Kody Brown’s wives, Meri, Janelle, Christine, and Robyn Brown, seem to be all mirroring their mother’s lives in some way. Are the Sister Wives cast merely just living out their mother’s lives? Here are all the similarities between the wives’ and their mom’s marriages.
Meri Brown and her late mother, Bonnie Ahlstrom Barber
Meri Brown’s late mother, Bonnie Ahlstrom Barber, was the first wife of William James Barber. She had convinced him to join the faith and add more wives. Meri is also Kody’s first wife, who had helped him recruit his other wives.
According to the family’s memoir, Becoming Sister Wives: The Story of an Unconventional Marriage, Meri’s father had married a total of five times, but not all of the marriages worked out. While the wives left, Bonnie never left her husband’s side. Meri has been close to leaving Kody due to lack of intimacy, but her commitment to Kody has remained. Many fans believe that Meri will never leave Kody and that she will stay for the rest of her life as her mother had.
Janelle Brown and her late mother, Sheryl Usher
Janelle Brown’s late mother, Sheryl Usher, was married to Robert Alan Schriever, Janelle’s father, for five years before he died. She married Merlin Bartholomew Fryer for most of her life but eventually divorced him. After her divorce, Janelle said her mother became an “independent and free spirit.”
Sheryl wasn’t initially interested in becoming a polygamist, but after meeting the love of her life, William Winn Brown (who happens to be Kody’s father), she was soon added as a third wife. She stayed with him for the remainder of his life.
Janelle has been married twice so far. She also had a short-lived marriage to her husband, Adam Barber (who happens to be Meri’s brother), for two years. And she has been spiritually married to Kody for over 29 years. However, Sister Wives fans hope Janelle will also leave and become independent before finding her last husband, the love of her life, as her mother had.
Christine Brown and her mother, Annie Allred
In Sister Wives Season 17, Christine Brown left her husband, Kody Brown, after 26 years of marriage. Christine’s mother, Annie Allred, left her marriage to her husband, Rex Allred, at around 25 years of marriage. Another similarity between Christine and Annie’s marriages is that they both began falling apart after adding another wife.
Christine is leaving Kody and moving to Utah with her 11-year-old daughter, Truely. And her mother, Annie, did the same. She had to bring her youngest daughters with her during the separation. Another similarity is that after Christine and Annie left their husbands, they also left their church and faith. Not only that, but they also both publicly denounced polygamy.
Robyn Brown and her mother, Alice Sullivan
Robyn Brown was married to David Jessop in a monogamous marriage in 1999 and was divorced in 2007. Her mother, Alice Sullivan’s first marriage, was also monogamous. Robyn and her mother, Alice, divorced from their monogamous marriages and remarried into plural or polygamous marriages.
Robyn’s mom married Paul Howards Sullivan as a second wife. In the family’s memoir, Robyn recalls her mother and stepfather having a “honeymoon experience that lasted years and years.” As Sister Wives fans know, Robyn was the only one of Kody’s wives to have a real honeymoon besides Meri’s modest one.
According to Robyn, her father was replaced by her stepfather, by whom she was raised. And just like her mother, she cut her children’s father, David Jessop, out of her children’s lives. Kody stepped into the role of father for Dayton, Breanna, and Aurora and even legally adopted them.
In the process, Robyn changed her three children’s last names from Jessop to Brown. Alice had also changed her children’s last names to match her second husband’s last name, Sullivan, which is why Robyn’s maiden name is Sullivan.
Are the similarities between the sister wives’ lives and their mother’s lives merely coincidental, or is there something to it? Sister Wives fans seem to think that their mother’s experiences have subconsciously shaped their perception of marriage.
New episodes of Sister Wives Season 17 air Sundays at 10 p.m. EST on TLC.
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