Laake was born Deborah Elsbeth Legler in Phoenix, Arizona. She was raised as a member of the LDS Church and attended
Brigham Young University. After she stopped practicing the religion, she published the book
Secret Ceremonies. In the book she describes her childhood, her marriage, her divorce and the
temple ceremonies in the LDS Church. She also blames the church "for her inability to enjoy marital intercourse, for her three failed marriages, for her attempted suicide, and for the two months she spent in a psychiatric institution". The book was a commercial success; it spent 15 weeks on the
New York Times best-seller list and over 500,000 copies were printed. Writing in
Religion News Service,
Jana Riess characterizes
Secret Ceremonies as a "go-for-the-jugular exposé" typical of the
ex-Mormon memoirs of her era. Shortly after the book's publication Laake was
excommunicated for
apostasy because of her criticisms and also for her "detailed revelation of top-secret Mormon temple ceremonies". In 1994, Laake was diagnosed with
breast cancer. In 2000, she committed suicide by "ingesting an overdose of pills" in Charleston,
South Carolina. At the time of her death; Laake was being actively treated for depression. According to her friend and former coworker Terry Green Sterling, this depression was severe and it began several years prior to the suicide. ==Awards==