She Locked the Fridge. We Ate From the Trash

Unfiltered Stories

Christi Wedel’s childhood was marked by unimaginable challenges. Her stepmother controlled every aspect of their lives, locking the fridge, creating a toxic home filled with fear and pain. For years, Christi and her siblings endured emotional and physical abuse while struggling to survive. This powerful story sheds light on resilience, survival, and the journey toward healing. Watch to learn how Christi found strength to overcome her past and reclaim her life.   #toxicparent #childhoodtrauma #survivalstory   Thank you for watching Unfiltered Stories! We offer a platform for our guests to speak openly about their life stories and journeys, shedding light on the challenges they faced and the resilience they've shown.   Our mission is to raise awareness about survivors by delving into their stories, exploring the impact of their experiences, and how they've managed to heal and rebuild their lives.  By sharing these stories, we aim to break the silence surrounding those challenging memories and create a compassionate environment.   Find Christi Wedel on her socials:  Website: https://christiw0623.wixsite.com/shadows-to-serenity   🌅 FOLLOW US 🌅  Facebook ➮ https://tinyurl.com/UnfilteredFB  Tiktok ➮ https://tinyurl.com/UnfilteredTT  Snapchat ➮ https://tinyurl.com/UnfilteredSN

Transcript

00:00There was no way to eat anything unless she gave it to us.

00:03I could barely handle what was happening already.

00:06I couldn't imagine what was going to happen if I actually, you know, did tell someone.

00:12It was eight full years of this torture.

00:19I was born in Houston, Texas. I had a doting mom and dad in the beginning.

00:25Then my parents got divorced when I was about three years old.

00:28And my older sister was around seven years old.

00:33And that's when the cracks started to appear in what I thought was our perfect little family.

00:41My sister and I went to live with my dad.

00:44The divorce was really, really hard on my mom.

00:47Pretty quickly after their divorce, he meets her.

00:52That would be my stepmom.

00:54I remember at first, uh, being so excited.

00:59Uh, she had this beautiful, bright, shiny blonde hair.

01:04I just remember the blonde hair and the blue, bright blue eyes.

01:08They got married.

01:09And I remember walking down the aisle, um, in my beautiful pastel pink dress.

01:15And I remember thinking that she looked like a princess.

01:19I just loved everything about her.

01:22Shortly after they got married, they ended up having two children back to back.

01:26So now we are a family of four.

01:29My dad, uh, bought this, this two-story house.

01:32And now we live happily ever after.

01:35And that's not what happened.

01:42I'll never forget the day that I felt the shift.

01:45And it was a tone in her voice.

01:49And it was a, a shift in the eyes, the way the eyes, the, her eyes would look at us.

01:56The innocence and the sweetness kind of left her, her face.

02:01And maybe I had made up that she was that way all along.

02:05I don't know, but I was very, very confused because there were starting to be looks and

02:10anger and things that I'd never experienced before.

02:14And then those angry looks then quickly turned to angry pinches.

02:19And then those angry pinches quickly turned to, you know, a backhand on the face because

02:26I spoke for too long or I just, I did something wrong.

02:30I didn't clean something the way that she expected it to be cleaned.

02:35And it started against smaller in pinches and shoves and, uh, grabbing of the, of the shoulders

02:44and the arms and the shaking.

02:45And then it became rather quickly, uh, beatings and those beatings became almost unbearable.

02:53It was eight full years of, of this torture.

02:56We didn't think about telling anyone because they thought it was normal.

02:59We had beat marks all over us, bite marks to welts from switches to open wounds from boards

03:07where she would just beat us relentlessly.

03:10There was also these punishments, like one specifically was we had to hold out by our side,

03:17these heavy bricks, like bricks that you build a home with.

03:20And we would hold these out for hours to where eventually your arm inadvertently, it just gives

03:27out.

03:27I mean, you don't even, you can't physically hold it up any longer.

03:31And then because we dropped our arm, we got beat while we were supposed to be holding the

03:37bricks and it just became, you know, having, um, open wounds and, and all over the place was,

03:44was an everyday occurrence.

03:45And the starving started around the same time.

03:50She had a padlock on the refrigerator and, um, also another freezer where they kept food

03:58sort of in the, in the garage.

03:59There was no way to eat anything unless she gave it to us.

04:03It was considered stealing food.

04:05If we went into the pantry and tried to grab a snack or get a peanut butter sandwich or anything

04:11at all,

04:11I wasn't there going to speak of what was happening because if I did speak of those things,

04:17I knew I had been warned that the beating would be so severe.

04:22I don't, I couldn't, I could barely handle what was happening already.

04:26I couldn't imagine what was going to happen if I actually, you know, did tell someone.

04:31It wasn't until my sister hit high school.

04:36Yeah.

04:37She was a freshman in high school and this is where in Texas, at least you start to dress

04:42out for gym or PE period.

04:45And this is where you would put on like a gym uniform.

04:49So you have to take your clothes off.

04:51The teacher noticed that my sister had bruises and bite marks and welts all up and down her skin

04:59and all up and down her back and front and all over her skin and body.

05:03And they reported it.

05:05That was what opened up the investigation in the, for the very first time into our childhood

05:10and into what was going on.

05:12Those, those things take time and they, and they contact your family.

05:17And, um, the beatings after that happened were relentless, but they started to only put the things

05:24where, uh, they couldn't be seen basically like under your underwear, panties or whatever.

05:30They did an investigation and they ended up taking us out of our home, the state of Texas,

05:35said, okay, this looks like it's pretty bad and, um, put us in foster care.

05:40I mean, we weren't being beat, beaten, but there was other types of abuse that was, that were going on.

