Sometimes we just need to relax with a TV show, and often, we choose a reality series that is both entertaining and totally fascinating. One reality show that has been raising eyebrows since its premiere in 2010 is Sister Wives. The TLC series follows a man named Kody Brown who is married with children. However, there's something unique and different about this family situation (which is the reason for the title): Kody has four wives.
Yes, this is really true. And no, Kody doesn't have one current wife and three ex-wives... These five people really do live together in the same house and live as a family. There have been 13 seasons so far, so needless to say, this has been quite the popular show. Maybe we've heard of it and are wondering how this could work out, or maybe we're big fans of the show and have seen every episode so far.
It's easy to see why people would want to tune in because this is a situation that we never come across. Kody's four wives are Meri, Janelle, Christine, and Robyn. Let's take a look at them. Here is everything that fans of Sister Wives need to know about these four moms.
20 One Of The Wives Actually Left
We can imagine that it's not easy to live in the same house as your husband and his three other wives. After all, a marriage between two people isn't always easy and there can be problems and conflicts that come up on a regular basis. There seem to be some really tough moments, both on camera and off.
According to She Knows, one of the wives left for a time period, and it was Janelle. The website says, "After the birth of her fifth child, and a [bad argument] with Meri, Janelle left the family and went to live with her mother."
19 Kody And Meri Used To Be The Only Ones "Legally Married"
We might be wondering how it's possible for Kody to have four wives... and at the same time.
Something that fans should definitely know about Sister Wives is that Kody isn't technically married to all four women. At different times, he has been married to one (at least legally).
According to Fame 10, Kody and Meri were legally married to each other. The website explains, "While they live as polygamists, Kody is only legally married to one. The rest are 'spirtual unions.' Kody legally wed Meri in 1990. He then had “spiritual unions” with Janelle in 1993, Christine in 1994, and Robyn in 2010."
18 Kody And Meri Got Divorced And He's Now Married To Someone Else
Fame 10 explains that Meri and Kody are no longer legally married and now he's married to another one of the wives, Robyn. The website says, "However, in 2014 Meri legally divorced Kody, so that he could legally marry Robyn, a move that allowed him to adopt her children and allow them access to his benefits. By being legally married to only one wife, he seemingly avoids the legal ramifications of bigamy."
That last bit is important and might help clarify things since that's probably something that fans of the show have wondered about. We can imagine that this is a bit of a complicated family situation since between Kody and his four wives, there are 18 children.
17 Janelle Was Married To Meri's Brother
In Touch Weekly says that Janelle and Meri actually knew each other before they became Kody's wives and starred on Sister Wives. It turns out that they go way back: Janelle was married to Meri's brother.
As the publication explains, "Though the show chooses to blatantly ignore this factoid, back in 2015, it was revealed that after two years of marriage Janelle divorced Adam Clark Barber, Meri's brother. Oh, and the divorce happened in 1990, even though Janelle claimed to fall for Kody when they met in 1989." In Touch Weekly says that Janelle wrote about this: "When he walked into the room I looked at him and had that feeling of remembering something I had forgotten. It was a singular experience."
16 Everyone Moved To Arizona (But One Of Them Almost Didn't Go)
The Sister Wives family recently moved to Arizona. Although most of their children are in their 20s and grown up now, we can imagine that it would still be tough to make such a big move even with just a few young kids.
It turns out that Janelle almost didn't go because she was concerned that her high school-aged kids would have a tough time. Us Weekly said that Janelle was "the second wife to join the family" and that she was "conflicted" about everyone moving to Arizona. She said, “It really wasn’t about not moving, it was about the timing. In my darkest moments, I did consider staying behind.”
15 Robyn Had A Previous Unhappy Marriage
Were any of the four moms married before joining this family? It turns out that Robyn was, which is something else that fans should know about.
Before she became one of the Sister Wives, Robyn was married to David Jessop, who was her boyfriend in college. She became his wife after becoming pregnant.
