'Sister Wives' Star Divorces First Wife to Marry Fourth
The Brown family of TLC's "Sister Wives" has gone through a serious change after patriarch Kody divorced his first wife in order to marry his fourth.
Kody and first-wife Meri, his only legal wife, made the decision to divorce so that Kody could marry his fourth spiritual wife, Robyn. Meri and Kody jointly filed for divorce, which was finalized on Sept. 25, 2014. Kody then married Robyn, whom he wed in a spiritual ceremony just three months later, making their marriage the legal one. It's believed that all this was done so that Robyn's three children from a previous marriage would have legal standing and insurance, as well as stability within the legal system.
"We have chosen to legally restructure our family," the family said in a statement to ET. "We made this decision together as a family. We are grateful to our family, friends and fans for all their love and support."
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The hit reality series "Sister Wives" focuses on the lives of the Brown family, which includes Kody, Meri, second wife Janelle and third wife Christine. Viewers saw Kody ask permission from his wives before courting, and marrying, Robyn. Meri is the one who actually encouraged Kody to court Robyn, and the two share a special bond.
The family belongs to the Apostolic United Brethren church, a polygamous Mormon fundamental church within the Latter Day Saint movement. They purposely left the traditional church behind in order to be together as a family and throughout the series have met other polygamous families across the nation. After fleeing their home in Utah to avoid possible separation, the Brown family settled in Las Vegas.
They have since championed the right to practice polygamy and were thrilled to learn that a judge in Utah struck down the law banning polygamy.
"The first thing I thought about was all those families that for 100 years had lived and loved in obscurity, just in secrecy," Kody told the press at the time. "Not being able to claim their family or openly love one another. Though we support the choices of other people organizing their families however they choose, our argument has always been very different. What we've been looking for is simply to live free and to be able to live our religion without the threat of prosecution."