05:45Then they were rehabilitated after six months.

05:49Maybe they went to all the classes and they did the things and, um, so they were rehabilitated.

05:55And so they put us right back into, into our home.

05:59Oddly enough, we had become so accustomed to trauma and drama and the chaos that we felt at home again.

06:08We felt like it was a welcome feeling to be back where at least we knew what was going to

06:15happen.

06:15Things aren't as bad, but very quickly become worse than they even were before.

06:21Now I have this ache of no one loves me.

06:24I'm unlovable.

06:25Maybe if I had done this differently, or maybe if I hadn't said this,

06:30I really internalized all of that abuse like it was my fault.

06:34We're just these two broken children.

06:36And this sweet, sweet couple comes to visit us and they're just the sweetest Christian couple.

06:44They come and they take us and they take us to a store for the first time we get to

06:50actually go to a store.

06:51So that couple quickly takes us in and they want to become our foster parents.

06:57And they did become our foster parents.

06:59They took us to their home.

07:02I mean, it was unassuming, but, but beautiful and safe.

07:05I just remember for the first time in my life feeling safe.

07:12And I didn't know what that felt like.

07:15So it felt like home to me, what home should have felt like the whole time.

07:21Right?

07:21We had our own rooms, which was a whole new concept as well.

07:26We had our own bed.

07:28We didn't have that ever.

07:30I'm becoming a teenager now and I want to go have fun because in the midst of all of this,

07:36as a teenager, I've discovered out which would become my downfall.

07:40Then I turned very angry at the world.

07:43I start dressing in black.

07:44I'm what they call goth at this point.

07:47The one thing I had saved through all of this for what I thought was going to be for my

07:52future husband

07:53was taken away from me unexpectedly when I was 16 and I went to a party and there was alcohol

08:01there.

08:01Again, that's what was taken from me that evening.

08:05And then I just gave up on, on everything.

08:08Like what, what good am I now?

08:11Like I'm, I'm washed up.

08:12I'm used goods, so to speak.

08:14And so that's really how I saw myself.

08:17And so that's how I started living my life.

08:19I was like, I don't, who cares?

08:22Who cares anymore?

08:23And then I met him.

08:26I think that my whole life is figured out.

08:30Everything that I've been through was now going to be tied up in this pretty bow.

08:36And, uh, he was going to fix me because I thought that that was a thing.

08:40I looked up to him.

08:41He came from this religious family and they were so sweet and they were so kind on the outside.

08:47Everyone was, was just so loving and giving and they accepted me for who I was.

08:53They, they knew about my traumatic background and they loved me anyway.

08:58And to me, that was just my whole world opened up a whole new world really opened up for me.

09:05And we decided to, to get married.

09:07We, uh, get pregnant with my daughter and I think to myself, this is now everyone will be proud of

09:17me.

09:17I discover some things that are happening that I'm not going to go into detail here that go against

09:23what we are, uh, claiming to be all about when we go to church.

09:28So those things are very conflicting and very confusing and, and quite frankly, very, very hurtful.

09:35And, um, and so we, we ended up getting divorced.

09:38Then the real or the real pain starts because her dad, her dad takes her from me.

09:45My heart is truly, truly broken in, in shattered into a million pieces.

09:51I don't want to, I really don't want to live, but I have to live for her sake.

09:55I do the best that I can do. And the best that I can do is turn to alcohol and

10:00drugs.

10:00And so I do, I fall in love with this, the bad boy, so to speak.

10:05And we start living together and it's just chaos from the beginning.

10:10We both have at this point untreated mental health issues that we are masking with lots of alcohol

10:18and dabbled in there as well. And then I, and then I'm pregnant.

10:22I get pregnant with my son and I think, oh my gosh, I've been given a second chance.

10:30I have a really rough pregnancy because at this point I'm 38 years old. So I'm,

10:35it's already a high risk pregnancy. Then my son is born. After my son was born,

10:39the recovery was really hard. I went to a 30 day inpatient rehab facility in, uh, Las Vegas of all

10:47places. It was hard because my son was, was barely three years old. He was a baby.

10:52And I had to leave him at the airport. I'll never forget. He was sitting on a bench with his

10:57dad.

10:58And I had to, I had to tell him goodbye because I just knew, I just knew that if I

11:05didn't,

11:06if I didn't get permanent help, that I was going to keep doing what I always did because I don't

11:13have

11:13any coping skills. I don't know how to deal with life on life's terms. I don't know how to deal

11:18with

11:18pain, rejection, uh, love. I don't know how to emote properly. If you will. I went to every class

11:26in that 30 day rehab. I went to every, every class and listened to them as painful as it was

11:31to leave

11:31my son. That's where the foundation of my recovery began. I got out and I did what they suggested. I,

11:38I found a home group and I started in on this, this journey of recovery. And I have now been

11:44sober

11:45for a little over 10 years. I owe it all to the program of recovery and to my God who

11:52was there

11:53with me through all, all of the horrific abuse. And what I learned is that God never abandoned me.

12:01He was there with me through all of it, lifting my head up and holding me when the abuse happened,

12:09not sheltering me from it, but holding me in his arms the whole time. And it was a revelation.

12:17I'll never forget. When I realized that God has been with me all along, it was me who was running

12:23from him all those years. I didn't think I was worthy of that kind of love, but I am worthy

12:29of that kind

12:29of love. I did pray before this. I'm a praying woman and I know that this will reach exactly who

12:36it's supposed to reach. And so if you are watching and listening to this, you are worthy of recovery.

12:42And you can reach out to me. I'm on social media. You can reach out to me anytime. We will

12:47figure it

12:47out together because that's what I do now. I hope that you will give yourself a chance.

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