had the courage – along with all the people brave enough to talk to me for my documentary – to speak out against this religion and say it’s dangerous.”
Becky grew up in a strict religious family in Norwich, Norfolk, with no Christmasses or birthdays, while all her TV and books were heavily censored.
According to her, every aspect of her life was controlled by the elders, who had the power to cast people out of the community.
She added: “I was petrified, I cannot begin to tell you how traumatic it was when we met up on a Saturday, knowing we were going to be given our service rounds, thinking I might have to knock on the door of someone who was in my class.
“At school we used to get dragged out of assembly because we couldn’t sing the hymns or be present for any reference to religion, to Christian beliefs.
“If it was someone’s birthday, and everyone was singing ‘Happy Birthday to You’, that was the same, we had to leave. It was humiliating. Mortifying.”
Life at home was just as difficult, as young Becky went through puberty with no support or education on the changes her body was going through.
She recalled: “I thought there was something wrong with me, that I was disgusting, that I’d done something wrong.”
She and her mother fled the JW community in Norwich and moved to Oxfordshire, where she says the abuse began and continued for three years.
Becky claimed that when she told her mother about it, she turned to an elder for help, who suggested that the young girl has “misinterpreted” affectionate touching.
In the documentary, which airs on Tuesday, Becky said: “What happened to me during my childhood still affects me every single day. From the age of around 12 years old, I was being abused. And instead of being supported, I was blamed, manipulated into believing it wasn’t the best thing to take it to the police.
“I told my mum about the abuse that I was experiencing, and she cried. But she didn’t believe me. She told numerous members of the Jehovah’s Witness community.
“It was put to me I’d misinterpreted abuse [as] a form of affection. I knew that I hadn’t. I was well aware of what was right and what was wrong. And it was explained that I could potentially bring shame on my family.”
She was vindicated years later when her abuser confessed on the first day of his trial and received a suspended sentence.
But the abuse she suffered took its toll, with Becky even attempting suicide at 14 before being made homeless at 15 after a family row.
She has not spoken to her mother in over seven years and does not know if she is still in the JW community, but her father and sister have left.
The new documentary sees her explore her own trauma and meet fellow victims of alleged abuse within the JW movement.
There are currently around 130,000 JWs in the UK.
Their sect is based on Christianity but departs from mainstream Biblical teachings in their beliefs.
This includes strict prohibitions on adultery, smoking, drinking, homosexuality, swearing and even having blood transfusions.
They believe that not participating in any of these behaviours will allow them to enter paradise at the End of Days.
However, the movement has faced questions over its handling of sexual abuse cases in the UK and abroad.
The Sun Online has attempted to reach out to the Christian Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the UK.