Where Is Wendell Jeffs Now? Peacock Docuseries Has Answers (EXCLUSIVE)

A new Peacock docuseries dives into the life of convicted kid abuser, FLDS prophet Warren Jeffs. His son Wendell is featured within the collection. Where is he now?

The Peacock docuseries Preaching Evil: A Wife on the Run With Warren Jeffs details the upward thrust and fall of Warren Jeffs, who to nowadays is still the president of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS). He's also their prophet. This is surprising given the fact that on Aug. 9, 2011, Jeffs was convicted of 2 counts of sexual assault of a child and sentenced to lifestyles in prison.

Much of the information about Jeffs within the sequence is supplied through his "favorite wife," Naomi Jessop, who used to be his scribe. She saved a careful log of the entirety he did and said, which in the end helped authorities once he was arrested.

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This tale is also concerning the 1000's of other folks whose lives were impacted by Jeffs, together with one of his different wives (he had a number of) Vicki Thompson and her two kids: Sarah Jeffs and Wendell Jeffs (now Jeffson). Distractify was once able to speak with Wendell about his time in the church, his courting along with his father, and where he is now.

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Where is Wendell Jeffs now?

Growing up in the FLDS, Wendell had a contented childhood. He was once surrounded via different children, a large family who liked him, and a community of people who held the same ideals that he was brought up with. However, beneath this pleasure there existed an undercurrent of darkness that was once fueled via his father, FLDS leader Warren Jeffs.

Wendell's mother, Vicki Thompson, was Jeffs's eighth spouse, and there was once not anything she wanted more than to be together with her children. Unfortunately, it did not take lengthy for Jeffs to start marrying girls who had been more youthful and younger, one whilst younger as 12.

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Members of the church were inexplicably cast out, whilst some kids (like Wendell) were completely separated from their households and despatched to different church locations. Soon, Jeffs would relocate some of the FLDS members from Utah to a new location in Texas he referred to as the Yearning for Zion ranch.

What no person knew then, and what would turn out to be clear later, is the truth that Texas used to be chosen due to its age of consent laws. What Jeffs was doing with underage girls in the end stuck up with him, and he was once arrested while on the run with "favorite wife" Naomi.

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The chaos, confusion, brainwashing, and abandonment Wendell felt as a kid is something he's ready to talk about now with a contemporary point of view. Of direction, he needed to go away the church first, which wasn't easy.

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"To be honest with you, for the first few years my mental health wasn't great, and I think the biggest problem was that I was too proud to really admit that I wasn't in a great space, mentally," Wendell stated about getting away from the FLDS along with his mother and sister. Something that he strived to do first was once really to find himself, and check out to determine who he was once break away the church.

"You don't know what to believe. You don't know what your values are. You don't know what is right or wrong," he explained. "You want to take everything that you have had in the past, and you've been taught in the past, and just cast it out, put it in a box. You have to redefine your values."

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Of path, in seeking to deprogram himself from one of the crucial more poisonous teachings, Wendell also opened himself up to some excellent things as neatly, reminiscent of song. "I really like Imagine Dragons," he said excitedly.

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Discovering spare time activities and interests is new for Wendell, as is operating on his psychological health, which he's committed to every day. All things thought to be, it was stunning listening to how grounded he is.

"I'm always learning as far as my mental health," he told us. "I'm proud to say I feel like I am doing great now. It took three years to get to where I have that confidence to really build myself to where I can become the person that I have now become."

And who is that person? Well, that particular person is in love. He's currently engaged to a woman he admits has introduced many things into his existence, one of which is higher style alternatives. They reside together and are building the kind of lifestyles that Wendell may just not most likely have imagined while nonetheless with the church. You see, his fiancée is Black, and something Warren Jeffs drilled into Wendell and the FLDS contributors was once the conclusion that Black individuals are evil.

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Wendell was once very frank about operating to discard those thoughts and really much enjoys learning about how "amazing the Black community really is." Making the selection to do the appropriate factor is by no means easy. Wendell has definitely struggled to undo the entire damage inflicted upon him via his father's teachings, however it is impressive to witness how one individual actually can alternate.

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Does Wendell forgive Warren Jeffs?

"I do not agree with anything that he has done, at all. I better not ever agree with it," he mentioned, rightfully offended.

Wendell needs extra time to in all probability forgive Warren Jeffs, but he also does not blame him. "I feel like I'm a stronger and a better person because of those experiences because I haven't allowed myself to be victimized from it," he stated.

This is additionally made clear by the fact that, sooner or later, Wendell would like to begin a company that helps different FLDS participants go away the church. "I want to, in the future, create some outreach resources to help people," he published.

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Ideally, this endeavor would assist former contributors determine a existence outside of the church via doing such things as paying faculty tuition for any individual as long as they take care of good grades. What he in point of fact desires them to understand is that they do not have Warren Jeffs to continue to exist. "Warren Jeffs has absolutely no control over them, and they don't need to ask him before they make any life decisions whatsoever," Wendell mentioned. "That's their life."

Wendell can now show them simply how good life can also be. He's in school and is engaged to a girl he loves. Wendell's heart is full and his thoughts is open to whatever comes his approach. Perhaps he can best possible be described using the lyrics of Imagine Dragons' "Believer": "Don't you tell me what you think that I could be. I'm the one at the sail. I'm the master of my sea."

Preaching Evil: A Wife on the Run With Warren Jeffs is recently to be had to circulate on Peacock.

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