3 Times the ‘Sister Wives’ Cast Revealed Just How Much Polygamy Didn’t Work for Them
TLC introduced the Brown family to TV audiences in 2010. The Browns insisted that Sister Wives aimed to show polygamy in a positive light. They claimed they wanted to highlight all of the benefits of polygamy and show the general public what a modern, functioning plural family looked like. Seventeen seasons later, they’ve proven just the opposite. Over the years, they’ve highlighted the darker side of polygamy. We’ve collected three examples of the Brown wives clearly stating how bad polygamy had been for them.
Christine Brown freaked out on Meri Brown before ‘Sister Wives’ began
One of the perks of polygamy, claimed the Brown family, was the sharing of labor. The family insisted that its first three wives operated as a single unit, and the kids in the family viewed them all as mothers. That, apparently, didn’t always work out.
In the family’s book Becoming Sister Wives, Christine Brown admitted to having a massive fight with Meri Brown over how she disciplined Christine’s children. The duo had a strained relationship moving forward, and Meri appeared to take a hands-off approach to most of Christine’s kids. Meri was criticized by fans for it.
Christine has also spoken openly about how little help she had during her marriage. She revealed that while she worked, one of her older children put the younger ones to bed. Kody Brown nor her sister wives stepped in to get the kids off to sleep.
Christine no longer has sister wives. She left polygamy in 2021 and seems happier than ever. The mother of six recently revealed that she is in a new, monogamous relationship.
Meri Brown admitted she dealt with a dead bedroom for more than a decade
Meri Brown was Kody Brown’s first wife. The couple struggled mightly, and TLC’s cameras were there to capture it all. While Kody would have fans believe that his marriage to Meri officially ended when she was caught in a catfishing scandal, those don’t seem to be the facts.
During the show’s season 16 tell-all episode, Meri Brown revealed that she was dealing with a dead bedroom long before she went looking for love online. According to Meri, she and Kody hadn’t been intimate in more than a decade at the time of the recording. In short, it appears Kody stopped sleeping with Meri when he started dating Robyn Brown.
Meri Brown and Kody Brown announced the end of their marriage via Instagram in January 2023. Sister Wives fans were happy to see the couple put an end to the charade.
Janelle Brown called her marriage “not that great”
Janelle Brown is largely seen as the family’s most level-headed wife. She was never prone to jealousy and seemed pretty content for most of her time on Sister Wives. That was just a facade. During the season 13 tell-all episode, Janelle lifted the curtain and revealed how much she struggled in her marriage.
During the telling tell-all episode, Janelle revealed that most of her marriage was “not that great.” She alleged that her first 20 years of marriage were trying, at best. At the time, Janelle and Kody had been married for 26 years. That means most of her marriage was “not that great,” by her own admission.
Janelle has since separated from Kody Brown and appears to be enjoying her freedom. To be fair, though, nothing much there has changed. Janelle and Kody had spent little time together since the family’s move to Flagstaff, Arizona, in 2018.
