My Mormon Leader Abused Me as a Teen - Heidi Bruno Pt. 1 | Ep. 2091
Mormon Stories Podcast
Dr. John Dehlin
4.6 • 5.2K Ratings
🗓️ 8 December 2025
⏱️ 142 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Join us today for the start of an epic two-part episode with Heidi Bruno, who is here to share her story of abuse within the church and her experience of losing a child as a Mormon mother.
In Part 1, Heidi details her history of sexual abuse as a teenager by the Elders Quorum President in her ward—while her father was serving as bishop. We discuss how her abuser groomed her using highly manipulative tactics and by abusing his authority in the ward. For years afterward, Heidi carried the shame of this abusive relationship, not understanding until much later that she had been a victim. She also shares what ultimately led her to speak up about the abuse once she gained the awareness that she had been victimized.
Then, join us later this week for Part 2 of Heidi’s story, where she discusses the loss of her eight-year-old daughter to cancer and the effect this devastating loss had on her LDS faith. You will not want to miss this powerful and important Mormon Story.
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Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hello, everyone, and welcome to another edition of Mormon Stories podcast. |
| 0:03.2 | I am your host for today, John DeLinn. |
| 0:05.3 | It's November 17th, 2025. |
| 0:08.2 | I'm here with my wife, Margie. |
| 0:09.7 | Hey, Margie. |
| 0:10.2 | Hello. |
| 0:10.8 | Thanks for joining. |
| 0:11.7 | Yeah. |
| 0:12.6 | Today we have kind of a somber, but important story. |
| 0:17.4 | We are here to have someone tell the story of experiencing sexual abuse as a teenage |
| 0:24.7 | Mormon young women in her ward by the Elders Corn president who was in his 30s while her father |
| 0:32.9 | was bishop. So that's kind of the first part of the story. And of course, it has ripples and |
| 0:41.0 | implications all throughout her life. This is something that's not contested. This is an abuse |
| 0:46.1 | story that is very well established. And also, a second part of the story is her maturation |
| 0:53.4 | into adulthood, how the abuse within a |
| 0:56.2 | Mormon context affected her and her life as a mom and as a wife, etc. And then later, she |
| 1:05.1 | experiences the illness and eventual passing away of one of her children. |
| 1:18.7 | And that, along with questions around her faith, are kind of maybe the, I don't know, |
| 1:21.5 | if the dramatic climax is the right way to say it. |
| 1:25.2 | But like, those are some of the main themes we're going to be covering today. |
| 1:29.1 | And all the appropriate forewarnings that if people are particularly sensitive to matters of abuse, child abuse, et cetera, |
| 1:36.3 | please take care in whatever way you need to so that you and those around you have a healthy |
... |
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