When I was selling insurance, the company for which I wrote the bulk of my business was in Salt Lake. It was a closely held family entity, all of whom had ties to the Mormon faith.

The officers of the corporation were all family members. R was the President; his parents had divorced when he was young. He had grown up in Kansas. He attended Kansas University where he met his wife. They were Baptists. His grandfather had founded the company during the depression. When his father died, R inherited his share. E, his uncle, was the CEO; The Board of Directors consisted of other family members.

Aside from R and his wife, they were all Mormons, as were 99% of their employees. They actually referred to themselves as "Jack" Mormons, that is non-practicing members of the church; they could and did party with the best of'em!

I became good friends with all; but I was particularly close to R and his wife. I asked them one day if polygamy still existed.

"Oh, yes," they replied. It is very common to see three or four women out shopping together with all these kids. The kids refer to the other women who are not their mother as "Aunt".

"How do they keep from being arrested?"

"The authorities just look the other way, so long as there is no problem."



Lisa Ling recently,working through Oprah,was granted access to one of these multiple families who live in huge homes throughout America. Here is her report.

What if your husband came to you and said, "I want another wife?" Even though polygamy is illegal in America, experts say there are 30,000 to 50,000 people living in plural families across the country.

For most people, the word polygamy conjures up images of child brides dressed straight out of the 1800s. On September 25, 2007, this stereotype was further reinforced when polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs was convicted of being an accomplice to the rape of a 14-year-old girl.

Yet the isolated, cult-like communities only tell half the story. The other side shows extravagant homes in typical suburban neighborhoods filled with willing wives and dozens of children. What is life really like in a polygamist community? Lisa Ling investigates the changing face of plural families and explores communities that both make and break the stereotypes.br>
Valerie considers herself a typical soccer mom—except her husband has two other wives and a total of 22 children in the house. She is her husband's third wife and has eight children. By sharing her story, Valerie hopes to show a different side of the polygamist lifestyle. "My hope is to change some of those stereotypes, break the stereotypes that people have—that it's oppressive and abusive to women and children, that we're all living in these cults and being brainwashed. I don't live like that. I live in just a little suburban neighborhood, and my children go to public school. I feel like we have a very normal lifestyle."

At the same time, Valerie says a plural family is not always easy. "It can be hard when a wife goes out the door with your husband," Valerie says. "We have had jealousies, and there have been those times, and we can't sugarcoat it and say that, 'Oh, it's so perfect and we love it and we love everyone.' You know, we all have our hard times just like any other people."



Ali and Vicki, the two other wives in Valerie's family, stayed at home during The Oprah Show taping because Vicki was expecting her seventh baby, bringing the house total to 22 children. Ali is not only the first wife in the family—she is also Valerie's twin sister. "We have a really good system where we work together with one another," Valerie says.

With 22 children to look after, Valerie and the other wives rely on each other for support. "It's a lot of managing and everything like that. All of our children are in sports or music, and so we get this big calendar and we say, 'Okay, I've got music lessons this day' and 'Can you take the kids while I go to soccer this day,' and it just kind of works."contd