MARRIED OFF TO AN OLD MAN WHEN SHE WAS ACHILD, SERENA KELLEY KNEW SHE NEEDED TO BREAK FREE FROM THE CULT SHE WAS GROWING UP IN
Aged just three years old, I didn’t understand what was going on when my mother lifted me onto the lap of the grey-haired man. “You’re going to be mine forever,” he said. “We’re having aunion.” The man Iknew as “Grandpa” then gave me a ring to symbolise our “marriage”, but it was so big, it had to be wrapped with tape. “As you grow up, you can take the tape off, so it still fits,” he told me.
Ihad been born into the Children of God cult and Grandpa was its leader, David Berg, who was in his late sixties at that time. Founded in 1968, the cult had 13,000 members in communities across the world, and one of the key foundations of the “family” was sex. Berg brainwashed thousands of his followers into believing the end of the world was approaching and the only way they could be spared was through orgasms. One of his doctrines, which he called the “Law of Love”, stated anyone within the cult could sleep with anyone else, including children. And under his rules, females had to make themselves available to any man who wanted them.
TRAUMATIC
My mother was an important member of the family, and her pregnancy and my early life had been documented for cult publications. “You’re the chosen ones,” one member told me and an older boy named Ricky Rodriguez. “Everyone will look to you for leadership.” As members of the cult’s inner circle, we lived in the lap of luxury. We were in the Philippines, where child sex laws were less strict, and we stayed in mansions with pools, tennis courts and koi fish ponds. But behind all the luxury, Iwas living a very dark and traumatic life. Often, I’d wake in the night to loud music and toddle downstairs into the communal rooms where I’d stumble on drunken orgies. Iwas too young to understand what was going on, but Isaw things that deeply disturbed me. On other occasions, I’d be made to undress and dance in front of the camera. Berg was a paedophile and encouraged members to film children for him. I quickly learned that if I cried, I’d be taken off camera, and although I was punished, it was worth it to avoid being filmed. Gradually, I became withdrawn, desperate not to be noticed.
When I was five years old, I was woken up in the middle of the night. “Come on, we’re leaving,” my mother told me in a whisper. Under cover of darkness, we took a car to the airport, followed by a flight to Japan. There, I was handed over to the care of Dora and Jeremy, who were also in the family. After that, I barely saw my mother for a while. A year later, Dora and Jeremy moved u
