“Sister Wives” star Kody Brown told Sukanya Krishnan that he questions his choice to live a polygamous lifestyle “all the time” in People magazine’s exclusive clip from the final installment of the season 16 tell-all, “Sister Wives One on One,” airing Sunday on TLC.
‘Sister Wives’ star Kody Brown says he questions polygamy ‘all the time’ because of the ‘pain’ it causes women
In the preview, Kody says he’s always compelled to examine his lifestyle when he talks to “women who are struggling in it” because of “the pain in it.”
His family struggles have inspired him to wonder out loud to God why he got the call to live in a plural marriage — what polygamists call a marital union where one spouse is spiritually married to multiple partners — if it’s such “a mess now,” he says.
In the clip, Kody‘s ex-wife Christine, who was once his third wife, told Krishnan that she’s officially taken steps beyond questioning the lifestyle that she grew up in and chose to practice for so many years.
“Yeah, I don’t want polygamy, that’s for sure,” she said. “Part of the reason I’m sure that I’m leaving is because I don’t believe it for me anymore, I don’t.” She added: “God’s like, ‘No girl, you did it, you can go.'”
Christine announced that she was separating from Kody after 27 years of marriage in an Instagram post in November 2021. At the time, she told her followers that she had made the “difficult decision to leave” because the couple “have grown apart.”
Christine and Kody on the first episode of “Sister Wives.” TLC
The exes share six biological children together: Aspyn, 26, Mykelti, 25, Paedon, 23, Gwendlyn, 20, Ysabel, 18, and Truely, 11. The slow deterioration of their relationship has been chronicled throughout season 16 of “Sister Wives.”
In the finale, Christine moved Kody‘s belongings to boxes in the garage after she claimed he told her he didn’t want to have an “intimate” marriage with her anymore.
“My heart’s shattered to be honest with you,” she said of her choice on the episode. But she was adamant that she was “not interested in a half marriage or a partial marriage or whatever we have.”
Why the Browns choose to be polygamous
Sister Wives has shown Kody Brown and his four wives, Meri Brown, Janelle Brown, Christine Brown, and Robyn Brown, as they navigate the complicated world of polygamy. The Brown family is part of The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) sect called the Apostolic United Brethren (AUB). While not all AUB members are practicing polygamists, they believe that it is a necessary step in obtaining the highest glory of heaven.
Meri, Christine, and Robyn were all raised in plural families. Christine is even considered “polygamist royalty,” as both sides of her family descent from AUB leaders. Kody’s father became a polygamist and Janelle’s mother also joined the AUB after Janelle became interested in becoming Kody’s second wife. Janelle’s mother actually married Kody’s father as one of his many wives.
The Brown children with no interest in polygamy
So far, none of the Brown children have expressed interest in plural marriage. Janelle’s eldest daughter, Maddison ‘Maddie’ Brown wanted to join the more mainstream LDS church, but the church denied her membership because they didn’t want ties to the polygamous Brown family. Now, Maddie is married to her husband, Caleb Brush, and identifies as an evangelical Christian.
Janelle’s son, Garrison Brown, left the AUB and was accepted in the LDS church after pursuing membership for over seven years. He also has no interest in polygamy.
Meri’s daughter, Mariah Brown, came out as a lesbian to her family on Sister Wives and despite same-sex relationships being frowned upon in their faith, the family accepted Mariah fully.
Kody and Janelle’s eldest son, Logan Brown, left the Mormon church and also has no interest in plural marriage.
While Mykelti Brown is married in the LDS faith, she doesn’t plan to live plural marriage with her husband. The same goes for Aspyn Brown. While still a member of the AUB, she and her husband also decided against living plural marriage.
Kody doesn’t want to adovocate for polygamy
So far, none of the Brown children have decided to pursue plural marriages. Could this be a direct effect of seeing their father’s plural marriages falling apart?
When asked why he wanted to live plural marriage, Kody said, “I’ve thought about this a lot lately. Because I’ve told friends, recently, that I didn’t want to be an advocate of plural marriage anymore because I am more aware not that I ever was before the apparent and obvious unfairness in the relationship.”
He said, “I know I have all the love I want and you guys sometimes feel like you’re pining constantly for me to give you some.”He said he discussed polygamy with his eldest son, Logan. Kody says, “The other day, I was having dinner with Logan, and I was like going, I have really messed this up.”
He tells the cameras, “We came into this by way of commandment. We felt like we were supposed to live it. And we had an ideal that it was a better way. And it comes to a stark reality of the struggle that it is.
Could Kody’s marriages to Meri and Christine failing be part of the reason that all of his older children have chosen monogamous relationships? Sister Wives Season 16 airs Sundays on TLC and discovery+.
Janelle Brown is set to cut ties with Sister Wives’ patriarch Kody after over 30 years together. She is the second wife to call it quits. After three decades together, Sister Wives star Janelle Brown is reportedly close to separating from Kody Brown.
Kody Brown Wife Number 5 – Is It True? It appears that fans of Sister Wives will not have to wait long to witness Kody’s reported 5th wife, Lean Marie Brown. Moreover, Kody Brown’s fifth wife, Lean Brown, was born on September 15, 1990, and married on February 20, 2019.
Christine announced her separation from Kody in November 2021 after 25 years together. He is still in a polygamous marriage with Robyn, 43, Janelle, 52, and Meri, 50. Sister Wives airs Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on TLC.
As of 2020, Kody has been married (formerly legally and now spiritually) to Meri for 30 years, Janelle (spiritually only) for 27 years, Christine (spiritually only) for 26 years, and Robyn (formerly spiritually and now legally) for 10 years.
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