Polygamy In America

Joe Darger is a Mormon living in Salt Lake City Utah with his three wives, Alina, Valerie and Vicki. Vicki and Valerie are twin sisters while Alina is their cousin.

Joe married cousins Alina and Vicki in 1990, after 10 years, Valerie joined them when her own polygamous marriage broke down and left her with 5 children who she brought with her. 

Joe Darger with his wives, Alina, Valerie and Vicki Darger

The Dargers belong to a fundamentalist Mormon sect that still endorse polygamy even though the major branch of Mormons, The Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints renounced polygamy in the 1890s.

The Dargers have 25 children with 17 of their children still living at home which means that meal times are chaos, more like a dormitory refectory than a dining room. The Dargers appear to be happy in their marriage but polygamy is under scrutiny and laws are being enacted to abolish it, even the United Nations has called for a ban on polygamy but the fundamentalist Mormon sects still cling to the practice

Source: AFP