‘Sister Wives’: Gwendlyn Brown Says Most of the Family Realized They Were Raised in a ‘Cult’
Christine Brown and Kody Brown’s daughter, Gwendlyn Brown, from Sister Wives, created a Patreon account where she has been spilling all of the tea about her family. The 21-year-old revealed that ‘most’ of her family members realized they were in a cult, which is why no one practices polygamy.
The Brown family’s religious beliefs
Kody Brown and his four wives, Meri Brown, Janelle Brown, Christine Brown, and Robyn Brown, are a polygamous family who are followers of the fundamentalist Mormon sect called the Apostolic United Brethren (AUB) or “The Group” or “The Priesthood.” It is also known to people outside the faith as the “Allred Group.” This sect of the LDS church was founded by Christine’s grandfather, Rulon C. Allred, making Christine some kind of polygamist “royalty.”
Allred branched off and created his own polygamist group to be as close to Joseph Smith’s teachings as possible. He wanted to create a group that would bring back doctrines thrown out by the modern LDS church.
Their doctrines include polygamy, Adam-God teachings, and the ban on Black people from receiving the priesthood. They also believe that a “living prophet,” such as Christine’s grandfather Rulon, can never lead you astray, even if he strays from the teachings and revelations of previous prophets.
As of 1998, the AUB has over 10,000 members in Utah, Montana, Nevada, Arizona, Missouri, and Mexico. The members usually attend public school, dress in modest modern clothing, and live within society.
The Sister Wives family believes in many of the same traditional values of their faith. After moving to Las Vegas, Nevada, the family held church in their living room, teaching the children the AUB beliefs. Some of the lessons they taught their 18 children included the importance of the law of chastity or maintaining sexual “purity” before marriage.
Gwendlyn Brown and most of the other kids acknowledge they were raised in a ‘cult’
In Sister Wives Season 17, Christine leaves her husband Kody after nearly 27 years of marriage and even leaves the faith. Her daughter, Gwendlyn, recently started a Patreon account, where she answers fans’ burning questions about the show and her family.
She revealed that as Kody’s 18 children turn into adults, they realize they were raised in a cult. A fan asked the Sister Wives star: “Do family members realize that they were in a cult?” To which Gwendlyn replied, “Most of us do!”
Christine Brown’s aunt calls the AUB a ‘cult system’
Christine’s aunt, Kristyn Decker, also left her polygamist marriage when she was 50 years old. Both women were born into the AUB. Kristyn’s father, Owen Allred, was the leader after Rulon’s assassination, and he had a total of 13 wives.
In Kristyn’s book, Fifty Years in Polygamy: Big Secrets and Little White Lies, she calls out the AUB as a “cult.” She claims that the teachings led to members being physically, mentally, emotionally, and sexually abused. She believes that all women practicing plural marriage are victims of trafficking and were “groomed” by the sect’s teachings and by the other wives.
Decker now runs the Sound Choices Coalition, a nonprofit that helps people escape polygamist groups like the AUB. Christine comes from a long line of women who have escaped polygamy. Her mother left the faith and an unhappy plural marriage after her children were grown.
So far, none of the Sister Wives’ children are interested in practicing plural marriage, and nearly all have left the faith. It’s interesting to know that the children have mostly recognized the religion as a “cult.”
New episodes of Sister Wives Season 17 air Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on TLC.
