The first few moments of this video from Real Stories may be alarming to a lot of people. You catch a glimpse of a young boy speaking openly to an interviewer about how when he gets a little bit older, he would love to have 12 wives. You might think that he’s simply joking, but taking a look at the family he grew up in, this could eventually become his reality.
This documentary, titled My Six Wives and 29 Children, takes us into the life of 51-year-old Tom Green, a Mormon polygamist living approximately 200 miles outside of Salt Lake City, Utah, with his six wives and their many children.
Tom’s first wife, Linda, spoke to the crew about how she married Tom at the age of 14.
“Tom was 35. I had my parents’ permission,” Linda explains. “Because they thought Tom was a very good man and they could see his heart [and] that he was not just out to take advantage of a young girl.”
Tom’s second life, Shirley, speaks about how she met Tom when she was 15 and spent some time in their home working and getting to know Linda before they married. Shirley’s mother, June, who is now a former wife, actually married Tom next.
Tom eventually accumulated six wives in total and produced 29 children over the years, with 26 children under the age of 12 still living at their family compound, Greenhaven.
Tom discusses the criticism he’s received over the years for marrying girls who were so young in age. “These girls wanted to marry me and demonstrated their extremely rare quality of being capable of handling responsibilities at such an early age,” Tom explains.
The children of the various wives have been categorized into different “teams” and spend their time in several mobile homes on the Greenhaven lot.
To learn even more about the inner workings of this polygamist family, watch the video.
