Rebekah Vardy opened up about fearing death at Armageddon and being shown ‘upsetting’ images about the end of the world while growing up as a Jehovah’s Witness.
Rebekah Vardy, the model who is famous for her Wagtha-Christie trial, talked about the strict religious upbringing she received in the documentary Rebekah: Jehovah’s Witnesses, Me, on Channel 4.
The 41-year-old mother of five was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness in Norwich but left when she was 15 because she was ‘shamed’ for being sexually assaulted and was ostracised by the community alongside family members following her parents’ divorce.
Vardy began the hour-long segment by recalling a childhood without Christmas or birthday festivities, in accordance with the religion’s principles, with bible study and trips to the Kingdom Hall, Jehovah’s Witnesses’ holy site of worship.
As a youngster, she felt she would die at Armageddon if she was not ‘perfect,’ and she recalled ‘upsetting’ pictures of the end of the world revealed to her, which now give her nightmares as an adult.
Visiting the Kingdom Hall where her congregation gathered, and where her grandfather was an elder, Vardy said: ‘You would have to do things to keep Jehovah happy, because he was always watching.
‘Who you spoke to, how you spoke, how you dressed, how you held yourself, how you conducted every part of your whole life, and we were told if we didn’t pray enough, bad things would happen to us.’
Later in the documentary, Vardy spoke about being ‘blamed’ by her family and members of the Jehovah’s Witness community after being sexually abused as a child.
She said: ‘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. She wept, but did not believe me.
‘I told numerous members of my family, Jehovah’s Witness community, and they called a meeting, I think I was about 15, it was suggested that I had misinterpreted the abuse for a form of affection.
Vardy continued: ‘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 bring shame on my family, and I was basically manipulated into believing it wasn’t the best thing to do to take it any further and take it to the police.
‘It’s hard to see how I survived that.’
All4 is streaming Rebekah Vardy – Jehovah’s Watchmen and Me.
Source My Celebrity Life.
