‘Sister Wives’ Fans Call Out the Brown Family a Sham for Perpetuating These 3 Lies
Audiences have watched the Brown family on Sister Wives for 13 years since its debut in 2010. In the beginning, the Brown family’s mission was to show the world that polygamy is not harmful and that it’s beneficial to families.
In light of three of Kody Brown’s wives leaving him, many fans feel like the entire show was a sham because of the blatant misdirecting and constant sweeping of difficult situations under the rug. Here are all the times the Brown family deliberately misled audiences throughout the 17 seasons of Sister Wives.
Pretending that polygamy makes their lives better
When Sister Wives first aired in 2010, the Browns were determined to change society’s perspectives and destigmatize plural marriage. TLC introduced the world to the Browns when the headlines were all about the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), Warren Jeffs, who was on trial for two counts of sexual assault of a child.
As followers of a Fundamentalist Mormon sect called the Apostolic United Brethren (AUB), Kody Brown and his three wives, Meri Brown, Janelle Brown, and Christine Brown, gave plural marriage a rave review. They told the world that polygamy doesn’t equal abuse and that it makes them happier than monogamous people. They said the benefits of plural marriage outweigh the negative aspects.
For Janelle, the benefit was having free childcare; for Christine, it was having the luxury of being a stay-at-home mom. But many Sister Wives fans felt lied to. Not only did the Browns severely downplay their jealousy, but they played up the good aspects of polygamy.
When Kody was courting his now fourth wife, Robyn Brown, Christine was pregnant with her daughter, Truely Brown. Christine said she was battling postpartum depression when Robyn and Kody were on their 11-day-long honeymoon to California. Due to the lack of emotional support, and the crippling jealousy that comes with sharing her husband, Christine took anti-depressants.
Pretending they were forced out of Utah because of their lifestyle
Another major lie that the Brown family perpetuated was that Kody, his four wives, and their combined 16 children were forced to leave Utah “under duress” due to an investigation against the family.
In Sister Wives Season 2, Kody and his wives made it seem like he would be immediately arrested unless the family fled the state of Utah. The theatrics from Kody and his wives made for good TV, but it was completely false.
It’s rare for the Utah attorney general’s office to prosecute polygamists unless they are accused of additional crimes. Bigamy is used as a penalty enhancement for more substantial crimes associated with polygamist cults — such as coercion in a marriage, sex abuse, child abuse, domestic violence, or human trafficking.
The 2010 Lehi police report reveals the truth of the investigation. The investigator acknowledges that Kody is an admitted bigamist, living as a husband and wife with four wives. But since there was no evidence of other crimes associated with bigamy, the state prosecutors declined to prosecute Kody.
The actual crime the Browns were committing was filming Sister Wives since it is a crime to financially benefit from a criminal act, which in this case is polygamy. So if they stopped filming Sister Wives, they could stay in Utah without legal ramifications.
Pretending they had happy and functional marriages with Kody
One of the lies Meri, Janelle, Christine, and Robyn perpetuated was that the wives were in charge of Kody. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Wives in the AUB are taught to obey their husbands as the “priest” of the family. Meaning that what Kody says goes.
Each wife had their roles in Kody’s life that they stuck to gain affection and love from him. Christine was the homemaker, Janelle was the breadwinner, and Meri was the fun wife to whom he gave most of his physical affection. But everything changed when Robyn was added to the family.
Janelle specifically makes polygamy out to be an empowering lifestyle for women because she values her independence. In reality, Janelle’s hyper-independence comes from her needs being ignored by Kody.
Christine admitted that she was struggling with her marriage to Kody before cameras began documenting their lives, which only worsened as time passed. However, she sugarcoated her problems as her sister wives did.
With Christine, Janelle, and Meri leaving Kody and new information being revealed about the Browns, many Sister Wives fans think that they were lied to and misled throughout the 17 seasons of the show.
