Roydon Gibbs grew up as a second-generation member of a Jehovah's Witness family. In the early 1950s, his mother, grandmother and father were recruited by Jehovah's Witnesses and became members. A decade later, Roydon was born, the youngest of five children in a family fully immersed in the world of Jehovah's Witnesses. At the age of 15, he became a ‘dedicated’ member and left school to become an enthusiastic and committed full-time recruiter. In his early twenties, he became a worker at the national headquarters for Jehovah's Witnesses in New Zealand bringing him in close contact with national and international leaders of the Jehovah's Witnesses. 

By the age of 26, Roydon was burnt out and found himself shamed, shunned, and ostracised by the only community he had ever known. This plunged Roydon into a dark period of addictions, depression and despair followed by recovery and the creating of a new life. Roydon is now in his 60s and his life is very different from the one he experienced in the first 26 years of his life.