Vernon Pierce doesn't mind admitting that he told his four wives so many lies, he had to start a log to keep his stories straight.
He'll also concede that he used money from one wife to court another and laughed all the way to the altar.
But there's one question the Glendale, Ariz., man won't answer: Why?
Why did the handsome, 33-year-old ex-model decide to marry four women in two states, vowing to love, honor and obey three times in a three-month period earlier this year? Asked that question, Mr. Pierce just shakes his head.
"There's no easy answer to that," he said, speaking from his town house yesterday before turning himself in to police, who had issued a warrant charging Mr. Pierce with bigamy. "It's a very long explanation, and some things could be taken out of context, and then it would do more harm than good."
But Mr. Pierce, who was being held last night in Glendale City Jail in lieu of $1,500 bail, will talk about the bizarre lifestyle that had him juggling four wives and constantly traveling between Phoenix and Los Angeles.
He told his wives that a job forced him to travel, but that was a lie.
"I didn't have a job," he said with a wry smile. "I didn't have time."
For money, Mr. Pierce said, he relied on gifts from friends and from his wives, none of whom knew about the others until last summer. Besides being married, he was dating other women, which explains a 3-by-5 card found by police in Mr. Pierce's home, headed "Who to Marry" and listing several other female names.
"I had been contemplating other marriages," he said. "But those [on the card] weren't the only women I was seeing."
To keep track of all the stories and the women, Mr. Pierce took notes he later compiled in a little black book he carried in his wallet.
But his system wasn't fool-proof.
"Obviously, there was a lot of lying going on," he said. "I did the best I could, but I still made mistakes."
Glendale police uncovered court records identifying four marriages:
August 1989, to Ladranda Pierce, 32, of Los Angeles.
April 29, to Charmaine Whalen, 23, of Palmdale, Calif.
May 11, to Jamillah Thompson, 21, of Phoenix.
June 5, to Lemitri "Mimi" Reed, 27, of Culver City, Calif.
Mr. Pierce's quadruple life began to fall apart June 6, when Ms. Whalen sent Glendale police out to his home to check on him after he had been out of touch for a while. The police found another wife, Ms. Thompson, knocking on Mr. Pierce's door, and soon the two women were comparing notes.
Mr. Pierce had agreed to turn himself in to police in the fall, but he panicked after he came home to find that police had searched his townhouse. The place was a mess, he said.
"I had this vision of me being treated like my house," Mr. Pierce said. "I couldn't get that out of mind."
Mr. Pierce, who was married and divorced once before and has two sons by different mothers, ultimately decided to give himself up after Mimi Reed said she would stand by him if he did. He said he didn't want the warrant hanging over his head.
He is now living with Ms. Reed and intends to stay married to her.