A catfishing scandal and the threat of a 20-year prison sentence?
That's the least of the Browns' problems.
Wife number three, Christine Brown, is a wife no more! The mother of six of Kody Brown's children
"divorced" her famous polygamist husband of 27 years in 2021. She has since moved
to a duplex in Utah and has remained focused on herself, her kids, and her own happiness.
"I want a guy who actually loves me, and wants to be with me intimately. That would be great."
While many fans are thrilled for Christine, who claims that the parting of ways was a
long time coming, not everyone is in a celebratory mood regarding the split.
Kody's fourth wife, Robyn, is especially hurt by the shift in family dynamics. She reflected:
"I have always wanted her and Kody's relationship to be strong. I understand that she's feeling
like she doesn't have other choices, but I wish that she decided to keep trying."
A dissolved marriage, especially when kids are involved, is sad,
but at least Christine is keeping her bonds strong with a few remaining family members.
She continues to spend time with her former sister wife Janelle Brown,
and many of Janelle's children, taking trips to Disney and embarking on Jeep rides through the
desert. As tragic as divorce is, Christine seems to be making the best of things.
"So apparently, there is no "me" in polygamy. What? Did I say that out loud?"
Kody and Meri Brown met and fell in love some 30-plus years ago. They were first introduced
at their church back in 1989 by Meri's pal and Kody's sister. Six months later,
the pair were wed. The couple has had their fair share of ups and downs,
but somehow they still remain a united marital front. While they seem to have
some level of loyalty and desire to continue in marriage, what they don't have is any intimacy.
That part of the relationship has been lacking for a long time, about a decade to be exact. In a 2018
tell-all episode, Meri suggested that she'd like more of an intimate connection with her husband,
but added that if that were to work, they'd both have to put in the effort.
And while Meri is all for more, Kody doesn't seem to be.
"I think we miss the idea of us. We don't miss each other." "Speak for yourself."
It seems their relationship is a friendship
at best, and the couple has shown no signs of taking things further.
Meri and Kody Brown might have dreamed of a life full of love,
laughter, and babies, but that dream didn't become a reality for them.
While she was the first wife to enter the family, she was the third spouse to have a baby with Kody,
following Janelle and then Christine. Meri did have a child with her husband in the
earlier years of their union — Leo Brown was born in 1995, but she then waited twelve long
years before experiencing a second pregnancy. That pregnancy sadly ended in a miscarriage.
"The doctor just said, 'This is not a viable pregnancy.'"
As Kody's other wives kept the kids coming, Meri and Kody briefly explored other means of welcoming
kids into the brood, including IVF. At one point, Kody's fourth wife, Robyn Brown, offered to act as
a surrogate for her sister wife. But in the end, Kody and Meri put the idea of more babies to bed.
The Brown family has many means to bring in money to help support their massive family.
As a primary source of household income, they rake in roughly $25,000 to $40,000
per filmed episode of "Sister Wives." Each adult also runs numerous business ventures
ranging from a prosperous inn to real estate to clothing companies and health products.
As different as their occupations are, their drive and hustle are all the same.
Kody, Meri, Janelle, Christine, and Robyn Brown's net worths are looking pretty good,
but that doesn't mean the family hasn't run into financial woes over the years.
Kody and Meri Brown had to file for bankruptcy in 2005.
Since the family's move to Flagstaff, the money worries have compounded.
"Look, financially, we're drowning."
Kody Brown then confirmed the money
troubles when he explained to viewers that their Coyote Pass property came with five mortgages.
Taxes seem to be taxing the large family as well.
In 2021, Kody owed more than $3,000 in taxes on two of his Arizona properties.
"A failure means a bankruptcy."
Meri and Kody Brown have had plenty of relationship ups and downs,
and one of their lowest points came about because of a very public catfishing scandal.
Meri Brown's online communication with a person posing as someone else rocked the entire family
to its core. The event has had lasting adverse effects on Meri and Kody's marriage.
