‘Seeking Sister Wife’ Recap: Dannielle Worries That Garrick Is Divorcing Her to Be With Her Brazilian Sister Wife – Because He’s Considered Divorce Before
Seeking Sister Wife fans will have a lot to celebrate on Mon., Mar. 22, at 8 p.m. EST, when Seeking Sister Wife Season 3 premieres on TLC. Episodes of the reality TV show, which focuses on polygamous families hoping to add a sister wife into the mix, will also be available on Discovery+.
Here’s an early Seeking Sister Wife recap about what went down with Garrick and Dannielle Merrifield on the season premiere.
Garrick and Dannielle Merrifield don’t come from a polygamous background
The Merrifields are a couple from Buena Vista, Colorado, who married young. They’ve now been married for 13 years and homeschool their 11- and 10-year-old sons.
On the Seeking Sister Wife season premiere, Garrick and Dannielle explained that they don’t come from a polygamous background. Instead, they are devoted Christians who noticed that some of the church leaders in the Bible were polygamists.
When Garrick first broached the subject of polygamy with Dannielle, she said she was “shocked” and was far from excited. But after a few months of prayer and study, she decided she was on board.
The Merrifields met their potential sister wife, Roberta, online
Dannielle and Garrick began to search in earnest for a sister wife. Finally, they met Roberta – a Brazil-born Christian woman who speaks only Portuguese – on a polygamous dating site.
Garrick felt an “instant connection” and had courted Roberta for a year and four months by the time of filming. Despite the language barrier, Garrick and Dannielle developed a strong bond with her and met her in person in Mexico after just three months. Even Garrick and Dannielle’s sons and Roberta’s mom came along for the trip.
“Meeting Roberta for the first time was surreal,” Dannielle said. “The doubts were washed away.”
On their second night together during a weeklong trip to Mexico, Garrick proposed to Roberta. After they were officially engaged, he spent the night with Roberta for the first time, and they became intimate – with Dannielle’s blessing, although she admitted she was “jealous” and spent time in her room crying.
The ‘Seeking Sister Wife’ stars filed for divorce in order to bring Roberta to the U.S.
After speaking to an immigration attorney, the Merrifields discovered that there was no easy way to bring Roberta to the U.S. to join their family. Their lawyer advised them that the only feasible way was to get a K-1 visa (hello, 90 Day Fiancé fans!).
The problem? Garrick and Dannielle would have to get a divorce so he could legally marry Roberta instead. After a lot of back and forth, the couple reluctantly decided this was their “last resort” in order to bring their potential sister wife to the U.S.
At the end of the Seeking Sister Wife episode, Dannielle and Garrick signed their divorce papers. And for Dannielle, the moment was an especially scary one. In fact, she revealed that there were many times in their marriage when divorce had been on the table before.
“There were many times that Garrick did print off divorce papers and say, ‘I can’t do this anymore,’” Dannielle said. “And I didn’t blame him.”
She admitted that she worried about what she was risking by agreeing to a legal divorce from her husband of so many years.
“It is scary,” the Seeking Sister Wife star confessed. “If Garrick leaves me and runs off with Roberta, I could be left with nothing. I just have to trust that Garrick’s not leaving me and that living a plural lifestyle is about building our family.”
Dannielle added that she was still very much dealing with the “scars” of her past – especially when it came to the prospect of divorce.
