Sister Wives has given viewers a lot of unforgettable moments since 2010. Showing what life is like in a polyamorous family with legal and spiritual marriages and combined homes. However, over the past decade, there have been a few shocking scandals that have plagued the cast.
The show follows the story of Kody Brown in his polygamy lifestyle with his four wives. However, the 53-year-old is only legally married to one woman and is ‘spiritually’ connected to the other three.
Over the past decade, the Brown family has tried to live a normal life like any large family. Kody has 18 children with his four wives, with whom he lives under the same roof.
Although, there have been a few scandals that have left a mark on the Sister Wives cast.
Sister Wives scandals
1. Meri’s catfishing scandal
In the list of Sister Wives’ most shocking scandals, we start with Meri Brown.
Meri was caught up in a catfishing scandal in 2015, which affected her relationship with Kody. The drama was filmed during season 11 and shows how Meri struck up an emotional bond with a mysterious man named ‘Sam Cooper’.
Shortly after Kody divorced Meri, so he could legally marry his fourth wife, Robyn, the 51-year-old met ‘Sam’ on Twitter. After six months of talking to each other, the reality star found out her Internet lover was not who she thought she had been talking to.
Instead of talking to ‘Sam’, Meri had an online romance with an infamous online catfish, Jackie Overton.
According to In Touch Weekly, the reality star went as far in her online romance as to sending intimate text messages and “pictures”, which were later leaked on a personal blog and in a book titled Almost Meri’ed.
Naturally, her online exchange affected her spiritual relationship with Kody. During an episode of Sister Wives, Meri spoke candidly about her wrongdoings and how she “pushed away” the wrong person. This was after the catfish had convinced her about how “horrible” the family and Kody were to her.
In the end, Kody and Meri’s relationship was able to progress. Nonetheless, after more than two decades together, the couple divorced so he could legally marry his fourth wife, Robyn. They remain together spiritually, but have admitted their connection is now more platonic.
2. Kody marrying his ‘sister-in-law’
Another in the list of Sister Wives scandals comes from Kody and Janelle Brown. Yes, they fell in love with each other, but they reportedly were step-siblings by marriage?
As reported by Radar Online, Janelle’s mother, Sherlyn, and Kody’s father, William Winn Brown, were once married. Sadly, both passed away in December 2020, and August 2013, respectively.
Explaining their complicated family tree, the Sister Wives star revealed she had been friends with the family before the two got into a relationship and entered the polygamous pairing.
“My mom was worried I was getting sucked into some polygamous cult,” Janelle said. “But she ended up meeting Kody’s dad and they ended up falling in love and getting married before Kody and I started courting.”
Another interesting fact about the Brown family is Meri and Janelle were sisters-in-law before Sister Wives, Radar Online reported. This comes after Janelle married her brother, Adam Clark Barber.
3. A lawsuit against the State of Utah
Love doesn’t have any barriers when it comes to Kody Brown’s household. However, making their lifestyle and romances public, the Brown family decided to move to Las Vegas from Utah out of “fear”.
In 2011, Kody filed a lawsuit against Utah Governor Gary Herbert, Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, and Utah County Attorney Jeffrey R. Buhman, In Weekly Touch wrote.
The lawsuit came after Kody and his four wives, Meri, Janelle, Christine, and Robyn, feared prosecution by the state of Utah after going public with their lifestyle. The Brown family had also launched their reality series the previous year.
As the suit was filed in the US Federal court, the criminal case was dropped within a year. However, the lawsuit continued. US District Judge Clark Waddoups gave the family a short-lived win where despite Utah’s prohibition of continuing banning multiple marriages, its anti-polygamy law was “unconstitutional”.
However, Kody and his four wives received more news five years later. Not only did the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit dismiss the earlier ruling citing “standing grounds”, they referred to Browns’ case as invalid.
In the end, Kody’s lawsuit was rejected to have its case heard, meaning that Utah’s anti-polygamy law remains effective until this day.
4. Almost courting a teen
Kody’s lifestyle might be entertaining for viewers, but there are a lot off-camera fans don’t see. In a tell-all book, spilling the never-told-before secrets of the Brown Family shocked the audience. As per In Touch Weekly, the former couple almost courted a teen.
In the book Becoming Sister Wives: The Story of an Unconventional Marriage, Meri revealed she and her husband almost courted another woman to join their polyamorous romance. However, Christine, another of Kody’s spiritual wives, said the girl was a teen when the couple tried to pursue her, as she was younger than 18.
At the time, Kody and Meri were in their early 20s when they met a girl at a church gathering. She and Meri became good friends before a potential courtship.
In her 2012 memoir: “This was unusual for me, and I immediately took it as a sign that Kody and I were destined to marry her”.
However, things didn’t work out as they had hoped, and the teenager did not join the polyamorous unity. Christine explained she was under the age of 18, but it’s believed she was older than 16, as some reports detail they were 17-years-old. In Utah, 16 is the legal age of consent.
WATCH SISTER WIVES AT 10/9C ON TLC ON SUNDAYS
AND GET FREAKY WITH US ON INSTAGRAM, FACEBOOK, TWITTER AND TIKTOK