In 2015, Meri met someone online. She thought she was communicating with a Chicago businessman named
Sam Cooper. It came at a time in Meri's life when she was desperate for connection and affection,
and this mystery person on the other side of the computer screen seemed to fill that void.
"He was just saying all the right things."
However, Cooper was actually a woman not interested in building up Meri's self-esteem,
but rather scamming the reality star. Meri came clean to her family and the public,
but the damage had been done. Trust had been broken, and relationships were forever changed.
"Sometimes you can feel like in a marriage that
the person that you loved yesterday is your enemy."
When the Brown family went public with their family and lifestyle,
never could they have guessed all that was to come.
"When they prosecute a family for polygamy, they break up the family."
Following the premiere of the show, Lehi police began investigating the family for bigamy,
which is when a person gets married while already legally married to someone else. The
fear of prosecution led the brood to uproot their large family and relocate to Las Vegas, Nevada,
where each wife and her biological children suddenly lived in their own homes for the
first time. While the living arrangement wasn't ideal, the move to Las Vegas was a
necessary one for the Browns. If prosecuted and found guilty, Kody Brown could have faced up to
20 years in prison and each wife stood to serve a five-year sentence as well.
As much as they adored their home and roots, the risk of imprisonment and being split up
simply wasn't worth taking. Their case was eventually dropped in 2012.
With 18 kids in the mix, there are bound to be a few health scares along the way.
The Browns are not immune to frightening conditions,
and a few of the kids have been plagued with mental and physical setbacks that the entire
family has learned to navigate. One of the scarier moments in the reality series occurred
when Christine and Kody Brown's young daughter Truely was rushed to the hospital because of
acute kidney failure and dehydration.
"Christine just sent a text saying she
is taking Truely to the emergency room at Summerlin Hospital."
"Are you serious?"
"What?"
Initial treatment didn't take, and Truely was hospitalized for 11 days
before being released to her very worried parents.
Kody and Christine have another daughter, Ysabel,
who was diagnosed with scoliosis in middle school. The condition proved painful, and in 2020,
she underwent surgery in hopes of providing her pain relief and a better quality of life.
Robyn Brown's daughter, Aurora Brown, suffers from panic attacks,
one of which was caught on camera. While Robyn caught heat for allowing camera
crews to film the incident, she stood by her decision, claiming Aurora made the
call in hopes of bringing awareness to the condition. Robyn wrote on Twitter:
"Aurora was given the choice whether to let her panic attack be included on the show [...] She
wants to bring awareness so people are more sensitive and supportive to those who have them."
Before Robyn Brown fell for and wed Kody Brown, she was hitched to another man, David Jessop. When
she was young, Robyn met her first husband and biological father of her three oldest children,
Dayton, Aurora, and Brianna. The pair discovered they were expecting,
and they tied the knot. However, babies don't always make for wedded bliss,
and the union between Robyn and her husband wasn't a pleasant one.
After nine years of marriage, the pair divorced. When Robyn began appearing on the hit TLC show
and meshing her life with the Browns' lives, Jessop ceased contact with his kids. The kids
all changed their last name to Brown, and Kody legally adopted Robyn's children as his own.
Over the years, "Sister Wives" fans have had a front-row seat to the Brown family's broken
hearts. The clan has lost a few key members, and their absences are strongly felt by every Brown,
little or big. Kody Brown's brother, Curtis, tragically died in 2013 in a motorcycle accident,
leaving a wife and children behind.
Second wife Janelle Brown lost her mother,
Sheryl, in 2020. Janelle memorialized her mom on Instagram in December 2020, writing,
"My sweet mother returned to her heavenly home a week ago today. […] We believe in
the eternal nature of families and so 'see you' again mom."
Meri Brown lost her mother, Bonnie, in 2021.
Meri was devastated at her mother's passing, writing on Instagram,
"76 years and 17 days was not enough time for the
world to feel the beautiful spirit of this beautiful woman. […] Mom,
I love you beyond the words I can express here, but I know you know that."