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Survivor Stories

Jenn

Jenn was 16 and recovering from an ectopic pregnancy when her parents forced her to marry her 44-year-old rapist and abuser. Even though their age difference made the relationship a felony, she never spoke to a judge, and no one did anything to intervene.

Jen

When Jen was 14, her mother threatened to throw her out on the street if she didn’t marry the 21-year-old man who lied to her and pretended to be a teenager.

Mandy

Mandy’s mother told her it was “God’s will” that she marry her longtime abuser when she was just 17; she was ostracized by her family and excommunicated from her church once she divorced him.

Sara

At the age of 15, Sara was forced to marry a man nearly twice her age, whom she had just met that morning.

Carol

Carol was just 14 when she was threatened and coerced into marrying the 20-year-old man who stalked, raped and impregnated her.

Allison

No one — including the U.S. government — stopped a 26-year-old man from taking Allison halfway across the world to the U.S. to marry her when she was only 16.

Saira

When Saira broke off her forced engagement, her family threatened to beat her and kick her out.

Aliya

After Aliya’s guardians took her abroad at 17 to marry a complete stranger against her will, they told her, “The only way you’re going to get out of this marriage is if you die.”

Jean

Jean knew right away at age 15 that the volatile 27-year-old man her mother had forced her to marry was a bully. She tried to run away from him, but her mother would not let her.

April

April was barely 15 and all alone; her parents had abandoned her. He was a 22-year-old “friend” who had been grooming her since she was 12. He raped her on their wedding night and continued to sexually assault her almost daily in nearly every imaginable way.

Pat

Pat was 14 and pregnant when her parents married her off to the 27-year-old bible study counselor who had been raping her for two years.

Michelle

No one asked Michelle at 16 if she was sure she wanted to get married, and no one helped her when the beatings started.

Chung

Chung’s mother had no choice but to marry his father during the Cambodian civil war (the couple-matching rule created by the communist leaders at that time). The war ended, and his father became violent and cruel.

Julia

Julia wanted to reject her arranged marriage at 15, but the brutality was just too great. Her choices were to obey or suffer the wrath.

Mariam

Mariam knew she did not want an arranged marriage at all, but having her own mother yelling, crying and insulting her for not obeying her demands had an impact on her.

Syeda

Syeda was forced into marriage at age 16 in Pakistan. She went along with the marriage to her first cousin, a stranger to her, only after her father told her that was the only way she'd be allowed to attend college.

Jamie

Jamie was Unchained’s first client. She was pressured into an arranged marriage at age 19 – to a man who beat and raped her and abused their children.

Esther

Esther was barely 17 when she was forced to marry a man who raped her regularly and arranged for other men to gang rape her so he could watch.

Zubaida

Zubaida thought her life in the U.S. would be wonderful when she was brought here from overseas as part of an arranged marriage to an American man. It wasn’t.