"Goodbye Germany" couple German theology student has baby with ex-prisoner from the USA
They seem like the likeable young couple next door who are looking forward to having their first child. But behind "Goodbye Deutschland" emigrant Rebecca Brock and her American husband Kory lies an eventful story. The VOX docusoap portrayed the ex-convict and his sweetheart.
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- The "Goodbye Deutschland" participants Rebecca and Kory found each other through a pen pal relationship, although Kory was in prison for robbery at the time.
- Both had been through serious personal crises and found new strength in their Christian faith.
- Despite financial difficulties and an unplanned pregnancy, they mastered the start of family life together and today warn against the glorification of prison relationships.
No, the baby was not planned, admitted the six-month pregnant "Goodbye Deutschland" emigrant Rebecca Brock (26) with a smile in the new episode of the VOX docusoap "Goodbye Deutschland".
It was only six months ago that her husband Kory had been released from prison after twelve years, and they were still new to living together. As a result, Rebecca initially felt overwhelmed when she found out about the pregnancy. In the meantime, however, the joy of her little daughter prevailed.
Her husband Kory (33) was convinced that God had planned for them to become parents sooner than expected. Faith played a major role in the Brocks' marriage - not least because it had helped them both out of extreme crises. Despite a sheltered childhood in a Baptist family, Rebecca had slipped into the drug scene in her youth, had hurt herself and at times no longer wanted to live. A rape had thrown the then 16-year-old completely off track.
But then, she said with tears in her eyes, God came and told her: "You are good. And you are valuable and you are loved and you are important." This helped her to get clean and start studying theology.
Away from hate, towards faith
Out of a desire to give others courage and hope, she contacted Kory from Baldwin, Michigan, who at the time had already been behind bars for nine years for armed robbery of a marijuana store. He had also found new strength in his faith.
He reported that he had used drugs during his first six years in prison. "But they couldn't fill the void." At some point, he was "totally at the end" and found Jesus through a prison brother. "From then on, my life changed completely. Everything negative, the hatred and the evil slowly fell away from me, bit by bit."
"As crazy as it is, we knew relatively quickly that it would end in marriage," Rebecca recalled. The two married in 2022 while Kory was still in prison, and Kory was released just over a year later. The first time in freedom was not easy, the woman in her mid-twenties admitted. After all, they were both facing a completely new start, and they both had different temperaments - she was "relatively introverted" and he was "super extroverted". In the meantime, however, they had both settled in well together.
Financial bottlenecks
But there were more difficulties - money was tight, for example. They both lived in Kory's grandparents' old house in the USA. Rebecca earned some money from social media alongside her studies, while Kory helped out in his father's small business as often as he could. He also studied computer science. Somehow they made ends meet, and Kory was certain: "God is looking after us." And once, out of the blue, a TikTok follower even helped them out with 1,000 dollars, he recounted with emotion.
However, they didn't have the money for a hospital birth, so little Liana Rae was born at home just over a year ago - after a very stressful and complicated pregnancy towards the end. Rebecca's mother Martina Ottacher (49) traveled from Bavaria for two months to support her, and fortunately everything went well in the end. "It's one of those moments you never forget - indescribable!" said the happy new dad.
It's now been a year since the shoot, and in June of this year the couple made up for the big wedding in white in Mühldorf, according to an article in the "OVB Heimatzeitungen". In that article, however, the young woman also warns against romanticizing relationships with prisoners: Many men in prison are in fact very different from how they present themselves. "I was really lucky with Kory. But relationships with men in prison that start as pen pals fail much more often than they work out."
Suicidal thoughts? You can find help here:
- These services are available around the clock for people in suicidal crises and for those around them.
- Dargebotene Hand counseling hotline: Telephone number 143 or www.143.ch
- Pro Juventute counseling hotline (for children and young people): Telephone number 147 or www.147.ch
- Further addresses and information: www.reden-kann-retten.ch
- Addresses for people who have lost someone to suicide:
- Refugium: Association for bereaved people after suicide
- Sea of fog: Perspectives after the suicide of a parent
