Rachel Jeffs

Jeffs, who was born to Warren Jeffs' second wife, had 47 siblings and half-siblings.{{Cite news |last=Bramham |first=Daphne |date=November 22, 2017 |title=Rachel Jeffs on life after polygamy and why she testified against the Blackmores |work=Vancouver Sun |url=https://vancouversun.com/opinion/columnists/daphne-bramham-rachel-jeffs-on-life-after-polygamy-and-why-she-testified-against-the-blackmores}} Her father sexually abused her from age eight until age 16. She received up to an eighth grade education.

Jeffs married in 2002, at age 18, to a man chosen by Warren Jeffs; the couple met for the first time on the day of their wedding. Once she married, Jeffs lived in a home with three 'sister wives', who were also married to her husband. She gave birth to her first child in 2003, at age 19, and she worked at a school run by the church, teaching third graders. Her mother died of breast cancer in 2004.

In 2014, Jeffs was banished from her community and prevented from seeing her children for seven months for allegedly having sex with her husband while pregnant. She has credited this event, and her anger surrounding it, to be the "breaking point" for deciding to leave altogether. Around this time, she also discovered one of her sisters had also been sexually abused by Warren Jeffs, starting at age 6.

Jeffs left the church on December 31, 2014, with her five children and one of her sisters.

After leaving the church, Jeffs moved in with relatives from her mother's side of the family in Centennial Park, another polygamous community. However, Jeffs was put off by the practice of polygamy and ultimately moved away, staying at times in Salt Lake City, Texas, and Montana. She enrolled her five children in public schools, and Jeffs got her GED and started college. The family was on food stamps for a time, and Jeffs taught violin lessons to make money.

Shortly after starting college, Jeffs met Brandon Blackmore, who had also been raised in a fundamentalist Mormon community. The two began a relationship, with Jeffs providing support when Blackmore testified against his parents in November 2016, in a court case involving the marriage of his 13-year-old sister to Warren Jeffs in 2004. Jeffs and Blackmore married in September 2017.{{Cite web |title=A&E's 'Secrets Of' Franchise Expands with New Documentary Series 'Secrets of Polygamy' Premiering Monday, January 8 at 10PM ET/PT |url=https://www.aetv.com/news/secrets-of-polygamy-premieres-january-8 |access-date=2023-12-12 |website=A&E |language=en}}

Jeffs has since spoken out against her father and the religion,{{Citation |title=Rachel Jeffs accuses father of abuse {{!}} CNN |date=2017-11-11 |url=https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2017/11/11/rachel-jeffs-warren-jeffs-abuse-orig.cnn |access-date=2023-12-12 |language=en}} appearing in reality television shows such as Escaping Polygamy, and Secrets of Polygamy.{{Cite web |date=2017-11-10 |title=Daughter of polygamist Warren Jeffs tells how she broke free of his cult |url=https://www.today.com/news/daughter-polygamist-warren-jeffs-tells-how-she-broke-free-his-t118665 |access-date=2023-12-12 |website=TODAY.com |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Bobic |first=Chrissy |date=2021-03-05 |title=Rachel Jeffs Has Dedicated Her Life to Speaking out Against the FLDS Church |url=https://www.distractify.com/p/where-is-rachel-jeffs-now |access-date=2023-12-12 |website=Distractify |language=en-US}} She later moved to Idaho and identifies as a Christian.{{Cite web |last=Gaudette |first=Emily |date=2017-11-14 |title=FLDS Prophet's Daughter: "Pedophiles Are All the Same" |url=https://www.newsweek.com/mormons-flds-warren-jeffs-cult-rachel-711470 |access-date=2023-12-12 |website=Newsweek |language=en}}

One of her siblings, Roy Jeffs, also left the religion and died by suicide in 2019.{{Cite web |last=Whitehurst |first=Lindsay |date=2019-06-04 |title=Son who spoke out against infamous polygamous leader dies |url=https://apnews.com/article/823e3b491b7b4d69ac75caf2de33d280 |access-date=2023-12-12 |website=AP News |language=en}} Another sibling, Helaman Jeffs, is still a high-ranking member of the church.{{Cite web |last=Tupper |first=Seth |date=2019-03-03 |title=Polygamous compound has new overseer, court records indicate |url=https://rapidcityjournal.com/polygamous-compound-has-new-overseer-court-records-indicate/article_6222f3b1-3aac-576a-b3d1-d06e9a547000.html |access-date=2023-12-12 |website=Rapid City Journal |language=en}} Ammon Jeffs, one of Rachel's full-blooded siblings left the church in 2023 and also published his memoir the following year.{{Cite web |title=Ammon Jeffs: books, biography, latest update |url=https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B0D1TJQ6MS |access-date=2024-05-01 |website=Amazon.com |language=en-us}}

• Breaking Free: How I Escaped Polygamy, the FLDS Cult, and My Father, Warren Jeffs (2017){{Cite web |title=Book excerpt: Rachel Jeffs, daughter of a polygamist and prophet, gets news that scatters her family from Utah to Texas |url=https://www.sltrib.com/news/polygamy/2017/11/12/book-excerpt-rachel-jeffs-daughter-of-a-polygamist-and-prophet-gets-news-that-scatters-her-family-from-utah-to-texas/ |access-date=2023-12-12 |website=The Salt Lake Tribune |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |date=2017-11-10 |title=Book Excerpt: Breaking Free |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/dateline/book-excerpt-breaking-free-n819786 |access-date=2023-12-12 |website=NBC News |language=en}}

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Category:Living people

Category:21st-century American memoirists

Category:21st-century American women writers

Category:American women memoirists

Category:Former members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Category:People from Short Creek Community

Category:1983 births