The heart wants what it wants. Escaping Polygamy‘s Jennifer explains why she is dating her first cousin, who is 12 years her senior, in the A&E unscripted series’ season 2 premiere Sunday, July 10, as seen in Us Weekly‘s exclusive sneak peek.
In the preview clip, Jennifer, 18, tells the camera that she recently escaped from her father, John Daniel, and her mother, Heidi, by jumping out of a window nearly three stories high. Jennifer and her siblings grew up in a Salt Lake City–based polygamist group known as the Order.
“I’d rather jump out that window than be caught by Daniel,” she says. “It seems ridiculous, but even going back, I wouldn’t change my decision. It was a better choice.”
Her older sister Andrea points out that Jennifer is currently in a romantic relationship with a man who has not been given the OK by their family’s religious sect. The clip reveals that Jennifer’s beau is Michael, her 30-year-old first cousin.
“Jennifer has been seeing this man that Daniel does not approve of,” Andrea says. “In the Order, the girls are given a list of people they might marry, and they have to find out who on that list is their No. 1 choice.”
According to Jennifer, two of the potential suitors on the list she was given are in their 40s and married.
“I cannot see myself happy with any of them as a first wife or a spiritual wife because there is a person in the Order that I was really trying for things to work out with, but my dad would not approve it,” Jennifer continues about Michael. “I was willing to give up almost all my freedoms, but when it came down to marrying someone, I couldn’t give up my right to marry who I want to marry. I can’t marry someone that I don’t love.”
A previously released sneak peek showed Andrea recalling that her father made her eat vomit, while another preview scene featured one of Jennifer’s siblings discussing that her 42-year-old uncle was courting her when she was 14. Both clips were exclusive to Us.
Watch the troubling clip in the video above. Escaping Polygamy‘s season 2 premiere aired on A&E Sunday, July 10, at 10 p.m. ET.
