Kody Brown rose to fame on TLC when his household’s present, Sister Wives, debuted in 2010, however the Browns have undergone many adjustments since then.
When actuality TV audiences have been launched to the Browns, the supersized polygamous household usually gave viewers glimpses into their private lives, together with their religious beliefs as fundamentalist Mormons.
As polygamists, Kody and his wives, Meri, Janelle, Christine, and Robyn, adopted the Apostolic United Brethren (AUB), a sect of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS), which is a part of the Mormon religion.
Mormons as soon as practiced polygamy, courting again to the 1840s. Polygamy is outlined because the follow of getting a couple of partner at a time, usually involving one husband and a number of wives, as in Kody’s case.
The E book of Mormon instructed its male followers to take up a couple of spouse “for the aim of elevating “up seed unto [the Lord].”
Curiously, Kody was raised in a standard Mormon upbringing and didn’t entertain the concept of polygamy till his father, William Winn Brown, felt known as to the life-style. Then Kody had a “divine calling” to polygamy himself.
Kody Brown grew to become a polygamist in 1993 when Janelle joined his and Meri’s marriage
Kody married his first spouse, Meri, in 1990, when he was 21 and she or he was 19. Meri had been raised in a polygamous life-style, so she shared Kody’s beliefs and was vocal about wanting sister wives.
Meri grew to become a sister spouse for the primary time, and Kody formally grew to become a polygamist when Janelle entered their marriage in 1993. Janelle, like Kody, wasn’t raised within the polygamous life-style but in addition felt known as to plural marriage.
Curiously, Janelle’s mom, Sheryl, grew to become Kody’s father’s second spouse when he determined to enter into plural marriage.
Kody added two extra wives over the subsequent 17 years. Christine, additionally raised in a polygamous household, grew to become Kody’s third spouse in 1994, and Robyn, who additionally grew up within the polygamous life-style, grew to become spouse quantity 4 in 2010.
Sister Wives stars Kody and Robyn Brown are legally husband and spouse
As a result of having a couple of authorized partner is illegal, Janelle, Christine, and Robyn have been solely spiritually married to Kody, whereas Meri remained his sole authorized spouse. That modified in 2014 when Meri legally divorced Kody, permitting him to legally wed Robyn in order that he might undertake her three kids, Dayton, Aurora, and Breanna, from her earlier marriage to David Jessop.
Kody and his wives believed that plural marriage was a approach to acquire entry into Heaven, though Sister Wives viewers have watched the Browns develop farther from that perception in recent times.
A lot of the Browns have left the AUB, together with Kody’s children
Sometimes within the AUB, wives should be granted permission from a church chief to be able to divorce their husbands. Christine skipped that step when she left Kody in 2021 and admitted she not affiliated with the religion.
This season on Sister Wives, Janelle has expressed that she nonetheless abides by the AUB’s teachings, which has prompted her to rethink leaving Kody. Meri hasn’t talked about her non secular beliefs since leaving Kody earlier this yr, and it seems that Robyn continues to be a practising fundamentalist Mormon.
So far as Kody is worried, it doesn’t appear that he abides by the AUB any longer, having questioned polygamy and seemingly kicking plural marriage to the curb for good.
And as for Kody’s 18 kids? Regardless of rising up in a polygamous household, none of them are considering a plural marriage for themselves.
Christine and Janelle not too long ago admitted throughout an interview with PEOPLE that many of the Browns’ kids lack the non secular conviction essential to reside a polygamous life-style.
“None of our youngsters have chosen to reside polygamy,” Janelle shared. “We don’t even have any actually which might be within the Mormon church, the mainstream [Latter-Day Saints] church.”
Christine added, “A few of our children have seen how arduous it’s, and a few of our children have seen the separation. They see how arduous it’s, and so they’re like, ‘No, no, no, no, no. No, that’s not for me.’”
Sister Wives airs on Sundays at 10/9c on TLC.
