THOM MILLER: And we have the right to have
a child, you know, and we all three have the right to love her and be a family.
COMM: 61-year-old Pastor Thom Miller is no
stranger to controversy. He lives happily with both of his wives and believes polygamy
is supported by scripture.
THOM MILLER: Is it living wrong? Maybe by
somebody else’s standards but not by ours, and not by the Bible.
COMM: Belinda, aged 44, and Reba who is 20,
are ‘sister wives’, and now Reba has given birth to Catherine, all three parents are
raising her together.
THOM MILLER: Reba is ‘mommy’ and Belinda
is ‘mamma’ and it’s her baby too. That girl has love in every direction. You know,
just the four of us.
BELINDA MILLER: I felt very excited when she
was born and I felt just as if she was just part of me as she was a part of them. I mean
we are one big family. I formed a bond with Catherine before Catherine was born.
REBA MILLER: I think everybody became closer
since she’s been born, like she just puts that family together.
THOM MILLER: My baby.
REBA MILLER: Our. THOM MILLER: Yes. Our baby. Our baby.
COMM: Thom and Belinda were present when Reba
gave birth and insist there has been no jealousy.
REBA MILLER: I don’t think Belinda gets
jealous of me having a child with Thom. Because she’s everybody’s kid, in so many ways!
BELINDA MILLER: I did not feel excluded at
all I was part of everything. I was there with Reba once she started labour and her water
broke, and took her to the hospital, I was there with her and I was part of everything!
THOM MILLER: When you have a family with…What?
Oh, I’m sorry, did I interrupt you? When you have family with more than one mother,
there’s just more people to help out and love her.
THOM MILLER: I’ll buy the diapers. Yeah,
that’s good. Love you. Love you, sweetheart. I’ll be walking her over to the neighbours’
house if you guys weren’t home. Like ‘Help!’. Or I’ll dial 911. ‘What’s your emergency?’
‘Ugh!’
THOM MILLER: We always have three days with
each other, you know three days with Belinda, three days with Reba and the baby is just
a baby. She’s just here with us. So, wherever she’s at, she’s there. It doesn’t change
because I’m with Belinda or Reba. I have my way.
COMM: They have faced criticism over their
lifestyle and especially since the arrival of the baby.
THOM MILLER: The Christians have come against
us more than anybody. What do I care about is whole bunch of Facebook nobodies. If you
get into mudslinging contest with a pig, you will lose. I don’t think you make a choice
to be a polygamist, it just happens. It’s something, it’s a growth. You don’t just
wake up one day and go, ‘Hey! I am gonna find another wife.’ It’s not an easy thing
to do. It’s not easy thing to find one person that you can truly love. It’s really really
tough. It was years that Belinda and I were discussing it before we actually ran into
somebody that fit and then we fit her. Reba completes our family and we help complete
Reba.
COMM: Thom and Belinda have 18 other children
between them from previous marriages. And Belinda’s 18-year-old daughter Jamie is
thrilled to have a new baby sister.
JAMIE KELLEY: I would consider being a ‘sister
wife’ and living like this. Because I believe in ‘sister wives’, I don’t see anything
wrong with it. Having more than one wife helps the household a lot because you have two wives
that could be helping, cooking, cleaning, taking care of the kids. Reba maybe a year
older than me but I still consider her mum.
REBA MILLER: You need to learn how to change diapers now.
JAMIE KELLY: I know how to change the diapers.
REBA MILLER: You know I am bossing around. JAMIE KELLEY: Have fun doing it though.
REBA MILLER: Yeah. I do. THOM: Bye, Reba. Everyone. Just a kiss. I'll be right back.
BELINDA: I’ll take it for you.
COMM: Belinda’s younger children have been
taken into care by the state and she believes that her polyamorous lifestyle is one of the reasons.
BELINDA MILLER: It’s not an easy road, there
are a lot of nights that you cry. I miss them, but I believe what I’m fighting for is bigger
and hopefully they’ll look back and they’ll understand and be like, ‘Hey, my mum stood
up and she fought for what she thought was right’. I’d do it over again. My hope
is that the judge would turn around and say that he’s done something terribly wrong.
One day he’ll go home and he’ll realise what he’s done to this family, and he’ll
realise what he’s done to my girls, and how much he’s hurt this family.
COMM: Now Thom and his wives are concentrating
on raising their baby and hope that their family will find acceptance in the future.
THOM MILLER: There are thousands of men who
have more than one wife in the United States. I’m in contact with a whole lot of them!
Matter of fact, we’re thinking about one day doing a church, where we’re all welcome.
REBA MILLER: I can’t say that it’s a conventional
way she’s being raised but it’s our life, we can do it however we want to, and if she wants
to do it one day, she can do it one day. I’m not gonna be opposed to her living her life
the way she wants to.