they so full of hatred? when i was originally introduced to them i didn t really know the whole story. like i said, i didn t have a religious background, didn t really know. i feel like my father manipulated me and my family into believing these things. he presented it to me and my mother in this light-hearted way. this judgmental group that condemned people before they even know them and to have this elitist mentality that they re the only ones going to heaven. katie: i know the congregation is quite small, only 40 people. are you concerned that you re giving them what they want by writing this book? you re giving them attention, and by extension, incidentally, we re giving them the attention they crave as well? i ve definitely been concerned about that, however, in my circumstances, i have no contact with my family. my mother and my father, my three siblings who are still, i feel trapped in this church. trapped in the brainwashing,
i struggled with enormous poverty, i went hungry very often. i was 17, i did not know anything about the world, but really it was emotionally, really that was the real difficult piece of it to just, after being raised in a cloistered, isolated world to find myself in a big city where i didn t know anybody. feeling completely lost and in limbo. i just felt abandoned and isolated and i was just in a really rough place. katie: meanwhile, lea says she had a heartbreaking and terrifying experience when she was living on her own. we ll talk about that and the new life she s made for herself when we come back. announcer: up next, just when she thought she found someone she could trust, lea faces the ultimate betrayal. that was really the end of my ife.
so there s a guilt association when you re a victim of abuse. and it also stops you from speaking out. but, when you have religious abuse, as well, they include doctrine. katie: did your mother know about this? yes, my mother did. katie: and did you go to her? did she explain it away? fathomable. i excused my mother s inaction and made excuses believing that mom couldn t protect me because she had to many other children to protect. i was wrong. katie: we tried to reach out to your father about the allegations, and we were unable to reach him. do you have any contact with him at all? i do have contact with him. he denies molesting all of us, all of the sisters. there s 28 children in the family and he denies the abuse of all of us. katie: he was never prosecuted. why?
religious environments. lea said he felt ostracised not following her family s strict faith and that her family stopped supporting her when she was just 16 years old. lea, welcome. thank you so much for being here. [applause] thank you. katie: you know, i think we should say first of all, there are many variations to all faiths. christianity, is lamb, but you describe your faith as ultra orthodox. so, what did that mean growing up in your home, lea? so, even within ultraorthodox, there are many, many different sects. in my family that meant we believed, we under god s will in a way nobody else did. it was a very strict interpretation of biblical law. the sabbath was observed very strictly. cosher had a whole set of extra rules that other jews may not have been familiar with. there was a strict segregation of the sexes. girls and women were supposed to be very modest and really our whole lives were very much
in to tell us your stories today. thank you very much for having us. katie: thank you, and good luck to both of you. p next, a former member of the westboro baptist church speaks out. you started to speak out and you were thrown out. i have no contact with my mother, my father, i feel trapped in this church. katie: tell me about the moment you decided i could not be a part of this group any longer.