The Jeffson family was manipulated by their father, Warren Jeffs, a polygamist cult leader.
He had no control over his life when he was growing up on a 1,700-acre ranch.
He was told what to wear, eat, read, and think, but he never had a toy.
Four years after he left the fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints with his mother and sister, Jeffson doesn't want to be seen as a victim.
He said he wants to build on that experience to give himself a better future.
Jeffson, who changed his last name from Jeffs to symbolize his new beginning, spoke with Insider about his life in the community ahead of the Tuesday release of Peacock's new true-crime documentary.
The former cult members who participated in the show are Jeffson, his mother Vicki, and his sister Sarah.
Jeffson said that it would explain Warren Jeff's role in establishing the compound in Texas, raising us up excluded from the outside world, and making that cult into what became: the FLDS.
When he was 3-years-old, Jeffson remembers.
His father separated his children from their mothers in Colorado City, Utah, to take them to his ranch in Texas.
Jeffson wondered why he was being separated from his mom. I didn't understand what was happening.
At the ranch, where his mother joined him about six months later, everyone lived in a large home that Jeffson compared to a hotel.
The children woke up at 5 a.m. each day to help make breakfast and clean up.
Kids as young as 4 years old were sent to the gardens to pick weeds, and they stayed until they were called in to prepare lunch. He said it would start over.
There was no music, no internet, no TV, no movies, nothing of that nature, Jeffson said.
The church remained intact even after Jeffs was arrested because he kept his family and followers in the dark.
His followers and family were kept blind to rampant pedophilia.
During a routine traffic stop, the cult leader was charged with rape and sexual conduct with a minor in Utah and Arizona.
The ranch was raided in 2008 after law enforcement received a tip of child marriage and sexual abuse on the property.
Jeffson, who was around seven at the time, said that he was told his father was in prison because he was doing God's work and the devil was against him.
He was marrying 12-year-olds and I was told that they were not my mom.
More than 400 children were taken from the property and separated from their parents.
Jeffson and his sister were separated from their mother for six weeks.
Jeffson began questioning his father's teachings when he had only brief excursions off the ranch.
Jeffson had met non-white men and women who treated him kindly, even though the FLDS followers were taught that people of color were bad.
He didn't understand why he had to wear long-sleeves and couldn't play with toys.
He first took a stand against the teachings when he was nearly 18 years old.
He had never been taught about sex or dating.
He was told by his mother that if they stayed in the church, he would be assigned a wife just like he was made to marry Jeffs.
He said that he told his mom that he did not want anyone to control who he married or who he spent his life with.
His mother was going to leave the church, but Jeffson was still loyal to his father.
Jeffson said that the church didn't use physical threats to keep them from leaving, but that living in the community was a fishbowl and the constant mental abuse was enough pressure to prevent many followers from straying.
He told us that if we left the FLDS, we would burn in hell. It was emotional, and it was very devious. That is where the fight really was.
They decided to leave the group after more discussions with his mother. He rented a house for his mom and sister after he got a construction job.
He had to learn more about himself, from what he liked to eat to what he believed in.
It is a crime to take a child bride, and what that means.
He is in jail because I was taught these things. He deserved to be in jail because he knew better.
Jeffson is proud of his family for leaving the FLDS.
He is a student and working in the insurance industry.
Sarah is graduating high school this month.
His mother has a baby boy.
Jeffson said that his mother is his hero because she has led the way in leaving the FLDS.
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