TikToker talks about life with 44 brothers in a polygamous religion
Janet Zitting was the first of 44 siblings to leave her family’s religion. Now, she is going viral with her story about her experience.
Janet Zitting remembers the day she realized her family was different.
“I remember being 8 or 10 years old and talking to one of the kids in the neighborhood,” says Zitting, now 32. “And I thought, ‘Oh, so how many moms do you have?'” And she said, “What do you mean?” I only have one mom. ‘And I’m like, ‘Really?’ Is your mother alone? ah. ‘And then, as I walk away, I think to myself, ‘Wow, she only has one mother.’ That’s very sad. ”
Zitting thought this was odd because her family had practiced polygamy, which she had previously considered normal. She was raised by her father and four mothers, including her biological mother. She has 44 siblings and went viral on TikTok after answering people’s burning questions about how she grew up with so many siblings under the same roof.
And before you ask, yes, she remembers all their names.
“For me, growing up that way was totally normal, but when I talk to other people, I feel like it reminds me that it wasn’t normal for them either, so it gives you that perspective,” Zitting says. “When I was a kid, I was very secretive about it. So as an adult, I felt pretty free to talk about it.”
She has 44 siblings. The internet is hooked.
Zitting said her family was part of a group called The Work, an offshoot of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints led by Warren Jeffs. Members of The Work, like Zitting’s parents, practice polygamy.
Polygamy, or marrying more than one person, is illegal in the United States, but has been decriminalized in Utah.
Zitting became one of the first of the brothers to leave The Work over 13 years ago. She says about half of her siblings followed suit, and the other half remain part of the group.
“A lot of people ask me if I needed to run away, but I just told my parents I was moving,” she says. “It was hard at first, because when you first leave a religion like that, people think you’re making mistakes because everyone is so passionate about it. But I knew that wasn’t the case. I just knew it wasn’t for me.”
Now, Zitting is a mother and a sensation on TikTok. A video of her answering questions about growing up with 44 siblings went viral, and many people were surprised to learn about her life.
“It’s funny to see the reactions because people are shocked,” Zitting said. “Some people say it’s AI, and some people say it’s not true. But it’s kind of funny that my normal life could have such a big impact.”
The most common question she receives is whether she can really remember all her siblings’ names. The answer is yes. And she knows their birthdays too. Another common problem is the age difference between the oldest and youngest siblings. The oldest is 48 years old and the youngest is 15.
“We have a sibling group chat, a sister group chat, and a bunch of other side chats,” she says. “When I was a child, there were cliques and different groups of siblings played together.But now that I’m an adult, things have changed and I start playing with everyone else.”
Zitting’s family did not celebrate Christmas when she was a child. They didn’t even celebrate birthdays. Her parents claimed it was because birthdays were “secular,” but in retrospect, Zitting suspects it had more to do with economics than piety. Even as adults, her siblings only actually throw birthday parties for milestone years like 30 and 40.
Her family lived on a small farm with livestock and a garden, which helped keep food costs down. But an occasional trip to Costco can still make you a small fortune, she says. Zitting recalled that her Costco grocery bill for the holidays totaled about $1,500.
Privacy was also a rarity. Gitting shared a room with seven sisters. During the home construction project, she says as many as 16 children were in one bedroom at a time. She would sneak into the blanket closet just to take a nap.
“We had to work together like a community, because it was a community,” Zitting said. “There were people raising the kids, cleaning the house, cooking the meals, cleaning, taking care of the animals, tending the gardens. It was non-stop, every day.”
What is Twitting’s life like today?
Mr. Zitting now has children of his own. She would like one or two more. She considers herself spiritual but not religious, and is much less strict than the way she was raised.
“I’m not planning on having a million kids, because I raised my younger siblings and did a lot of babysitting. In some ways, I feel like I already had kids of my own,” she says.
Mr. Zitting has left The Work, but he has no hard feelings toward his brothers who chose to stay.
“A lot of them are really my best friends and I love how close we all are, especially my sisters. I’ve become even closer with them, and they’re all so loving, so kind, and they’re so beautiful inside and out. And I love how family-oriented we are,” she says. “For the type of person that I am, religion really controlled me. I felt like I was in a box. So I’m really happy that I’m not in religion anymore, even though it was something for a lot of my family. … I’m just glad to understand that it’s not for me.”
