After publishing her autobiography, Escape, in 2007 she went on a book tour of the US, telling her story to thousands. In 2006, her reports to the Utah Attorney General on church abuses formed a crucial part of the case that led to the arrest of its notorious leader, Warren Jeffs. Still, Jessop chose freedom over fear and fled with her eight children and only $20 to her name. She risked everything, knowing that her children would be taken away from her and she would probably be declared mentally unstable and sent to an institution if caught. Over the next 15 years, Carolyn had eight children and withstood her husband's psychological abuse and the watchful eyes of his other wives until she made the decision to escape. For in the FLDS, a wife's compliance with her husband determined how much status both she and her children held in the family. He chose when they had sex Jessop could only refuse-at her peril. He controlled the money she earned as a schoolteacher. He decided where she lived and how her children would be treated.

Her every move was dictated by her husband's whims. She co-authored the book Escape, which will be turned into a movie starring Katherine Heigl, chronicling her life in the organization, her adulthood and disillusionment, and her eventual flight.Ĭoerced into marrying a stranger at 18 years old, a stranger who was 32 years her senior and already had three wives, Jessop lived a life of misery and fear. The first woman in the country to escape from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) and be granted full custody of her eight children, Carolyn Jessop’s story has become a model of courage and hope to people everywhere.

Escape book carolyn jessop