Sister Wives’ Kody Brown has sworn off polygamy, saying he intends to be monogamous with his remaining wife, Robyn Brown, after his three other marriages imploded.
For those unfamiliar, Sister Wives is a series that airs on TLC in the US, and Foxtel in Australia, that explores the life of Kody Brown, a polygamous man living in Utah (although they have since moved to Las Vegas and now Flagstaff, Arizona).
A quick catch up: Kody married his first wife, Meri, in 1990, his only legal marriage as polygamy is not technically allowed in the United States. The next ‘wife’ to join the fray was Janelle, and then Christine. Kody deems these partnerships “spiritual marriages”. In 2014, Kody technically divorced Meri and legally married Robyn Brown, so he could adopt her children. Together he has 18 children and six grandchildren across all his wives.
However, Kody’s relationships with the first three wives have disintegrated over the last year and a half. With one wife left standing, Robyn (who was the first new wife in 16 years when they married), Kody appears to be leaning towards monogamy.
“He’s now talking more and more about, ‘As we move forward into monogamy.’ So, I think that’s where he’s headed,” his ex-wife Janelle said. “They have found something together at this stage of their life that seems to be very deep and I think it works. And that’s OK.”
The interviewer asked Kody about a hypothetical new wife, but he seemed content to keep his wondering eye to himself.
“I would have to tell that [other] woman, ‘I will never love you as much as I love [Robyn]’,” he explained. “Now I know better.”
However, it’s not all roses in paradise.
While one might think Robyn would be delighted to claim her husband to herself, she didn’t appear to be completely for the idea.
“It’s weird. To be loving and respectful to Kody, I want to say yes but I just don’t know how this works exactly,” she said. “It’s weird. I feel like it’s disrespectful.”
Part of her concern is that she is yet to get face-to-face approval from the other ex-wives in person, even though they’ve said so on camera.
“I need an off-camera, to my face [conversation] because I don’t know how… it feels like it’s disrespectful to his kids,” she explained through tears. “It feels disrespectful to the commitments that I made.”
Robyn added, “My commitment to them, to their kids, to Kody about this family is not broken. And I don’t know how to break it. I don’t know how to be done with it.”
How Did The Sister Wives Leave Kody Brown?
Christine Brown
Christine Brown announced that she was leaving Kody Brown in November 2021.
She shared the decision on Instagram, saying that after 25 years together they had “grown apart” and that she had decided to leave the arrangement.
“We will continue to be a strong presence in each other’s lives as we parent our beautiful children and support our wonderful family. At this time, we ask for your grace and kindness as we navigate through this stage within our family.”
She has since remarried with a man named David Woolley.
Janelle Brown
Kody revealed he’d parted ways with Janelle in a Sister Wives special in late 2022.
“I’m separated from Janelle and I’m divorced from Christine,” he said. “Janelle has made it pretty clear to me that she’s enjoying her life without me.”
Janelle said she had become “indifferent” to their marriage, and that they had been separated for several months.
“It wasn’t heartbreaking for me like it was for Christine; it was just kind of like, I just mourned that that life was gone,” she said. “We had this great run.”
Meri Brown
Despite being his first wife, and getting a technical divorce in 2014, it wasn’t until January 2023 that Meri revealed she too was parting ways with Kody, after three decades together.
They had become estranged in 2015 after a scandal revealed Meri had had an emotional relationship with a catfish.
“After more than a decade of working on our relationship in our own unique ways, we have made the decision to permanently terminate our marriage relationship,” a joint statement read.
“During this process, we are committed to kindness and respect toward each other and to all members of our family, and we are also committed to the continued healing of any and all relationships within the family so that we can move forward with forgiveness, grace, and love.”
