What Religion Is The Brown Family On Sister Wives?
The "Sister Wives" stars may live a large portion of their lives in the public eye, but the family of 18 has also worked tirelessly to keep certain parts private — including the religion they follow.
After coming into prominence in 2010, Kody Brown and his wives, Meri, Janelle, and Robyn, and his now ex-wife, Christine, took the world by storm. The show follows the lives of a polygamist family living in a modern, monogamous society. To the Browns, polygamy is an act of selflessness — and while there are more people in the marriage, they see polygamy as no different than monogamy. "In each [marriage], we're just as committed, it's an eternal commitment that we've made with each other, and a lot of monogamous marriages are like that," then-sister wife Christine Brown said on the show.
While the Brown family is open about plural marriage and the positive aspects of it, the family rarely opens up about how religion plays into their belief in plural marriage. This has left fans wondering what religion the Brown family follows.
The Browns are a member of the Mormon religion
While the Browns are vocal about their decision to be in a plural marriage, the family isn't as open about their religion. In the first episode of "Sister Wives," patriarch Kody Brown explained that the Browns are fundamentalist Mormons. Although Kody said they follow the Mormon religion, there is a difference between the fundamentalist sect the Browns are a part of and the main LDS sect — which is short for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The biggest difference between the groups is that fundamentalist Mormons still practice polygamy, like the Browns, while the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints do not.
Moreover within the fundamentalist Mormon sect, the Browns specifically belong to the Apostolic United Brethren. As religious scholar J. Gordon Melton told In Touch Weekly, the Apostolic United Brethren is a "more liberal branch of the fundamentalist movement. So is Kody allowed to legally marry more than one of his wives?
Kody Brown is only legally married to one wife
While the Brown family follows a liberal branch of the fundamentalist Mormon religion, that doesn't mean Kody Brown was allowed to legally marry more than one wife.
Back in 1990, Kody married his first wife, Meri Brown. He spiritually married his second wife, Janelle Brown, in 1993 — followed by his third wife, Christine Brown, in 1995, per Us Weekly. In 2014, Kody legally divorced Meri (although they remained spiritually married) in order to legally marry his fourth wife, Robyn Brown. The decision to legally marry Robyn — and divorce Meri — was due to the fact that Robyn had three children from a previous marriage that Kody wanted to adopt. While at the time, both Kody and Robyn maintained that the legal marriage between them was only for the children, now ex-wife Christine revealed in 2022 that Robyn is Kody's favorite wife.
Not only that, following Christine's split from the family, sources revealed that Kody was reportedly interested in looking for more wives to add to the family, per Us Weekly, as his other wives are unhappy with him. Although Kody's other wives may be opposed to it, at least we know his religion wouldn't be.