A Mormon mom of 11 claims her polygamist prophet husband neglected her in favor of his four other wives and demanded she cough up monthly payments to stay on the very same compound she helped develop.
Shirlyn Watson, 71, has slapped her former husband David Watson, 73, with a lawsuit claiming she is entitled to a portion of their shared property in Manti, Utah.
The two wed in January 1973 in a plural marriage conducted through the Apostolic United Brethren, which David would later lead as their prophet.
According to ABC4, David was only legally married to one woman due to ongoing restrictions surrounding polygamy but had five wives.
Shirlyn founded her own business, Shirlyn’s Natural Foods, in 1989 with the store expanding to three separate locations across Salt Lake County.
According to the suit, Shirlyn handed over all of her earnings from her business from the year 2000 onwards ‘to David Watson or directly to provide for the family home’.
In 2016, Shirlyn said she had moved to Manti, Utah, with David and his three other wives – each of whom occupied a separate home on the property.
According to her, she was promised an equal interest in the property along with David’s other wives.
Shirlyn and her ex-husband David ended their relationship of 47 years in 2019 after having 11 children together
David, right, was only legally married to one woman due to ongoing restrictions surrounding polygamy but had five wives
She told the outlet: ‘He promised that he was going to put us on a family trust and that we’d all be taken care of.’
Documents in the suit indicate that she continued to invest into the property, putting around $36,000 into the home.
After leaving and then coming back to David, Shirlyn officially split from her husband of 47 years in August 2019.
In May 2021, David issued Shirlyn and his remaining wives with messages demanding $260 each month to live on the property.
The suit said: ‘Shirlyn Watson refused to pay because she had an ownership interest in the property based on her previous investments.’
She told the outlet: ‘He won’t put my name on the title because I left him. He doesn’t think I have rights to anything.’
Shirlyn also claimed that in February 2020, David started neglecting her and their disabled son, Robert, who has since died.
The lawsuit claimed that David ‘left her there with their disabled son’, while he spent his time with his two other wives.
According to Shirlyn’s lawsuit, she invested some $37,000 in her portion of the compound in Manti, Utah, seen here
Shirlyn and her son Robert are seen here in an image shared to her Facebook profile
David’s legal team filed a response denying several allegations including claims that he promised anyone any interest in the property
After traveling to California for Robert’s celebration of life in 2023, she returned home to Utah to find that David had changed the locks, something he denies doing.
The suit said that Shirlyn’s children asked their father to let her back into the home, to which he ‘reluctantly agreed’.
Shirlyn said that he continues to keep her name off the agreement between himself and his other wives, entitling them to a percentage of the home.
‘I’m asking for my home, I’ve made this my home’, she told the outlet.
‘Somebody needs to take a stand. I’m prepared to take that stand. I’m willing to fight him,’ added Shirlyn, who formally filed suit earlier this month seeking 25 percent of the property.
On her relationship with David, she said: ‘Polygamy really worked for me. I know that that’s really hard for people to accept. It was presented to me, and it felt right.
‘We had a lot of good times together’, adding that David ‘wouldn’t have what he has without me’.
Shirlyn’s children have all since abandoned the religion, and she also rarely attends AUB meetings due to ill health.
She added: ‘He started to lose me years ago. If something came up with “the favorite wife” he would go take care of her first.’
After leaving and returning several times, Shirlyn finally made the decision to leave him for good in August 2019.
David’s legal team has since filed a response denying several allegations, including claims that he promised anyone any interest in the property, saying he owns it 100 percent.
The Daily Mail has contacted Shirlyn and David for comment.
