Sister Wives’ Kody Brown Says His Family Has Spent ‘Years’ Trying to Break Polygamy Stereotypes
They’ve been in the public eye for a long time. Sister Wives star Kody Brown retweeted a message about overreactions to a Utah bill that would reduce polygamy among consenting adults down from a felony and wrote, “Five Brown family members and many others have spent nine years of our lives trying to break these kinds of stereotypes.”
Kody, 51, and many of his family members protested against a bill in 2017 that kept their family structure a felony in the state where their TLC show was first filmed. He’s spoken on the show about how they no longer feel safe in that state, and fans know the family actually had to flee and move to Las Vegas when they faced possible prosecution for going against Utah’s more strict anti-polygamy laws.
The father of 18 (yes, you read that right) is legally married to his fourth wife Robyn Brown, and “spiritually married” to Janelle Brown, Christine Brown and Meri Brown. He was originally legally married to Meri, 49, but they got a divorce so Kody could adopt Robyn’s kids.
The Browns actually filed a complaint against the Utah governor, the former Utah attorney general and a Utah county attorney in 2011 and Kody said in a statement, “There are tens of thousands of plural families in Utah and other states. We are one of those families. We only wish to live our private lives according to our beliefs … it has already been a long struggle for my family and other plural families to end the stereotypes and unfair treatment given consensual polygamy.”
One of the main goals behind his family doing Sister Wives was to bring awareness to the public about the way the Browns and others like them practice plural marriage. But going public came with a cost — as aforementioned, they had to move as a result of their beliefs and family structure, but Kody recently revealed on the show that his future plans changed because of the law in Utah, too.
The patriarch of the large family noted that originally, he made a plan to convince his wives they should move to St. George, Utah. But they were not interested in returning to the state with the laws as they are there, so he switched gears to move them to Flagstaff, Arizona, instead.
And the rest is history — the family is still working out if they’re going to live in one house or separate homes in their new home state, and it certainly doesn’t seem like a return to Utah is in the cards anymore, despite the work the family has done to end polygamy stereotypes for plural families there.
Have a tip? Send it to us! Email In Touch at contact@intouchweekly.com.
