Sister Wives: A Timeline Of When Kody Brown Married Each Of His Wives

Every season of Sister Wives surprises fans when Kody Brown ends the season with the same number of wives as he started with. Besides the constant rumors that he’s seeking wife number five, viewers are shocked that none of his wives have left him yet. They all seem so unhappy, many fans can’t figure out what is holding the family together. Even newest wife Robyn has been married to Kody for more than 10 years now.

Kody Brown didn’t grow up in polygamy, though both him and his father embraced polygamy when Kody was an older teenager. Kody fully embraced the lifestyle and agreed to put his family on display for Sister Wives to promote the non-traditional lifestyle. However, as time progressed, even the normally selfish Kody couldn’t continue to ignore the obvious: that none of his wives were satisfied with their one-quarter of a husband. He has said on multiple episodes that he no longer believes polygamy is a good choice, after more than thirty years of experience.

Meri grew up in polygamy and thought it was what she wanted. She met Kody through her friendship with Kody’s sister. The two met in October 1989 and became engaged in December 1989. While Kody has claimed that Meri tricked him into marrying her, they were engaged for four months, so he had some time to know what he was getting into. They married April 21, 1990 when Kody was 21 and Meri was 19. About a year after they were married, Kody began courting an underage girl, and after waiting until she was 18 to become officially engaged to her, the young woman changed her mind.

Janelle and Kody’s wedding came close on the heels of her divorce from Meri’s brother. Janelle and Kody had been previously friends before spiritually marrying on January 17, 1993, which was also Kody’s 24th birthday. Janelle was 23. Christine and Kody had been friends for about three and a half years before deciding to court and then spiritually marry. Kody said it was a fast courtship, as long courtships are hard on the other wives. Kody was already having problems with first wife Meri and second wife Janelle. Christine, 21, and Kody, 25, spiritually married on March 25, 1994. Somewhere around 2001, Janelle was struggling and ended up taking her children and moving in with her mother. After two or three years, she decided to move back in with the Browns.

In 2010, at the same time as the family had begun filming for Sister Wives, Kody was courting Robyn. Some have suggested that Kody decided to bring on another wife after so long in order to make the Brown family stand out from other polygamous families TLC was considering following. It had been 16 years since he had brought on Christine, and Kody had concerns about Robyn since she was a divorcee with three kids. Robyn and Kody spiritually married May 22, 2010. Robyn was 31 years old and Kody was 41.  Kody then asked his first wife, Meri, to divorce him so he could legally marry Robyn and adopt her children. Robyn and Kody legally married on December 11, 2014.

It’s been over 21 years since Kody has brought a new wife into the family. His favoritism towards new wife Robyn has caused a significant amount of the drama in the family. Meri and Kody are basically a married couple in-name-only and Christine ended season 15 by exclaiming that she didn’t want to be married to Kody anymore. On top of not being able to give his wives what they need, Kody is not able to support his large family financially. At this point, fans of Sister Wives are convinced the Browns would be happier not living in polygamy. It’s just a matter of when will the Brown’s themselves figure that out.

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