Former Jehovah’s Witness whose parents were SIBLINGS opens up about their twisted relationship – which saw them having SEVEN children together

A former Jehovah's Witness whose parents were siblings has opened up about their twisted relationship, which saw them have seven children together.

Vanessa, from northeastern Ohio, appeared on a recent episode of the We're all crazy podcast alongside host Devorah Roloff.

The 46-year-old explained that she was “one of seven children born to a brother and a sister” – a fact she discovered at the age of nine.

She said: 'I was in third grade. I didn't really understand whether that was right or wrong. I did not know. My grandmother was happy that her children found someone they loved, and things became somewhat normal.”

In the clip, which was shared on YouTube earlier this week, Vanessa showed off the bizarre family dynamics.

She started by explaining how her parents got legally married in 1974, adding: 'I don't think they had to show much identification back then.

'She had different surnames. They had different fathers… They swore under oath that they were no closest relatives other than a second cousin, and they walked away with a marriage license.”

Vanessa said her mother was 19 years old and her father was 28 at the time.

It was around this time that her parents registered as Jehovah's Witnesses, which caused friction among the congregation due to the incestual nature of the relationship.

'The whole community knew… I know people there didn't like it But if you go against a decision, you're labeled an apostate, so they kind of had to deal with it,” she explained.

Discussing her relationship with her parents, she said, “My mother had some anger issues. She was physically and emotionally abusive, so I was never really close to her.”

Vanessa's father was in and out of the house due to the “anger and rage,” but the couple continued to welcome children in quick succession.

One of the couple's sons died of walking pneumonia at just three months old, but within a year they welcomed a fifth child.

Vanessa said the council advised her mother not to have any more children, at the risk of being shunned, but she ignored their warnings.

Her parents welcomed their sixth child in 1989, when her mother was 40 years old, but the boy suffered from a series of health problems from birth.

'There was a problem with him. Apparently he didn't have a well-structured urinary system and he had a dead kidney…' Vanessa explained.

'In the end he experienced everything. He underwent three operations (before he was six months old) and the dead kidney was removed. They were able to fix everything.”

Two of her siblings were also born with crossed eyes, which were successfully corrected, as she claimed, “Ohbeyond that, none of us children had really serious problems.'

Vanessa explained that despite her age, her mother still “wanted more babies.”

“My father no longer lived there, so she would go to his apartment at night for the sole purpose of having a seventh child,” she said.

But after giving birth again despite warnings, she was forced to move congregations to avoid being shunned from the religion.

'Then, at the age of 42, wanted to try for an eighth child, but her brother said No. He was ready,” she said.

Vanessa concluded, “So my mother was pregnant by her brother a total of nine times—seven live births and two miscarriages—and still had to be a Jehovah's Witness in good standing.”

But Vanessa explained: 'She wasn't that motherly. I honestly don't know why she wanted so many children.

'There came a point where I thought it was all becoming a bit of a fetish for her, because she liked to talk about her love for her brother…

“By the time I was in fourth grade, I knew how my father performed in bed, I knew how big he was, my mother liked to talk about what she did with her brother, even with children.”

Vanessa elaborated on what it was like to be raised as a member of the religion, saying, “Tthere are no holidays here. There is no Mother's Day, no Father's Day, no Fourth of July.

'They can celebrate their anniversary and the commemoration of Jesus' death. Those are the only things they are allowed to celebrate.”

She continued, “You have to go to Kingdom Hall meetings three days a week and I think they want you to preach.” you have to knock on the door for at least 10 hours a month.

“We weren't really allowed to have friends outside the religion, but I didn't really have any friends within the religion either.”

She said people were being shunned for reasons including “cigarette smoking and gambling” before revealing it she “had no education after the seventh grade.”

'I mourned my education. I loved school. And now I'm home 24/7. Basically I'm just home taking care of the babies and that's about it,” Vanessa said.

“I was just forced to have Jehovah's Witness friends at some point they don't want to be my friend anymore.

'I am not working towards baptism. I'm a teenager who doesn't believe any of it so some of their parents don't want them to stay near me.'

It was around this time that a 21-year-old man, who was part of the congregation, “began to show interest” in then 13-year-old Vanessa.

“Anyway, I felt like I was an adult in my head…” so I took it all in. This man wanted mine attention. He liked me and at that moment I didn't see anything wrong,” she said.

She continued candidly, “NSomeone said something there that it was wrong or something.

'(A woman who was a Jehovah's Witness) walked up to him with his hand down my pants – I'm a kid, he's a man, and she didn't throw him out, I didn't report him or call the police.'

Vanessa said the older man was eventually brought in for a judicial hearing but no action was taken, adding: 'In my mind I thought he was my boyfriend so I was glad they didn't punish him.

'I was kind of hGranted, the elders didn't do what they were supposed to do and didn't have him arrested or anything I need to be with him longer, which sounds pretty messy right now.”

But eventually Vanessa, then aged 15, began to become 'really fed up' with the abuse at the hands of her mother and the older man, before making a drastic decision in February 1993.

'I just decided “I'm not going to be here anymore, one way or another,” she said.

'I decided one night that I was going to run away or I was going to end my life, but I didn't know which, because I have a lot of brothers and sisters and I love them very much. I didn't know what to do.'

Vanessa ultimately decided to run, which she described as a very difficult decision: “MYour little brothers were only two and three years old at the time that time so that was hard for me because I can't handle them.

'I have them in my arms before I went out crying and I feel like I don't want to leave them alone because I know they will be abused, but I couldn't stay.

'Although I thought suicidal things, I didn't want to die. If I stay, I'm going to die because I can't do it, so I had to leave the babies behind.”

She was later told about her mother's reaction to her running away: 'She acted like she didn't care, like she didn't love me at all, she was just angry.

'She wasn't worried. She was angry that (I) was embarrassing her, and not concerned that (I) was safe.”

When asked if she thinks Jehovah's Witnesses have covered up issues, Vanessa replied: 'Wit mine family they did….

'She I rejected the relationship I had with that adult man right then and there rejected my brother when he reported child abuse.'

After eloping with a Jehovah Witness from another congregation who was two years older than them, the couple married and became pregnant – all within two months of their departure.

Vanessa welcomed two more children by the time she was twenty years old and is now also a grandmother.

She explained that in the years that followed she struggled with a sex addiction, adding: 'I think a lot of people will come end up being oppressed from that sect or probably not knowing what to do with sex at all, just like me.

'I just realized it recently that I actually had my mother's wrath. She became furious with everyone because of her childhood pain and I used sex to avoid feeling my anger.

“I couldn't heal, I kept making bad decisions, I didn't even know I was so angry. I had to feel something, something strong, so I did.”

Vanessa concluded, “It's probably only been in the last five years that I actually the way I am.'