WHEN brave Rebekah Vardy plucked up the courage to tell her mother she had been sexually abused since the age of 12, she expected support.

Instead, she claims her mother refused to believe her and turned to the elders in the devoutly religious Jehovah’s Witness Church, who allegedly silenced the abuse.

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The alleged betrayal left Rebekah traumatized and led to a lifelong rift with mum Alison Nicholson, who the tearful WAG addresses in a moving Channel 4 documentary airing tonight.

Rebekah (41) tells the documentary: “From the age of 12 I was sexually abused. So I told my mother about the abuse I experienced and she cried but didn’t believe me.

“She told many members of my family in the Jehovah’s Witness community, and they called a meeting. I think I was about 15, and it was made for me that I misinterpreted (the) abuse as a form of love.

“I knew I didn’t. I was well aware of right and wrong, and it was explained that I could bring shame on my family, and I was basically manipulated into believing it wasn’t the best thing to do to take it further and take it to the police.

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“It’s hard to see how I survived it.”

Rebekah, married to Leicester striker Jamie, has branded the Jehovah’s Witnesses a “dangerous cult”.

She was brought up in the faith in Norwich and bullied at school, but finally broke ties at the age of 15 after being “ashamed” of the abuse. Her parents were also shunned by the community due to divorce.

Her traumatic childhood, which resulted in an attempted overdose, caused an irreparable 25-year rift between Rebekah and mother Alison.

“I have had a difficult relationship with my mother all my adult life, and we have been estranged for the past seven years,” she says.

Here we look at the broken relationship behind the explosive claims.

Strict education

Rebekka remembers a childhood without Christmas celebrations or birthday parties.

Instead, her young life was filled with Bible studies and visits to the Kingdom Hall, the organization’s church. Books and television were censored and she was warned that bad behavior would bring the wrath of God upon her.

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Rebekah was not allowed to invite other children to play dates, sing hymns at her school assembly and had no idea what happened during puberty because church modesty dictates that no one talks about it.

Rebekah says she believed she would die at Armageddon (the end of the world) if she misbehaved and recalls being shown ‘disturbing’ images depicting the end of the world.

She says: “You will have to do things to keep Jehovah happy because he was always watching.

“Who you talked to, how you talked, how you dressed, how you held yourself, how you handled every part of your whole life, and we’re told if we don’t pray enough, bad things will happen with we happen.”

Rebekah said she knew her family was different from an early age and being members of the church made her easy prey for school bullies.

She also dreaded knocking on the door of a fellow student during house-to-house calls by Jehovah’s Witnesses to recruit new members.

family lines

Rebekah’s parents, Alison and Carlos, split up when she was just 11.

She tells the documentary church elders were constantly at the family’s home to ‘calm down’ arguments between the couple.

When Alison and Carlos, a chauffeur working in Bournemouth, divorced, her mother suddenly fled the JW community in Norwich and took her family to live in Reading, Oxfordshire.

Rebekka still doesn’t know exactly why her mother picked up sticks, but believes she may have had an affair that led to her drumming out of the church.

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She tells the documentary: “My mother and father were going through a difficult time and the elders intervened, they were always in our living room downstairs while our children were in our bedroom and tried to calm situations.

“One of my last memories here is that it all kicked off and we left one night and never came back.”

She says she believes her mother had a fling because “that’s the only way you can divorce” within the church.

She said: “She must have done something that was not acceptable, that was disapproved of and she has to pay the price for it.”

At 11 I hated life. We lost communication with my nan and grandpa, they couldn’t come visit us… created so much resentment for both my parents

Rebecca Vardy

As a result, the family was ‘evicted’ – meaning they were officially shunned.

“We were rejected by all family members and the congregation was forbidden to contact us,” says Rebekah.

“At 11 I hated life. We lost communication with my nan and grandpa, they couldn’t come visit us.

“I harbored so much resentment towards both my parents.”

Abuse ‘betrayal’

Rebekah says she was sexually assaulted every week for more than three years by a family friend, in her own home.

But when the scared teenager confided in her mother, aged 15, Rebekah claims Alison “didn’t believe her”.

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She told Loose Women in 2017: “I felt like it was my fault, it’s one of those things you don’t discuss.”

Despite being ostracized by the church, Alison allegedly turned to church elders who told her she had misinterpreted the abuse, which they said was meant as love.

“I was well aware of what was right and what was wrong, and it was explained that I could bring shame on my family,” she says. “I was basically manipulated into believing that it wasn’t the best thing to do to take it further and take it to the police.”

homelessness

Rebekah says she tried to take her own life at the age of 14 because she “just wanted to escape” from the abuse.

Spinning out of control, she left the family home at the age of 15 after a row with mother Alison and stepfather Ian.

She ended up couch surfing until she got a job collecting glasses in a bar and rented a room in a B&B.

Rebekka later said: “I was 15 and should have been a child.

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“I had already overdosed on pills and vodka in an attempt to end the horrible feelings of shame, fear and anger from which I could find no other way to escape. I already hated myself.”

Rebekah ended up in a series of disastrous relationships before meeting Jamie, whom she married in 2016.

wedding misery

Rebekah’s mother didn’t show up for her daughter’s fairytale wedding at a medieval castle in Cheshire.

Her sister Esther and step-brother Robbie were invited, but it is not clear if Rebekah asked her mother to the star-studded event in 2016.

Asked why she failed to attend, Alison said at the time: “We’d rather not say why, although obviously people are now going to wonder why the bride’s mother didn’t attend her 34-year-old daughter’s wedding is not..”

Jamie’s parents, Lisa and Phil, also did not go ahead with the marriage after bitter abuse involving his new wife.

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Jamie’s maternal grandfather, Gerald Clewes, previously said it was “that woman” – meaning Rebekah – who came between the footballer and his parents.

Jamie’s stepfather, Phil, who raised him, said an argument had been going on since Rebekah “came on the scene”.

He said at the time of the lavish wedding: “I no longer have anything to do directly with my son. It’s a shame and very sad.”

Jamie remained loyal to his wife and supported her through last year’s “Wagatha Christie” High Court defamation case.

Rebekah sued Coleen Rooney after her fellow WAG accused her of leaking stories to the press.

Rebekah denied using information from Coleen’s private Instagram account, but a court found against her – leaving her with a £3m legal bill

continuous rift

Rebekah says she hasn’t spoken to her mother in seven years – around the time of her wedding.

She remains close to her father, and Carlos has always supported his daughter. He flew to Australia when she was on I’m A Celeb, and was by her side during the Wagatha court case.

In the documentary, Becky says that her extended family are still members of the Church.

In the show, she revisits the Kingdom Hall she once attended and talks to others who have been ‘scared’ by the organisation.

She has no idea if her mother is still a member of the church, but says she is “at peace” not talking to her anymore.

She recently said: “You can’t dwell on the past. I am not sympathetic to her, but I understand – and therefore there is no bitterness.

“I hate carrying anger and resentment forward. I would be afraid to pass those qualities on to my own children.”

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