Courtesy of Christine Brown/Instagram
‘Sister Wives’ Star Kody Brown Was on Board With Christine’s Desire to Move Back to Utah Before Split
Fans are getting an inside look at the moments leading up to Christine Brown‘s split from husband Kody Brown on season 16 of their polygamous family’s hit reality TV series, Sister Wives. It seems that one of the major reasons that Christine left Kody is because she wanted to move back to Utah. Kody previously admitted that he wanted to move back to Utah too — so why did he and the rest of his wives decide to stay in Flagstaff, Arizona?
As In Touch previously reported, the Brown family moved from their original home base of Lehi, Utah in 2011 to Las Vegas. They fled Utah because of the state’s strict anti-polygamy laws, which led to their family being investigated by the government.
But in March 2020, a new law was passed that essentially decriminalized crime of bigamy among consenting adults to an infraction, which is similar to a traffic ticket, according to Salt Lake City’s Fox 13. Since polygamy was decriminalized, and the reason they left was to avoid persecution, Christine felt there was no reason for them not to move back. But seems that the rest of Christine’s sister wives were not on board with the idea of moving back to their home state, which led to her and Kody being outvoted three to two.
“Once we basically were kicked out of Utah, I’ve just kind had a feeling of, ‘Well, I’m not going to grace you with my presence, then,” Kody’s first wife, Meri Brown, said in the November 21 season premiere.
“There’s nothing for me in Utah, nothing,” Kody’s second wife, Janelle Brown, added. During a conversation with Kody, Janelle, 52, doubled down on her desire to stay in Flagstaff.
“I’m totally interested in living in St. George area,” Kody said, admitting he would want to move back to Utah in the future. “It doesn’t have to be St. George. I’m suspicious that Robyn [Brown] would be OK with that in some ways because her family lives there.”
Later in their conversation, he continued, “And plus, I want to move there. I never lost that sort of desire but I’m not moving the family because of where I want to live.”
But when he checked in with his fourth wife, Robyn, to see how she felt about the possibility of moving to Utah, she also shot it down as well. “I would love to move back to Utah too, but I made it really clear once we moved here, like I’m not interested in being a transient family,” Robyn, 43, said in her confessional. “My kids are very happy here in Flagstaff. I want to make it work, this is what I want to do.”
She also added that another reason why she doesn’t want to move back to Utah is because since she was raised in a plural family in Utah, she knows what it’s like growing up as a kid of polygamists and she doesn’t want that for her children. “I worried a lot about being bullied and people treating us like trash if I told anybody about what my family structure and my religion was,” Robyn added.
On the November 28 episode, Meri also doubled down on her stance. “Thinking of moving to Utah, honestly, my gut instinct is, ‘Oh, hell no. Not interested,'” Meri, 50, told Kody. “I never had the desire to move back.”
It seems that since her family wasn’t on board, Christine made the decision for herself. As In Touch previously reported, she sold her home in Flagstaff, Arizona, and moved back to Utah in October — just weeks before the third wife confirmed her split from Kody.
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