In Sister Wives Season 2, Kody Brown and his four wives, Meri Brown, Janelle Brown, Christine Brown, and Robyn Brown, and their 16 children left Utah “under duress” when an investigation began on the family. The documents from the actual 2010 investigation against the Browns paint a very different picture than the show’s narrative. There’s quite a bit of deception behind the whole Sister Wives production.
How the ‘Utah Investigation’ was portrayed on ‘Sister Wives’ Season 2
Kody, Meri, Janelle, Christine, and Robyn were followers of a Fundamentalist Mormon sect called the Apostolic United Brethren (AUB), where they practice “plural marriage,” AKA polygamy. They decided it was time to stop “living in fear” and show the world their lifestyle.
After Sister Wives Season 1 debuted, the Brown family went on a press tour, including The Today Show, where they officially came out as polygamists to the public. In 2009, polygamy was a third-degree felony. After the season aired, the Lehi Police Department began an investigation against the Brown family.
In Sister Wives Season 2, the family makes a dramatic show about how they’re being run out of Utah and persecuted for their religious belief and right to practice plural marriage. Kody decided that to “stay a family,” they must move out of Utah and decided to move to a place they believed to be more “open-minded” — Las Vegas, Nevada.
Kody’s four wives and their combined 16 children were forced to pack up their belongings and leave. When the media caught wind of their move, panic ensued. They had 24 hours before TMZ broke the story, and the show made it seem like the investigators would try to arrest Kody after that time.
They worried that if Kody was found guilty, he would be sent to prison, and the wives would be separated, as had happened to Christine’s AUB leader grandfather.
The Browns were not in danger of being prosecuted for polygamy
Sister Wives Season 2 made it seem like Kody would be immediately arrested unless the Browns fled the state of Utah. However, it’s rare for the Utah attorney general’s office to prosecute polygamists unless they are accused of additional crimes. Bigamy was often used as a penalty enhancement for other crimes, such as coercion in a marriage, sex abuse, child abuse, domestic violence, or human trafficking.
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The 2010 Lehi police report outlines the findings of their investigation. They acknowledge that Kody is an admitted bigamist, living as a husband and wife with four wives. But since there was no evidence of other crimes associated with bigamy, the State prosecutors declined to prosecute Kody.
The police report reads (via @WithoutACrystalBall): “I did not locate any evidence that suggests these individuals are committing any other crimes commonly associated with the practice of Polygamy, including welfare fraud, underage marriages, or sexual offenses against children or minors. This does not confirm that these crimes are not occurring, only that there is currently no evidence supporting it.”
Kody moved his family to Las Vegas to continue ‘Sister Wives’
The point of the Brown’s Utah investigation wasn’t polygamy. The real crime was that the Browns were financially benefitting off a criminal act — meaning the family’s TV show Sister Wives.
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The police report reads: “It is most likely that the Brown Family received some sort of financial consideration for their involvement in this project. That would suggest that they were paid to promote an activity that is a criminal act in their home state. However, it is unknown at this point what, if any, financial compensation was received.”
Had the Browns stopped the TV show, the investigation would have been dropped. So to continue their TV show, Kody chose to uproot his family and move to Las Vegas to avoid prosecution.
‘Sister Wives’ producers were fighting to decriminalize polygamy
On the last page of the police report, it’s revealed that Sister Wives producer Timothy Gibbons made contact with Kody through a group actively working to decriminalize polygamy called Principle Voices.
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The police report reads: “It was found that in 2009, independent producers Timothy Gibbons and Christopher Poole approached the North Carolina-based company, Figure 8 Films, with the concept of a reality show about the Brown family. Prior to this, Timothy Gibbons had been introduced to Kody by Anna Wilde with the Polygamy advocacy group Principle Voices.”
The goal of Sister Wives from the beginning was to advocate for polygamy and seek to decriminalize it in Utah, which with the help of Sister Wives and Kody, was accomplished in 2020. Now instead of polygamy being a third-degree felony in Utah, it now can only be punished at most with a $750 fine and community service.
According to Timothy Gibbon’s production company’s website, the Sister Wives producer promised no experts or opposing views would be included in the show that was contrary to their goal of decriminalizing polygamy.
Interestingly, TLC didn’t tell viewers that Sister Wives producers and Kody were working in tandem to push the narrative that plural marriage isn’t harmful and shouldn’t be illegal.
New episodes of Sister Wives Season 17 air Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on TLC.
RELATED: ‘Sister Wives’: Gwendlyn Brown Says Most of the Family Realized They Were Raised in a ‘Cult’