Our Stories

John Briggs: From Fear to Freedom: Escaping the Grip of Shunning and Addiction

I was born in 1966 and raised as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Some of my earliest memories as a child weren’t of play or joy—they were of fear. I remember my family saying things like, “Any day now,” “Not much lo...

My Father Kept His Secret to Protect Us

I was shunned. The elders asked me deeply personal and inappropriate questions about the man I later married. One of the elders who asked the worst questions—an older man—was later charged with sexually abusing my sister. She was only...

Ezra Moore: Looking In From the Cold: A Journey Beyond the Walls

I grew up in a little mountain town in the Black Hills of South Dakota, raised in a Jehovah’s Witness family. From the start, just about everything in my life was controlled—what I believed, who I spent time with, how I passed my days,...

Martin: Broken by Belief—My Story of Shunning and Survival

I was born into the Jehovah's Witness religion. I was not allowed to associate with anyone outside the faith. During secondary school, I was bullied very badly because I was a Witness. Despite my mom repeatedly visiting the school to intervene, th...

Kalia: From Shunned to Strong—Rebuilding a Life of Purpose and Love

I was a third-generation Jehovah’s Witness—my grandparents joined when my mum was a baby—so for many years, it was all I ever knew. For much of my early childhood, I was also home-educated, which meant I had very little interacti...

Rick Wellstone: Stepping Down to Speak Out

I served as an elder in the Jehovah’s Witness organization, but I couldn’t stomach the elders' meetings anymore. All they wanted to talk about was disfellowshipping and how to avoid being sued. No thanks. I stepped down—and I tol...

Michael Jones: Breaking the Chains of a Cult—My Journey Out of the Watchtower

I was raised a third-generation Jehovah’s Witness. All of my family and friends were Jehovah’s Witnesses (of course my friends were Witnesses—since the cult doesn’t allow you to have friends outside of the religion). I was ...

Lester Rafuse: A Lifetime of Faith, Then Silence

I was basically born into the religion. My grandparents—and subsequently my parents—were converted around the time I was born in 1934. I was thus raised in the religion. As a child, I had to deal with rejecting the flag salute (as an ...

Elle Ariah: Red Flags I Missed—My Life Inside Jehovah’s Witnesses

I was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness from about the age of five. My family and I became involved after fleeing a genocide. I remember my parents saying they were surprised by how loving everyone was, and since that wasn’t an environment...

Lauren: I Lost Everything for Choosing My Own Life

I was born into a religious group called The Geelong Revival Centre. At 18 years old, I had finally had enough. During my first semester at university, my eyes were opened to the world around me. For the first time, I understood what they were al...

Trapped, Betrayed, and Free—My Story of Abuse, Shunning, and Survival

Dedication This story is for every survivor who has been silenced, for those still trapped in cycles of abuse, and for those who are just beginning to find their way out. It is for Pete, who saw me when no one else did. I wish you could see me to...

Julie: Shouldering the Burden—Julie’s Journey from Shunning to Freedom

I was born into the religion (Jehovah's Witnesses). I was disfellowshipped at age 28. At the time, I was married with young children, and both my then-husband and I were disfellowshipped and shunned. It was devastating to us both. We attempted to ...

Yanil Barbosa: Dead to Them—How Mandated Shunning Robs Families of Life and Love

On May 28, 2019, my husband and I left the Organization of Jehova's Witnesses when sudden changes happened. We made research on topics and found out the incompatibilities between dogma and practices accomodating this as "New Light". We found out t...

Daniel Balderas: Escaping the Small Box—My Life with Jehovah's Witnesses

My name is Daniel B. Finally, there's a forum to tell my history. I'm six decades old now. This JW cult has brought death, destruction, and ostracism to my family and me. It all started when my mom and father came to the USA looking for a better ...

Micki: Real Life is Better—My Journey Out of the Jehovah's Witnesses

2020 was the year I realized I had spent most of my life in a doomsday cult. A perfect storm of events propelled me into researching my religion: a breakup, the pandemic, conspiracy theories, and job loss. One day, while on Reddit debunking QAnon ...