Very few people in the United States practice polygamy, as it has been technically banned since 1852. At one point, however, it was practiced by about a quarter of the members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (commonly referred to as Mormons). Polygamous families consist of a husband who has married several wives, although the number of wives is not always the same. In the case of the Sister Wives family, Kody was married to four women at the same time (Meri, Janelle, Christine and Robyn) before he and Meri divorced in 2014. Today, despite the couple`s divorce, Meri is part of the family. “That`s what matters. I think he has a favorite wife and that`s why everything is like this,” Christine said in a recent episode of her breakup with Kody. A major point of contention within the multiple family tends to be the relationship of the other three wives with Robyn, who feels that Kody often treats his fourth wife preferentially. Although the 53-year-old TV personality and salesman assured ET in February 2021 that there would never be a fifth wife, understanding the status of her current marriages can still be difficult in light of recent events. Season 17 will certainly be one of the most dramatic as the family struggles with Christine`s decision to leave Kody. After several years in Vegas, the Browns moved to Flagstaff, Arizona in 2018. But RadarOnline.com reported the following year that the Browns could also have legal problems in that state. Brown and his four wives said they participated in the show to raise awareness of polygamous families and combat societal prejudice.

Brown claims that his polygamous arrangement is legal because he is legally married to only one woman (Robyn), while the other marriages (to Meri, Janelle, and Christine) are “spiritual connections.” “I got divorced. I know what that means. We are not just talking about three children and a man and a woman. We`re talking about 18 kids, spouses, grandchildren and five of us, all connected, engaged, and technically married. Do you even understand what you are saying?” she asked. The reality series TLC, which premiered in 2010, follows polygamist Kody Brown and his marriages to four women (Brown is legally married to only one woman, Robyn Brown, but considers himself “spiritually” married on all fours). The patriarch of the Brown family has 18 children in his families. TLC`s popular show, Sister Wives, follows Kody Brown and his polygamous family. Last season, the Browns moved to Flagstaff, Arizona, where they bought land and plan to build a huge house (though the women don`t want it as much as Kody).

But the Browns have had several clashes with police, as polygamy is not legal in any of the 50 United States. But if so, how can the Brown family live the way they do? Kody is the father of a total of 18 children and legally divorced Meri in 2014 to marry Robyn to officially adopt her three children from a previous relationship. In 2013, two years after the Sister Wives stars sued Utah and the Utah County District Attorney`s Office over the state`s bigamy law, a federal judge in Utah overturned the ban on “cohabitation” but upheld the ban on bigamy “literally – fraudulent or otherwise improper possession of two allegedly valid marriage licenses for the purpose of contracting more than one allegedly legal marriage.” as CNN reported at the time. A few months later, Christine became the first woman to leave Kody. When his fourth wife (Robyn) entered the scene, Kody asked Meri to divorce so he could legally marry Robyn. According to People, Meri complied with the request because Robyn had three children from a previous marriage and a legal marriage to Kody would allow her to be included in her insurance. But the legality of their polygamy has given the Browns many headaches over the years. TLC fans were introduced to the Brown family in 2010 when he was legally married to Meri and spiritually married to Janelle and Christine. The first season followed Robyn`s introduction to the group after 16 years of Kody`s established routine with his three other wives.

Federal authorities have taken vigorous legal action to crush this despicable movement. They arrested Mormon leaders and other polygamists; and they eventually proceeded to dissolve the Church at their headquarters in Utah. Church leaders, facing relentless persecution, formally abandoned polygamy in 1890 to end the crisis. And this step had an effect. The persecution has stopped. Utah was admitted to the Union. Bigamy has always been a crime in this country. It is illegal to have more than one wife – or more than one husband, although this is a much, much rarer circumstance. Bigamy has long been a state crime; and it was declared a federal crime in 1862 by the Morrill Act, which specifically targeted Mormons, which was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1878 against the Mormons` claim that the ban violated the constitutional guarantee of religious freedom. Utah`s statehood was conditional on banning bigamy; And every state today annuls bigamous marriages and makes any attempt to contract such a marriage a crime. Kody Brown`s relationships with Meri Brown, Janelle Brown, Christine Brown and Robyn Brown all had their ups and downs — but many Sister Wives viewers were still shocked when he and his third wife ended it.

The broadcast of Sister Wives came at a time when polygamy and plural marriage were a widespread theme in American pop culture. Big Love, HBO`s hit series about fictional polygamist Bill Henrickson from Utah, his three wives sisters and their struggle for acceptance in society, had been on the air for several years. In early September 2010, the drama series Lone Star about a con man who is about to contract multiple marriages premiered on Fox, but was quickly canceled after two episodes. When Sister Wives debuted, actress Katherine Heigl was making a film about Carolyn Jessop, a woman fleeing a polygamous cult. [10] Meri grew up in a polygamous family and was introduced to Kody by her sister. “I was immediately seduced by Kody,” Meri wrote in the 2012 book “Becoming Sister Wives.” While Meri agreed with the plan, her relationship with Kody struggled after the divorce when she searched for someone`s “camaraderie” online and ended up being fished. While tensions remained high, Kody admitted to Us in February 2021 that his relationship with his first wife had been in a “very dark place for a very long time” — but he didn`t force her to stay. In the nineteenth century, the typical case of bigamy involved a stranger who comes to town with a line of conversation, woos a local woman, and never bothers to tell her that he has a former wife (and possibly children) where he came from. This second marriage was (legally) null and void. Bigamy was a kind of fraud; and was particularly severe at a time when sex was illegal, except in the bedroom of (validly) married people. Everything else was not only illegal, but also highly stigmatized, at least in a polite society.

At the time, bigamy usually involved an innocent second woman who was certainly a victim – betrayed and deprived of her virtue, by a ruthless Cad.