In Touch Weekly quoted Robyn talking about this experience: "When I found out I was pregnant, I was devastated at that point. I was really scared. I spent the next nine years trying to make it right. I was trying so hard to love my husband at the time."
14 Christine And Kody Were Friends Before She Became One Of The Wives
We definitely wonder how Kody met each of the wives, so it's interesting to hear how he and Christine became a couple.
According to In Touch Weekly, it was a case of them being pals before anything romantic happened. Kody and Christine knew each other before she became one of the wives. They were friendly with each other for almost four years. She has been quoted as saying, "She pretty much unceremoniously married Kody after being friends for a three and a half years. "I always wanted to be a third wife, and I figured it would be the one that would be the easiest."
13 Kody And Meri Got Into Money Trouble
According to E online, Meri and Kody have gotten into some money trouble: "The Real Housewives aren't the only ones with financial troubles. Kody and Meri [had serious financial problems] in 2005 in Cheyenne, Wyo. In 2008, Kody added Meri's name to the deed of the Lehi home he owned with second wife Janelle."
This is one of those moments when we realize that just because people are on a reality show, it doesn't mean that they are immune to real life problems. It must be really difficult to be in the public eye while dealing with something like this and also raising your kids and keeping your family going.
12 Meri Got A Job As A Product Ambassador
The Sister Wives are also working moms who are involved with various companies, which is something else that fans of the show should know.
The List says that Meri has been a product ambassador for a company named LuLaRoe: "Fast forward to 2018, and Meri still can't stop gushing about her job as a LuLaRoe ambassador. From hosting product giveaways to hitting the road with fellow Lula ladies, this is one sister wife with some serious hustle. And considering she almost exclusively sports LuLaRoe clothing in her social media snapshots, it's safe to say Meri really does believe in the brand."
11 Meri And The Wives Don't Always See Eye To Eye
Meri and the other wives aren't always the best of friends, which probably isn't a big surprise to fans of Sister Wives (or even those of us who haven't seen the show). It's hard to imagine everyone being really good friends since it's such a unique situation that we don't see every day. There must be a lot of emotions running high in the house at all times.
The Hollywood Gossip quoted one of the wives as saying, "We all just have different levels of jealousy moments, at different times, depending on where we were within ourselves." It seems like it would definitely be hard not to be envious of the other wives.
10 The Wives Have Been Living On Cody's Retirement Money
Are we wondering how Kody and the wives make money? We might be since this is a common question that many fans of Sister Wives have. After all, it's quite an unusual family situation. We know that they get paid for appearing on the reality show, but is there another way that they get some cash?
Bustle says that the wives have been living on the money that Kody got from retiring: "In 2013 — after the move to Vegas — Robyn told Radar Online that they'd already cashed in on Kody's retirement." Bustle quoted Robyn as saying, "We are working on a family business but right now we’re living off Kody’s retirement. It’s a challenge to start over again.”
9 Christine Went Through A Hard Time After Having Her Daughter
As mentioned above, Kody and the wives have 18 children in total.
Christine and Kody have six kids together: five daughters and one son. They have two daughters in their 20s named Mykelti Ann and Aspyn Kristine, a 20-year-old son named Paedon Rex, 17-year-old daughter Gwendlyn, 15-year-old Ysabel Paige, and eight-year-old Truely Grace.
She Knows says that when Kody and Christine had Truely in 2010, Christine experienced PPD. It's always sad to hear that someone has gone through this experience. Although it's not easy to talk about, it's definitely an important subject that we should all be aware of.
8 Janelle Posts About Fitness Inspiration Online
It's always cool to hear about moms who have their own businesses or who balance work and kids.
In Touch Weekly writes about Janelle's company: Strive with Janelle. As the publication explains, she posts on social media and talks about how people can be inspired to exercise. She also writes blog posts about the same topic. In Touch Weekly says, "Not only can you buy a 'health coaching appointment' with the star, you can also help spread the word about her brand by shelling out your hard-earned dollars for Strive with Janelle water bottles, pedometers, watches, bags, aprons, and t-shirts. Basically, you can get pretty much whatever you need to 'strive' with this sister wife, and you can also become a walking advertisement for her while you're doing it."
