‘Sister Wives’: ‘Despicable’ Kody Brown Desperate to Keep Show to Maintain ‘Disintegrating Gravy Train’
Season 18 of Sister Wives no longer depicts the happy, polygamist family Kody Brown once proclaimed he headed. The series has since portrayed Kody as one of the most “despicable” men in reality TV. However, while most viewers disagree with his behavior, they see eye to eye on one thing: Kody is desperate to keep the show to maintain his “disintegrating gravy train.”
What is the real reason Kody Brown keeps ‘Sister Wives’ going?
By all accounts, Sister Wives should have ended right after the family filmed at-home episodes due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The series felt stiff and forced, and Kody’s reaction to the pandemic was cringeworthy.
While he calls the pandemic the tipping point in his relationships with wives Meri, Janelle, and Christine, viewers know he pulled away from them years earlier. Since the family resided in Las Vegas, Robyn and Kody appeared bound to one another via a soulmate relationship he did not have with Meri, Janelle, or Christine Brown. He also appeared to be unfair with his time, neglecting his other three wives.
So why does Kody Brown keep Sister Wives going when the family looks oh-so-bad to viewers? Fans took to Reddit to claim it’s all about money.
“If all of his wives leave him, there’s really no longer a rationale to continue the show,” said one viewer. This gravy train took Kody from near poverty to a 4000-square-foot mansion and kept Kody afloat for 17 years. All the while, he made a series of terrible financial decisions, up to and including Coyote Pass.”
“I just finished re-watching the Flagstaff move, and it’s super weird. The wives are against moving, and despicable Kody feels it’s super urgent they leave,” a second fan revealed.
“By the next episode, they are all on board with moving ASAP. I think it might have been that they were going to get canceled if they didn’t shake things up somehow. They needed to create some big drama, or there wouldn’t be a reason to continue the show. And it worked,” they concluded.
“Money is the big plot of this show,” claimed a third Reddit user.
How do the ‘Sister Wives’ cast make money?
The bulk of the income of the cast of TLC’s Sister Wives is generated from their series. It’s estimated the cast makes anywhere from $25,000 to $40,000 per episode.
The cast was paid through an LLC called Kody Brown Family Entertainment, LLC, registered as a business in Nevada. The company was dissolved in 2023, and today, Meri, Janelle, and Christine Brown have individual LLCs, and Robyn and Kody share a joint one.
The adults earn about 10 percent of the show’s per-episode budget. TLC reportedly spends around $250,000 to $400,000 on every episode, meaning the Brown family receives about $25,000 to $40,000 to split among them.
For an 18-season episode, the Browns are estimated to make anywhere from $450K to $720K annually. Thus, before season 18, Kody and his clan filmed 208 episodes, generating an income of $5M to $8M.
However, that is not the only way the cast generated income. In earlier seasons, viewers learned Kody was a salesman. Meri and Janelle also worked full-time, and Christine worked part-time.
As the series progressed, viewers learned that Kody owned a gun company, but that aspect of his work life was never featured on Sister Wives. Meri began selling LuLa Roe in 2016, along with Christine and Robyn launched the unsuccessful family venture My Sisterwife’s Closet.
Later, Christine, along with Janelle Brown, began selling a nutritional supplement called Plexus. Janelle’s daughters Maddie and Christine’s Mykelti also work for that company. Meri also owns Lizzie Heritage Inn, a bed and breakfast in Parowan, UT.
Do their 18 children get paid?
The family LLC was how Kody Brown reportedly supported himself, his wives, and their combined 18 children. However, as the series progressed, fans learned Kody claimed there was never enough money for significant life challenges.
Since most Brown children were underage when the series premiered, they were not paid for their Sister Wives appearances. On her Patreon account, Gwendlyn Brown revealed that the money was put into a family account, but none of the kids had funds set up for them. Her brother Paedon made statements similar to his sister’s on social media.
In October, Mykelti Padron revealed that she was never paid for her show appearances during a Patreon watch party. “Do you get paid for things like filming your births? I would hope so,” a fan asked Mykelti and Tony. “Technically, Jenny, no,” the reality star replied.
Sister Wives airs Sundays at 10 p.m. EST on TLC.
