A Cult Child's Journey Through Hell

As the prophet’s nephew on a radical polygamist compound, Brent Jeffs lived in a world of sexual terror, familial confusion, and religious brainwashing. Then he escaped—and his demons followed him.

When Texas raided the Yearning for Zion ranch and took over 400 children into custody in April 2008, I knew it wouldn’t be long before my colleague Bruce Perry was involved. Bruce is most famous for having treated the children who were released by the Branch Davidian cult during the tense siege in 1993 at Waco, which ended in the deaths of 71 members, 20 of them children.

And indeed, Texas child-welfare officials quickly contacted him for advice on helping children raised in the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. They also brought in a different type of expert: Brent Jeffs, the nephew of Warren Jeffs, who was the “prophet” of that group.

“Was the sex worth it?” he asked rhetorically. Suddenly, he threw his arms open wide and almost shouted, “Nooooo.”

Brent grew up in the elite of the FLDS, on the Salt Lake City-area compound of Rulon Jeffs. Rulon was Brent’s grandfather and served as the church’s prophet before Warren took over. Brent’s father had three wives—two of whom are sisters—and 20 children. Brent is the 10th.

Lost Boy. By Brent W. Jeffs with Maia Szalavitz. Broadway Books. 256 pages. $24.95. Bruce and Brent got to talking, and when he heard Brent’s story, he knew that I would be interested in knowing more. As a journalist, I’ve covered “troubled teen” programs that have cult-like qualities or have actually become cults—and in my work with Bruce on The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog we focused on traumatized children.

Brent’s story has both of those elements. In kindergarten, Brent was raped by his uncle Warren, who was then the principal of his school. After Brent’s brother Clayne committed suicide following revelations of his own victimization, Brent decided that he had to do something to prevent other children from being hurt.

It was Brent’s civil lawsuit for sex abuse, together with a case brought by other “lost boys” who’d left or been expelled from the church that drove the “prophet” underground and led eventually to him appearing on the FBI’s Most Wanted list. Although prosecutors never took up Brent’s case criminally, it was his courage that ultimately led to Warren Jeffs’ downfall.

I knew it would be a challenge to tell a story that did justice to both the bizarre world of fundamentalist Mormon polygamy and to the sexual abuse that had occurred at the hands of the FLDS’ prophet. Those two elements are not unconnected: One thing that became clear to me while working on the book is that patriarchal polygamy, with its system of unchecked power, ineluctably produces child sexual abuse.

Every morning, at what was around 8 a.m. for me and 6 a.m. for him, Brent and I would talk on phone before he left for work. I knew that for the book to work, we’d have to feel safe enough with each other that he could tell me the most traumatic aspects of his story.