Jan Broberg Tearfully Explains 'Validating' Experience With Fellow Victim Heidi Brewer

Jan Broberg was brought to tears while telling Newsweek about making new Peacock documentary A Friend of the Family: True Evil, particularly when reflecting on meeting with fellow victim Heidi Brewer.

From 1972 until 1976, Robert 'B' Berchtold groomed and sexually abused Broberg, making her believe that she had to let him abuse her in order to save an alien civilization, and he also kidnapped her twice at the ages of 12 and 14. At the same time he had manipulated both her parents, Mary Ann and Bob, into having sexual relationships with him as well.

Berchtold abused Brewer in a similar way after he had targeted the Broberg family.

What We Know About Heidi Brewer, Robert Berchtold's Victim After Jan Broberg

Heidi Brewer was targeted by pedophile Berchtold from the ages of 10 to 17 following his time manipulating the Broberg family. In the documentary it is explained that, in 1986, Berchtold was found guilty for rape of a child, Brewer, and had been sentenced to one year in prison.

Brewer had not spoken publicly about the abuse she suffered at the hands of Berchtold before appearing in the documentary, and she explained that her abuser had become involved with her adoptive mother before targeting her.

When she met with Broberg, Brewer shared how Berchtold had pretended to be her father while he had sexually abused her. She came to see the sexual abuse as a "chore" as a coping mechanism.

Brewer also said that Berchtold had shown her a ribbon he'd claimed to have taken from Broberg, and he also had polaroid pictures of Broberg as a child in which she was naked. Broberg explained that she did not have any recollection of the photos being taken.

Jan Broberg Tearfully Explains 'Validating' Experience With Fellow Victim

Broberg told Newsweek how she felt vindicated by Brewer after meeting with her, especially because their experiences of abuse were so similar.

"There's nothing like validating what happened to you, when you can do that with another victim who was victimized by this same predator, this same pedophile, in a very similar way," Broberg said.

"He worked on her mother first and then began raping her at 10 years old, and to have someone else who was a prepubescent, vibrant little girl who loved this man like her father and then to see how he manipulated her mother, and to hear how similar our stories were in that aspect, was so validating. It's very important that people don't feel alone."

Broberg has created the Jan Broberg Foundation, an online community where survivors of abuse can come together and share their stories and, most importantly, be believed, in a similar way to how she hoped Brewer felt when meeting her.

"I was lucky I had parents who—when I finally started talking about what had happened and started to realize that the aliens weren't real and weren't really watching me and started to talk about it—did nothing but listen and believe me, but a lot of victims, including her, this woman that I got to meet [who is an] extraordinary person, did not have that with her parents, with her mother.

"So, for me it was validating, I welcome anyone to come to our online community, whether you had a good experience with your own parents or they were the abusers, or they didn't believe you.

"Come, because people will believe you because there is such [support] in that, being able to tell your story to people that believe you and don't blame you."

Reflecting on Brewer, Broberg went on: "She had a lot of blame, the adults in her world she says knew that he was abusing her [...] whether they just didn't care or they didn't know what to do her abuse went on for eight years, and for me to hug her and to know that no matter what there was one other person on the planet that would completely validate and believe me, and that I was there to validate and believe her, and her experience, was an incredible moment in both of our lives. It brings me to tears right now."

Tearfully, Broberg added: "It's just [a] very, very important thing, it's not even that I'm crying because I'm sad, I'm just grateful. So often people hang onto their childhood abuse stories for so long because they don't feel like they have a voice anymore and they don't feel like if they tell someone they will believe them.

"Because, a lot of times, that's the mistake that is first made. We brush it under the rug, or 'we don't talk about things like that.' 'Oh, you're exaggerating. Oh, you must have misunderstood what uncle so-and-so is doing,' instead of really, truly listening and believing what the little person is saying, whether that little person is just getting their courage at age 25, or 55, or 75.

"It's really an important piece of our own ability to heal and to move past our trauma— people [can] do that one thing for their friends, for their child, for their partner, to just listen and believe them and validate their experience. That is a huge healing moment in and of itself."

"That's why I'm just so passionate about my online community, my foundation," Broberg added. "Because that's truly for healing, also for prevention because once people are back in the driver's seat of their life they realize that they don't have to let their trauma run their lives, that they can do so many things, create so much good. They can also create so much awareness and prevention will happen."

A Friend of the Family: True Evil is out on Peacock now, and true crime drama A Friend of the Family is also on the streaming platform.

Anyone seeking help should call The National Domestic Violence Hotline, a free and confidential hotline available 24/7 that can be reached on 1-800-799-7233 or TTY 1-800-787-3224. The Hotline also provides information on local resources. For more information visit https://www.thehotline.org/.