'Sister Wives' star Kody Brown, four spouses explain the motivation to chronicle their 'plural marriage'
'Sister Wives' star Kody Brown, along with his four spouses, explain the motivation to chronicle their 'plural marriage' for hit TLC series.
It’s tough having four wives during a pandemic – just ask Kody Brown.
Sunday’s episode of "Sister Wives" chronicled how the coronavirus pandemic impacted the United States, including Flagstaff, Arizona, where the plural family resides.
Brown’s wives – Christine, Janelle, Meri and Robyn – were all living in separate households to ensure social distancing, as well as to meet self-quarantining guidelines.
The exhausted patriarch said he was the only one going in-between homes.
Television personalities Kody Brown (C) and his wives, (L-R) Janelle Brown, Christine Brown, Meri Brown and Robyn Brown attend Hard Rock Cafe Las Vegas at Hard Rock Hotel's 25th-anniversary celebration on October 10, 2015, in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Gabe Ginsberg/Getty Images)
"I guess right now my biggest worry really is if I would have to be isolated from members from my family long-term," the 52-year-old told cameras, as quoted by People magazine on Monday.
"In my mind, part of the healing process when you’re sick is that love and nurturing you get from your loved ones," he shared. "I’m not going to not care for a wife if she’s sick. I don’t want to not hug my kids."
Brown has a combined 18 children with his wives.
The reality TV star admitted he was "the most dangerous person in the whole family when it comes to COVID-19 because I’m going from house to house – I could spread it from house to house."
According to Brown, each wife runs her own household.
"There’s this sort of thing that happens in our relationships, that I guess is only fair in plural marriage – the mom, the household belongs to her," he explained. "It just feels odd to me. ‘OK, this is what you’re going to do.’ Well, wait a second, do I have a say in this?"
Kody Brown of Sister Wives visits Plymouth Beach on September 10, 2011, in Plymouth, Massachusetts. (Photo by Stephen J. Cohen/Getty Images)
The outlet shared that Janelle, 51, chose not to have Brown visit her home for an indefinite amount of time as they awaited more answers about the virus. The couple shares six children.
Brown said he wanted the wives to get on a conference call to discuss the topic. However, he said Janelle didn’t feel the other women needed to be involved in the conversation.
"The whole family’s got to be involved in this discussion," he said. "You know, it’s just one of those times when maybe I wish I just told my wives what we’re going to do. But I am so confused by this whole thing that I don’t even know what to do."
Brown and his wives eventually got participated in a conference call where he expressed his frustration.
"I feel like I’m being passed around like a rag doll now," he said.
TV personalities Meri Brwon, Janelle Brown, Kody Brown, Christine Brown and Robyn Brown speak during the 'Sister Wives' panel during the Discovery Communications portion of the 2010 Summer TCA press tour held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on August 6, 2010, in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)
Brown later said he didn’t like being told what to do.
"My schedule is always a sensitive subject," he said. "All my wives have a different opinion of what my schedule should be. But the issue is it’s a sensitive subject to me, and I don’t like them telling me what my schedule is."
"Sister Wives" aims to show how Brown and his family navigate life in a world that seems to shun their lifestyle. The reality TV series has been airing since 2010.
Brown’s first and only legally recognized marriage was in 1990 to Meri, The New York Times previously reported. The pair originally met in 1989 through mutual friends and tied the knot six months later when she was 19 and he 22. Five years later, they welcomed their daughter Mariah. The newspaper shared that Brown’s second wife Janelle came in 1993, followed by wife Christine a year later.
Brown and Meri divorced in 2014, AZCentral.com reported. He legally married his fourth wife Robyn, so that he could adopt her children from a previous relationship. Brown has previously said he is "spiritually" married to Meri, Janelle and Christine.
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'Sister Wives' has been airing since 2010. (Gabe Ginsberg/FilmMagic/Getty Images)
Being married to more than one person, or bigamy is illegal across the United States. The law in Mormon-heavy Utah is considered stricter because of a unique provision that bars married people from living with a second "spiritual spouse."
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints abandoned polygamy in 1890 and strictly prohibits it today. The Browns consider themselves fundamentalist Mormons.
Back in 2019, Brown told Fox News that the family has agreed on not considering a fifth wife anytime soon.
"We really took the fifth wife thing off the table a long time ago," said Brown. "And because we don’t want to snub the concept, we’ve always sort of been very casually dismissing it, and I think that’s one reason the question keeps coming up. But it’s technically been off the table as long as we’ve done the show."
"Sister Wives" airs Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on TLC. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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