‘Sister Wives’: Christine Brown’s Aunt Kristyn Decker Calls Her ‘False Representation’ on the TLC Show ‘Pathetic’
In Sister Wives Season 6, Episode 9, ‘Sister Wives On the Ropes,’ Christine Brown’s aunt, Kristyn Decker, appears on the show for the first and only time. In a panel discussing the ethics of polygamy, Kristyn speaks her truth to the Browns. However, the producers pushed the narrative to make Kristyn out to be a villain. She believes the production skewing the truth and making up false storylines was “pathetic.”
Christine was ‘scared’ of her aunt Kristyn on ‘Sister Wives’
In the episode, the Brown family is getting ready to face a panel of ex-polygamists at a panel at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. One of them was Christine’s aunt, Kristyn.
“One of the panelists is actually one of my mom’s sisters, Kristyn Decker, and she’s there to talk about how she had this terrible experience living plural marriage and how she is completely against it,” Christine said.
She said she was “scared” of what her aunt will say. “The reason why I really have no interest in doing this panel, just really honestly, Kristyn Decker being my aunt is really difficult. And doing a panel with her is not safe,” Christine said. She said she didn’t want “anything to do with her” and felt “betrayed.” Christine was convinced that Kristyn hated her family and would bash them at the panel.
Who is Kristyn Decker?
The Browns had referred to Kristyn as an “anti-polygamist,” but Kristyn clarified that she was not anti-polygamist but rather anti-polygamy after seeing the abuse that many of the women and children experienced first-hand. She has since been assisting victims of polygamy through her Second Choices Coalition nonprofit for years.
Kristyn was raised in the same Mormon fundamentalist sect as the Browns, called the Apostolic United Brethren (AUB). Her father, Owen A. Allred, became the church’s leader after his brother, Rulon Allred, was assassinated by rival polygamist leader Ervil LeBaron in 1977. Her father had 13 wives and 23 children.
After enduring 33 years of plural marriage, Kristyn was 50 when she decided it was time to leave her marriage. She went on Sister Wives to help people see the reality of polygamy. “I would like to have the public see that it doesn’t just look like the Brown family. That there are a lot of heartaches and a lot of hardships,” she said.
Contrary to Christine, Kristyn was eager to see her niece. “I’m not really nervous to see Christine. In fact, I just can’t wait to give her a hug. I always adored her. I know that we’re on opposite feelings about this, and that will be a challenge to do, but I still love them no matter what,” Kristyn told the cameras in the Sister Wives episode.
The infamous bathroom scandal
As they were waiting for the panel, the two groups, the panelist opposing polygamy and the Browns, were separated into two rooms. When Christine was in the bathroom, her aunt Kristyn and Kolleen, another panelist who escaped polygamy, were waiting their turn to use the bathroom.
Christine was scared because she heard her aunt Kristyn outside. “I just thought she was coming ’cause she wanted to confront me,” Christine said. “I just thought I was going to be in the bathroom stuck forever.”
Kody asked Meri and Robyn to check on Christine in the bathrooms. The sister wives rushed into the bathroom to save Christine while Kolleen and Kristyn stood by, looking confused. Christine felt “empowered and protected” with her sister wives there and left the bathroom without looking in Kristyn’s direction.
“After the sister wives came down and went in after her, and then she walked out really fast. I’m like, ‘What was that?'” Kristyn said in the couch confessional. “I felt like it was a junior-high drama thing,” Kolleen told the cameras.
At the panel, Christine was intimidated to say hi to her aunt Kristyn. “I think your family is an anomaly because all around me [there are] so many heartbreaking stories,” Kristyn said to her niece. Robyn then became aggressive during the panel, saying, “Do not make me a victim, sweetie,” to Kristyn.
Kristyn Decker said production set the situation up for drama
In a recent interview with reality TV blogger Katie Joy for her channel Without A Crystal Ball, Kristyn recounts her experience filming for Sister Wives. She said that the way production made up false storylines was “pathetic.” Check out the interview below:
“After all of the filming was done, I could hardly function for a couple of days, actually weeks. It was horrible,” Kristyn said. “And I don’t know if Christine did all that and said all of that believing it at all. I think that a lot of it was a setup by the show because they kept trying to do that to me. The producer kept trying to get me riled up.” Kristyn revealed.
The former polygamist said she would speak her truth, despite whatever production trick they did to try to skew the narrative. “However, when they put the show out. Oh my gosh. I was blown away by the way they made it look,” Kristyn said.
“That I was evil, that I was deceitful, that I was taunting Christine at the bathroom and staying there so she wouldn’t come out,” she revealed.
“That bathroom scene was a joke,” Kristyn admitted. As soon as the cameras started following her and Kolleen to the bathrooms, she knew that “something was up.” Kristyn revealed that she had no idea who was in the bathroom with no intention of cornering and confronting Christine. It wasn’t until she came out with her sister wives that she knew it was Christine in the bathroom.
“Then they come out with her; all huddled up like they got to protect her from me. And that’s how they portrayed that. And she’s acting like she’s scared of me,” Kristyn said in the interview.
It was a difficult experience for Kristyn filming Sister Wives, and it felt like producers were trying to cause them to fight the whole time. She still hopes that Christine will reach out to her, and they can discuss what happened now that she’s also an ex-polygamist.
New episodes of Sister Wives Season 17 air Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on TLC.
