A man born into a fundamentalist Mormon cult is speaking out about his very unconventional upbringing.
Calvin Wayman, 34, left the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) in 2019 after finding the religion too restrictive — and didn’t realize that his family situation was far from normal until he relocated to California.
“I had five parents all in the same house: one dad, my biological mom, and three other moms,” Wayman divulged in a new episode of Truly’s “My Extraordinary Family.” “I also have 44 siblings!”
He further explained, “We grew up on a farm. We worked together, we fed the animals, milked the cow.”
Wayman told the show that he relished his childhood and is thankful for his enormous clan — but they did not all support his decision to leave FLDS.
“Hands down, the best part of my life and upbringing is having 44 siblings,” said. “But there were certain key points in my life where the religion became very detrimental to my development. [And] When you have 50 people in your family, there’s a lot of different reactions.”
Wayman revealed his father was saddest about his decision to leave the religion, saying: “He took it personally.”
“He was really wanting to understand why, and then he tried to talk me out of it,” he explained. “He gave me a couple of different books and said, ‘Please, read these before you make the full decision’. I said, ‘I will read them, but I’ve already decided.’”
Meanwhile, fellow members of the FLDS were “judgemental,” Wayman alleged.
“A lot of people in the community were quick to say something sharp,” he asserted in the program. “Because as far as their view goes, I was someone that got sucked into the allure of fame and money in the world, and it got incredibly toxic in some places.”
After relocating to California, Wayman said he needed to “deprogram” himself and adjust to life outside of fundamentalism.
Wayman’s mom Christine, has 12 biological children — six of whom have now left FLDS.
She has now recently followed in their footsteps and appeared on the same episode of “My Extraordinary Family” to tell her story.
“I have about six children that have left [the religion] and as they grew up they gave me bits and pieces of things to think about,” she explained.
“Once you are away from the religion and the location, a lot of those things in your mind that are going on drop off,” the mom further declared.
The mother and son aren’t the only ex-FLDS members to share their stories about leaving the religion of late.
Last year, Ruby Steed, 24, went viral on TikTok after talking about life in the cult.
FLDS was previously under the control of Warren Jeffs — who is currently serving a life prison sentence, with no chance of parol until July 2038, for sexually assaulting two girls.
It is said he pushed polygamy within the church, as well as the marriage of underage girls.
Jeff’s own son, Wendall, recently spoke out against his “manipulative” dad and said he was forging his own path.