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Carolyn Jessop

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Nationality
  
American

Name
  
Carolyn Jessop

Religion
  
Former FLDS


Home town
  
Hildale, Utah

Other names
  
Carolyn Blackmore

Role
  
Autobiographer

A boy on left (first row) is smiling, has blonde hair, both hands on his knee, and wears white long sleeves under a black suit, and black pants. 2nd from left is a woman smiling, sitting down while carrying a baby girl in her right hand, has blonde hair, and wears a colored pink-blue dress and white shoes, a baby girl on her lap is smiling, has brown hair, wears light blue long sleeves under a white dress, white socks and black shoes. 3rd from left is a boy, smiling, has blonde hair, both hands holding each other, and wears white long sleeves, black pants, and black shoes. 4th from left is a boy smiling, has blonde hair, left hand inside his left pocket, wears white long sleeves, black pants with pocket, and black shoes. 5th from left is a woman smiling, has black hair, sitting down while carrying a baby in her right hand, wearing a pink-white dress and white shoes, a baby in her right hand is sleeping, bald, and wearing a white-blue dress. In front is a boy smiling, bald, wearing yellow long sleeves, black pants, and black shoes, beside him is a boy, serious, has blonde hair, left knee is bent, both hands on his left knee, wears white long sleeves, black pants, and black shoes. 6th from left is a girl smiling, has blonde hair, and wears a white long-sleeve dress, and white shoes. On right is a girl smiling, both hands holding each other, wearing a pink long-sleeve dress. A girl on left (second row) is smiling, has brown hair, both hands on her back, and wears a blue long-sleeve dress, and black shoes. 2nd from left is a girl smiling, has blonde hair, and wears a white long-sleeve dress. In the middle is a man smiling, has black hair, wearing brown sunglasses, white long sleeves, and a black necktie with lines under a black suit. 3rd from left is Carolyn standing, has black hair, both hands holding each other, and wearing a white long-sleeve dress. On right is a girl smiling, has black hair, wearing a blue long sleeve dress. A boy on left (third row) is smiling, has black hair, and wears white long sleeves, a black necktie under a black suit, pants, and black shoes. 2nd from left is a woman smiling, has blonde hair, and wears a silk blue dress. 3rd from left is a man smiling, has black hair, and wears white long sleeves, a black necktie under a black suit. 4th from left is a man smiling, wearing white long sleeves under a black suit. 5th from left is a woman smiling, has black hair, wearing a colored dress.

Born
  
January 1, 1968 (age 56) (
1968-01-01
)
Hildale, Utah

Known for
  
Author; Custody suit involving FLDS

Title
  
Miss Carolyn BlackmoreMrs Merril JessopMrs Carolyn Jessop

Spouse
  
Merril Jessop (m. 1986–2003)

Residence
  
West Jordan, Utah, United States

Books
  
Escape, Triumph: Life After the Cult, a Survivor's Lessons

Children
  
Harrison Jessop, Betty Jessop, Merrilee Jessop

Similar People
  
Merril Jessop, Warren Jeffs, Flora Jessop, Rebecca Musser

Parent(s)
  
Arthur & Nurylon and Rosie Blackmore

Relatives
  
Flora Jessop (cousin)

Canada polygamy study carolyn jessop interview


Carolyn Jessop (born January 1, 1968) is a former Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints member who wrote Escape, an autobiographical account of her upbringing in the polygamist sect and later flight from that community. She is the cousin, by marriage, of Flora Jessop, another former FLDS member and advocate for abused children. Carolyn Jessop now lives in the Salt Lake City area with her children.

Contents

A girl on left is smiling, has blonde braided hair, her left hand touching her upper body, wearing a dark blue long-sleeve dress. 2nd from left is a girl smiling, has blonde hair, both hands in her mouth, and wears a blue long-sleeve dress. 3rd from left is a girl smiling, has blonde hair, and wears a sky-blue long-sleeve dress. In the middle is Betty Jessop, who has blonde hair, covering her face, her right middle finger is up, her left hand on her waist, and white socks and black shoes. 4th from left is a woman smiling, has black hair, left hand in her mouth, wearing a pink long-sleeve dress. On right is a woman smiling, has blonde hair, wearing a silver bracelet on her left hand and a blue long-sleeve dress. A woman on left (second row) is smiling, has blonde hair, wearing a dark blue long-sleeve dress. 2nd from left is a woman smiling, has blonde hair, and wears a white long-sleeve dress. 3rd from left is a woman smiling, mouth half open, wearing a light violet long-sleeve dress. On the right, a man is serious, has black hair, and a hand on his mouth.

Carolyn jessop escaping from the flds


Escape

A woman is smiling, and has blonde hair, behind is a sign of The Law Courts, a bag on her right arm, she is wearing silver earrings, a light violet shirt under a black fur coat.

On April 21, 2003, when Jessop was 35, she left her husband's family and the FLDS church, fleeing to a safehouse in Salt Lake City. Subsequently, she sued for custody of her children, and in 2003 became "the first woman ever granted full custody of her children in a contested suit involving the FLDS."

Carolyn Jessop is smiling, has blonde hair, and wears a black top.

In 2007 she co-authored her book Escape with Laura Palmer and chronicled her life in the FLDS organization, her adulthood and disillusionment, and her eventual flight. It was published by the Broadway division of Random House. She followed its publication with a book tour. In 2008 actress Katherine Heigl announced she had contracted to produce and star in a feature film based on the memoir.

Carolyn Jessop is serious, mouth half open, has a map at her back, sitting down on a dark blue chair, she is wearing a white top under a black suit.

