Escaping Polygamy
The docu-series follows three young sisters who escaped a polygamist clan YouTube screengrab/A&E

A&E's controversial docu-series Escaping Polygamy will return with season 2 on 10 July. The show follows three young sisters who escaped a polygamy set-up and are helping others break free of dangerous and abusive lifestyles.

In a promo released by A&E, one of the three sisters, Andrea Brewer, recounts the ordeal she and her siblings endured as children. "We were terrified because he's beaten us plenty of times in the past," Brewer tells the camera while recalling an ear piercing incident where her father John Daniel threatened to rip her then 15-year-old sister Jessica Christensen's ears.

Polygamists considered human bodies as temples of god, according to US Weekly, and hence considered ear piercing a taboo.

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"He jumped over his desk, and he lunged at us. And he grabbed Jess' head, and he was pushing her down and said, 'I'm going to rip your earrings out — take your earrings out. I'm going to rip them out if you don't take them out.'"

The sisters fought for freedom from their parents in a court battle. In the newly released promo she reveals how the legal case hurt the sisters again. "During the trial, Jessica and I had to testify, and I had to relive all the abuse that my dad put us through. He would hit us with boards, he would force us to eat rotten food, and if we'd throw it up, he'd force us to eat that," Andrea told the camera.

In a separate promo, Jessica revealed that she was forced to date her uncle. "When I was 14, I was courted by my 42-year-old uncle," she said. "He would have me explore fantasies with him. My parents condoned it. My mom caught him with me — she didn't do a thing, didn't say a word."

She also blamed her mother for doing nothing to protect her from the abuses she was suffering. "My mom's biggest failure is, she was the person who was supposed to protect me and never did. She never protected me from Daniel, and then here I am at 14 — she knows I'm being groomed by a 42-year-old man, and she does nothing about it. That's where my mom's biggest failure is. She never protected me, and she did not protect her children."

Below is the promo released via US Weekly: