Not into it? Sister Wives star Christine Brown‘s aunt Kristyn Decker agrees with her great-niece Gwendlyn Brown’s opinion that dad Kody Brown was “forcing himself to believe” in polygamy. 

“I think that’s how it is with most men. I really do. They believe that they have to,” Kristyn tells In Touch in an exclusive video interview. “I saw that in several of my brothers and that it was really heartbreaking to them  to not be successful. And so, I guess to a great degree, maybe Kody really is feeling like a failure.”

The Fifty Years in Polygamy author’s comments come just weeks after Kody and Christine’s daughter, along with her friend Sarah, took to TikTok Live to host a fan Q&A where one follower asked if Kody is “as abusive in real life as he is on [Sister Wives].”

“It’s about the same. He’s a little nicer on the show,” Gwen, 21, responded from off screen. “He’s gotten a lot better since then, like, he’s really healing, and I’m really proud of him. I think the strain of having so many wives and forcing himself to believe in something that he wasn’t really for, kind of made him more of an upset, unhappy person.”

While Kristyn – who assists victims of polygamy through her Second Choices Coalition nonprofit – agrees with Gwendlyn, she tells In Touch that “the Browns wouldn’t have done that polygamy thing if they didn’t believe in it.”

Sister Wives’ Kody Forced Himself to ‘Believe’ in Polygamy, Aunt Says
Puddle Monkey Prods/Kobal/Shutterstock (

“A lot of other plural families who left, they’ve said that we would never have worked polygamy if we didn’t believe we had to,” she adds. “So it’s coercive and yeah, it makes me sad that I was so happy after I left and I’m so happy for Christine. … I’m so glad she’s out of there.”

Christine – who announced her split from the father of 18 in November 2021 – was 49 years old at the time of her divorce, which Kristyn says is around the same time she left the polygamous lifestyle as well.

“We watch our kids and what they go through and they’re suffering. Her with her children and what Kody’s not part of and how he’s treating them or not, and how he’s treating the other kids and Janelle’s kids. And we see all these dynamics,” Kristyn says of the reasoning behind the women leaving at the same stage in life. “As [the kids are] growing and going out … they’re outta here, they’re doing this, they’re doing life and we need to do that as well.”

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