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Skye Borgman understands those feelings.
I guess Jan and Mary Ann had self-published it, so it didnt get out in a big way.
Stephanie read it, and then made the introduction to Jan, and then got me onboard.
I read the book and just didnt understand how something like this could happen.
They had left both of the sexual affairs out of the book.
Jan had told us about her mom, but she hadnt mentioned her dad.
That was the most confusing part about it.
I just didnt know how it could happen and I wanted to figure that out.
We had a few pages of it, and it mentioned something about a relationship with the dad.
I had kind of dismissed it, which was a big mistake and a great learning lesson for me.
I said, Oh my gosh, its true.
I wanted to, but I didnt know if I was crossing a line with him.
And then, he told us about the event in the car.
It was the first time that hed ever admitted anything publicly.
And he talked to her that night about it.
The family really didnt talk about what happened, especially regarding Berchtolds abuse of Jan.
Which I understand on some level, but its also looking the other way to such an extreme.
How were they able to do that?I think its just absolute denial.
The shame they feel [about] the affairs they had threw them into such denial.
It is hard to understand, but I think it really was that they could not believe it.
They didnt have any real concept that anything else could be sexual abuse.
It was purely penetration, really, that they thought was sexual abuse.
So if a doctor said, Theres been no penetration, theyre like, Okay, shes fine.
Thats part of the denial as well.
I wanted to circle back to Bob Broberg.
We looked in the court transcripts.
But I think it may have happened more than once.
I wondered if he was gay and not dealing with that.
Thats something you didnt talk about, I guess?Right.
He never talked about that.
I mean, he says that hes not.
He chose very certainly to stay with the church and to stay with his family.
And that was something that he was very committed to.
Both those things are the two most important things, really, in his life.
It seems like she compartmentalized it all, for lack of another way of putting it.
And I think she continues to do that to this day.
But I really think that Mary Ann was in love with Berchtold.
And Berchtold comes along and makes her feel sexy again.
He came back and was still saying, I love you, Mary Ann.
I think youre great.
It didnt really dawn on her that he could also be attracted to a 12-year-old little girl.
And again, doctors had said nothing happened.
So I think they thought he had just had a little mental breakdown.
But again, its that denial.
Even though I think somewhere deep inside they knew something was wrong, they just couldnt see it.
In the film, Jan says that shes heard from six other women who were abused by Berchtold.
Do you know anything more about that?I dont know much about that.
But recovering from this kind of trauma is very, very difficult.
And, for better or worse, the whole family really believes in forgiveness.
I asked Jan, Were you ever just completely infuriated with your family?
Shes this amazing, incredibly strong, wonderful woman, but she carries this with her.
Its an incredible thing this is how impressionable all children are at the age of 12 or 13.
That love that she felt for him sticks with her still today.
And thats all part of what added to the blinders, the denial, and keeping things quiet.
And thats something that they put a lot of faith in.
They were seeking guidance from the church primarily, and then law enforcement secondarily.
So Netflix has really opened the door.
I mean, were in 190 countries now.
Ive been watching the domino effect of people reacting to it.
Friends of mine online are like, Oh, Im going to watch this!
And then five hours later: OH MY GOD.I know!
Its been hard because it hasnt been this building up of backlash.
Its just this wall that hit when the film came out on Netflix.
I dont for a second believe that to be the case.
Absolutely, I believe that to be true.
But I just dont think they had any motivation to exchange their daughter for sexual relations with Berchtold.
I wish wed been able to go into that.
He was constantly trying to put himself into positions where he was surrounded by children and families.
And thats very, very common with people who are pedophiles.
Theyre the teachers, theyre the cops, theyre in positions where they can surround themselves with children.
These positions that we think of as having trustworthy people in them, its worth it to question that.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
