Karen Zerby

The current leader of The Family International cult. Zerby is a U.S. citizen and was born in Camden, New Jersey on July 31, 1946. She legally changed her name to Katherine Rianna Smith in 1997 and uses the pseudonyms Maria David, Maria Berg, Maria Fontaine, Mama Maria, and Queen Maria. Zerby is the mother of Ricky "Davidito" Rodriguez and Christina "Techi" Zerby.

Zerby joined the group, then called Teens for Christ, in 1969. After becoming a private secretary to the group's founder David Berg, a sexual relationship developed between them. In a prophecy titled "A Prophecy of God on the Old Church and the New Church", Berg explained that he had been told by God to leave his first wife, Jane Miller, who represented the "old church", for Zerby who became his common-law second wife and who represented the "new church".

With David Berg's health declining in later years, Zerby began to take a leadership role within the group. Upon his death in October 1994, she assumed full leadership of the cult and married her long-time partner Steven Douglas Kelly (commonly known to members as Peter Amsterdam or King Peter).

Her whereabouts since the early 1970s have always been a closely guarded secret. Many members of The Family International had never seen pictures of her until recent photos were posted on this website for the first time in 2005. Since the Family's "Reboot", she has become somewhat more public. Her last known location was in Ajijic, Jalisco, Mexico in around 2010. [cited X Family]