Jessop was born Carolyn Blackmore and raised by her parents in Hildale, Utah, with her older sister and younger siblings. She is a sixth-generation descendant of a polygamous family, all of whom were faithful members of the FLDS church. She is a relative of Winston Blackmore, leader of a Canadian polygamous group and also relative of his American-born Uncle John Horne Blackmore, first leader of what became the Social Credit Party of Canada. Her father became a polygamist when he married his wife's niece when Carolyn was a child. Jessop describes her relationship to her parents as emotionally distant, with her father dominating her mother, and her mother taking out her anger on the children with such regularity that the children soon devised a strategy to get their beatings "out of the way" in the mornings.

The autobiography continues to describe a year-long stint in Salt Lake City, Utah, which gave her a taste of the world outside her religious community. She spent most of her childhood in Colorado City, Arizona.

As Jessop relates, a rift in her religious community at about the time she completed middle school led to the leaders pulling children out of the local high school. She graduated from high school at the age of 17. Jessop intended to attend college and then go to medical school to study pediatric medicine; instead, she was forced into an arranged marriage to Merril Jessop at age 18. Merril Jessop was 32 years her senior and already had three wives and more than 30 children, several of them older than his new wife. Once married, Carolyn Jessop did get to attend college, but her husband decided that she would study elementary education, not medicine. Just months into the marriage, the FLDS's new leader, Rulon Jeffs, gave Merril two new wives.

Carolyn Jessop stated in her book that she endured regular unwanted sexual relations with Jessop in exchange for better emotional treatment. Jessop had eight children with her husband, the last four after she was warned against further pregnancies by her doctors. The final pregnancy was life-threatening and required an emergency hysterectomy, during which time, Jessop maintains that, her husband and his family regarded her condition with uninterest. Jessop contends that the resulting freedom from pregnancy helped her escape from her abusive marriage and volatile home situation.

Triumph: Life After the Cult, a Survivor's Lessons

On May 4, 2010, Jessop released Triumph: Life After the Cult, a Survivor's Lesson, the autobiographical sequel to Escape. Triumph details Jessop's unique insights and inside information regarding the Texas FLDS Raid and its aftermath as well as Jessop's struggle to come to terms with her oldest daughter's return to the cult. Jessop also reveals the various sources of strength and resources on which she has drawn as she overcame the obstacles to achieving success after a lifetime of trauma living inside a cult. Triumph concludes with Jessop's victorious court battle to win back child support for the years since her escape as well as lifetime support for her severely disabled son, Harrison.

April 2008 YFZ Ranch raid

Texas law enforcement officers began a raid of the YFZ Ranch on April 3, 2008, following a phone call with allegations of physical and sexual abuse of a 16-year-old girl. Children from the community had been placed in state custody because authorities believed they "had been abused or were at immediate risk of future abuse," a state spokesman said. As of April 8, as many as 533 women and children had been removed from the ranch by authorities. Officers later learned that the phone call was a hoax perpetrated by an adult woman outside of the FLDS.

Jessop arrived on-site Sunday, April 6, in hopes of reuniting two of her daughters with their half-siblings. She stated her opinion that the action in Texas was unlike the 1953 Short Creek raid in Arizona. On April 8 she was interviewed by the NBC Today Show regarding the event, and described life at a FLDS community. Jessop had also been in Texas the prior month at a speaking engagement, where she said, "[i]n Eldorado, the crimes went to a whole new level. They thought they could get away with more" but "Texas is not going to be a state that's as tolerant of these crimes as Arizona and Utah have been."

Carolyn Jessop has been involved in several legal proceedings arising from her departure from and knowledge of the FLDS community. With assistance from Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, in 2003 Carolyn became the first woman who left an FLDS community to be awarded full custody of all of her children. In 2009, Carolyn Jessop won a child support judgment against Merril Jessop in the approximate amount of $148,000 for support Merril Jessop failed to provide his children between 2003 and 2009 after they fled the FLDS community. As of February 2010, Merril Jessop had still not paid any of the child support he owed, and according to Carolyn Jessop's attorney, Natalie Malonis, Merril Jessop's failure to support his children could result in jail time.

In several criminal trials in Texas resulting from the April 2008 seizure of evidence at the YFZ Ranch, In the legal case of Texas v. Raymond Merril Jessop, Carolyn, serving as Raymond's stepmother, was summoned to testify on behalf of the State. Her testimony covered her personal knowledge of Raymond Jessop and her understanding of the teachings of their church. Raymond Jessop was ultimately convicted of sexual assault of a child and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Carolyn also testified for the State of Texas in criminal trials against Leroy Jessop and Allan Keate. Leroy Jessop, another of Carolyn's stepchildren, was convicted of sexual assault of a child and sentenced to 75 years in prison. Allan Keate was convicted of sexual assault of a child and sentenced to 33 years in prison.

Betty Jessop

Carolyn's second child, Betty Jessop, turned eighteen in 2007 and returned to the FLDS. As was acknowledged by both parties, Carolyn had to physically force her to leave the FLDS when she was thirteen. Since returning to the FLDS, Betty has openly disputed the claims in Carolyn's book, particularly those alleging that Merril Jessop was abusive, saying "it just makes me want to laugh." She describes her years outside of the sect as traumatic, explaining that public school was a shock and that the task of caring for her siblings fell to her due to her mother's health problems: "With the responsibility landing on me so hard every morning, I was an emotional wreck, and after a while, I hardened into a frazzled bundle of nerves." She added, "I was such a representation of everything [Carolyn] hated so much. I just couldn't deny what was in my heart -- my belief in my religion and my love for my father and my family. I spent four years [in mainstream society], and there is nothing there for me."

References

Carolyn Jessop Wikipedia
(Text) CC BY-SA