There are stories that are difficult to hear; and then there are stories that change the way you see the world.

Today's story is both.

Imagine being born into a world where the rules of your life were already written for you. Where the people you trusted determined what you could believe, who you could love—and even who you could marry. When that is the only world you have ever known, how would you even know there was another one? 

Today, I have the privilege of sharing Marona's story, a story that is just that. Marona Grew up inside the world of fundamentalist polygamy. She became one of Samuel Bateman's wives—A man who would later be prosecuted and sentenced to decades in federal prison.

Today, though, I won't want this conversation to simply be about Samuel Bateman.

I want it to be about Marona. About what happens to a young woman when access to the outside world is restricted. About grooming and control. About how your understanding of right and wrong can be shaped before you're old enough to question it; what happens to life when you realize you just didn't know what you didn't know. Most importantly, about what it takes to finally see beyond the world you were given, and begin building a life of your own.

There are things in this conversation that may be difficult to hear, but these are exactly the kinds of stories we cannot afford to shy away from.

Thank you so much to Marona Johnson for having the courage to share her story.

Welcome to The Jerry Glazier Show.