7 Meri Was Online Dating
One of the most talked about things about the Sister Wives is that Meri was dating online for a period of time. It didn't work out the way that she thought it would because the man that she thought that she was chatting with was actually a woman.
Fame 10 says, "Sam turned out to be a woman named Jackie." The website continued that Meri had to tell everyone what happened: "she was forced to tell the entire family after threats were made against her and revealed details in a special tell-all episode in November 2015. Kody struggled with the [whole thing] but vowed to repair things in his marriage with Meri."
6 Meri And Kody Had Problems And She Felt Alone
If any of us have experienced relationship problems before, we know that it's not a great feeling. We feel like we can't rely on the person that we thought would always be there for us. This gets even more complicated when we imagine sharing our husband with three other wives and when we think about having 18 children between the five of us.
Meri and Kody had some problems in their marriage, and she has talked about how she felt alone as a result. The List quoted Meri as saying, "I feel like I'm just doing my life by myself. That's not what I signed up for. I just feel lonely. I'm just alone, so much at the time."
5 Meri Had Trouble Starting A Family
The Hollywood Gossip says that Meri had trouble starting a family with Kody: "They tried to have kids from the very beginning, but it took them nearly a half decade. Finally, Meri and Kody welcomed their first child, a daughter named Mariah Brown, on July 29,1995."
There is really nothing worse than feeling ready to have a child and start your family and then having a tough time. You wonder why, you want answers, and you feel like it's your fault even though of course you shouldn't blame yourself. Anyone who has been in this sad, unfortunate situation can relate.
4 Robyn Has An Online Clothing And Jewelry Store
Robyn has her own business, too, which is definitely a fact that fans of the show should know about. Actually, it's a business that all of the moms work on. They all have an online business that sells clothing and jewelry. It's called My Sisterwife's Closet (which is a really great name).
According to In Touch Weekly, Robyn seems to be running the show over there: "anyone with eyes can tell that it's Robyn's baby. The mom of four is the main driving force behind the digital shop, writing the blog posts and designing her own lines, but all the wives chip in."
3 Christine Has Gotten Healthier Lately
When it comes to the Sister Wives, it seems like Meri is the one who gets a lot of press and who people tend to focus on. Christine has been getting some attention these days, because, as In Touch Weekly says, Christine has gotten healthier lately, which is always great to hear.
We all want to feel good every day, eat healthy, and exercise. (Okay, we might not all enjoy working out as much as some people do, but we know that we appreciate it after our sweat session is over with.) It's always inspiring to see someone deciding that they want to feel better every day. It's something that we can all be motivated by for sure.
2 Meri Has A Bed And Breakfast
The List says that Meri has another business: a bed and breakfast.
She owns a place in Utah called Lizzie's Heritage Inn and it's cool because it belonged to her great-great-grandparents. It was built back in 1870, so it definitely has some family history. Meri posted on social media about it and said, "It has been a long time dream of mine to get the home back into the family, and after a lot of work, and when I say a lot, a mean a LOT, it is back in my family where it belongs!"
It's inspiring that the moms have gotten involved in projects (and we bet her kids love visiting the bed and breakfast, too).
1 Robyn Is Open To Having More Kids
According to Us Weekly, Robyn would definitely have more kids and she's waiting for a "higher power." She told the magazine, “When we grow our family, it’s sort of by inspiration."
The decision to have more children isn't always easy. You know that you love your family and you, of course, adore little ones. You want to grow your family and you might have always wanted to have a lot of kids.
If it's complicated to decide to expand your family when there are only two people involved in the marriage, we can imagine that it's a different story when there are four wives like on Sister Wives. It's definitely an interesting show, and we're glad to learn more about the moms.
Sources: Sheknows.com, Eonline.com, Intouchweekly.com, Thelist.com, Thehollywoodgossip.com,