Angela Johnson Cade and Angela Johnson were wed in 2003 when she was 16 and he was 19. The wedding took place at a laundromat, not by choice, but because their upbringing in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a polygamist cult, compelled them to do so. The cult made headlines due to accusations against its leader, Warren Jeffs, who was later convicted of child sex abuse and sentenced to life in prison. Angela and Cade, born into this cult, found themselves married young as dictated by their upbringing.
Angela, now 38, recalls the restrictions placed on girls and teens in the cult, including limited education and forced marriages to men they barely knew. Despite initially parting ways after leaving the cult, Angela and Cade reconnected years later and are now happily married with three children. Angela works as a labor and delivery nurse, while Cade is a helicopter pilot.
Their wedding, held in a laundromat due to restrictions on outsiders marrying on church property, was followed by a religious ceremony later that night. The young couple felt overwhelmed by the situation, realizing they were unprepared for the responsibilities of marriage. Angela yearned for a normal teenage life, while Cade struggled with enforcing the cult’s rules as the head of their household.
Despite the challenges, Angela and Cade navigated their way through their past and eventually found happiness together. Looking back, they acknowledge the journey they’ve been on, reflecting on the difficulties of their early marriage and the constraints imposed by the cult. Today, they cherish their life together with their children, grateful for the freedom and fulfillment they now experience.
“Salvation,” he says. Angela, however, didn’t care. “This is not for me,” she decided, and determined to leave Cade. Her parents, dismayed by Angela’s “rebelliousness,” and with the cult’s support, eventually sent her to live with an aunt she had never met. Surprisingly, the experience was a positive one for Angela. “She was amazing and helped me to find my footing and see things from a different perspective,” she recalls.
Angela stayed with her aunt until June 2004, when she began reconnecting with Cade as her best friend started dating Cade’s best friend. Initially considering divorce, after spending time with Cade, who had “run away” from the cult, Angela realized they had much in common. “We started seeing each other and talking, and eventually, we both thought, ‘Well, you’re pretty cool,'” she chuckles. “I joke about this, but he took off his shirt while swimming, and I thought, ‘Oh, okay. You’re not so bad,'” she laughs.
A month later, they decided to give their relationship another shot, reasoning that “since we’re already married,” they had nothing to lose but a divorce. The rest, as they say, is history. Today, they continue to journey through healing from past traumas by engaging in activities like mountain biking, snowboarding, working on Angela’s children’s clothing line, Glimmers, and enjoying quality time with their children. “We let them be themselves and avoid trying to mold them into something that I might desire,” Cade explains. Angela adds, “Seeing how happy my kids are fills me with pride.”
