Sister Wives: Kody the Idiot Divorces Meri to Marry Robyn

[Pretzel]

The biggest redeeming quality about the Browns is that they are supportive of their kids not living the exact same lifestyle. Some of those older teens seem to be pretty smart. Even the one who wants to be a sisterwife when she grows up wants to have a career and independence without sacrificing that.

If Kody wasn't such a douchenozzle and those wives weren't so whiny, they wouldn't be so bad. There is a massive difference between what 5 consensual adults are doing and being forced in to a FLDS Plural marriage.

Quoted for truth.

I, as well, give them a pass on a lot of stuff because they support their kids, let them be individuals, don't shelter them from secular education and even though their personal boundaries may vary they can bring across genuinely that they'd be supportive of their children no matter what. I also give Kody a pass when it comes to his kids (even the ones that aren't his biologically). He seems to genuinely care about all of his kids and he can be so non-douchey when he's around them and playing with them. He obviously really enjoys having that many kids. I sometimes doubt that he enjoys having them with that many moms, though. He's a total douchenugget when it comes to his wives. :roll:

Oh, I don't think for a second that they support marriage equality. LDS doesn't support it and does what most denominations do and says something along the lines of "we love the sinner but hate the sin." which is most definitely not supportive of the LGBTQ+ movement. If I'm not mistaken, UAB is even more conservative than LDS and so I highly doubt they support it. I just they that the Browns realize that going on TV and stating that they don't support it would be highly hypocritical. If you'll notice, when they complain about the things polygamists go through, those are some of the same things that LGBTQ+ people go through.

Just because a church is supportive of something doesn't mean that ALL its members are a homogenous group who have no single different thought. E.g. Gothard is against adoption. There are quite some IBLP families out there who have adopted children. So they obviously think that it is ok for them.

Some fundies are fundies are fundies....but some are still people who can form an individual thought every now and then, fwiw.

[Arete]

^Exactly. There are just too many well adjusted young adult kids and teens in that family to be able to say the parents are without any redeeming qualities. And I say that as a person who thinks polygamy is a serious step back and should not be normalized into legal marriage.

[Letgo]

Quoted for truth.

I, as well, give them a pass on a lot of stuff because they support their kids, let them be individuals, don't shelter them from secular education and even though their personal boundaries may vary they can bring across genuinely that they'd be supportive of their children no matter what. I also give Kody a pass when it comes to his kids (even the ones that aren't his biologically). He seems to genuinely care about all of his kids and he can be so non-douchey when he's around them and playing with them. He obviously really enjoys having that many kids. I sometimes doubt that he enjoys having them with that many moms, though. He's a total douchenugget when it comes to his wives. :roll:

Just because a church is supportive of something doesn't mean that ALL its members are a homogenous group who have no single different thought. E.g. Gothard is against adoption. There are quite some IBLP families out there who have adopted children. So they obviously think that it is ok for them.

Some fundies are fundies are fundies....but some are still people who can form an individual thought every now and then, fwiw.

Bolding mine. I completely agree here. I attend a church where many of the parishoners think that gay people simply choose to be gay. They think a transsexual is just sick. It is not possible that gender identification can be changed or opposite from the physical body of a person. I disagree but I am not going to change their minds. We simply disagree about this.

I also think that the Browns may have opened up somewhat because of their show and because they left Utah. They lived a secretive life in Utah because of their polygamy and no longer need to do that. They are able to meet others and be honest about their family. There is far less LDS influence in Las Vegas than there was in Lehi. Life in Sin City may have had an influence in some of their beliefs.

[Becket70]

TLC just announced that Sister Wives has been renewed and will be on again in the Fall. What does it take to get cancelled on this network?

[Adrienne83]

TLC just announced that Sister Wives has been renewed and will be on again in the Fall. What does it take to get cancelled on this network?

Whatever the Williams family did, because they cancelled My Five Wives. :/

[ADoyle90815]

Whatever the Williams family did, because they cancelled My Five Wives. :/

That, or get involved with a registered sex offender who is registered because of sexually molesting a child, when you have daughters. (Honey Boo Boo)

[treemom]

It's sort of true that single women can't get to the CK, but it's a bit misleading in that men have to be married too, and mainstream LDS typically don't believe you have to be married in this life because you can always be sealed after you die.

I actually like that about the LDS compared to most other Christian churches. There's essentially no hell (it's almost impossible to get sent to Outer Darkness-even Hitler wouldn't make the cut), you get another chance for the highest level of heaven after you die, and even the third level of heaven is really nice and you can still be visited by people in higher kingdoms.

The church tends to be less forgiving than their theology, though.

Although it seems both myself and hitler would be viewed as equals in the made up afterlife. That's a problem with the theology as much as sending non believers to hell.

[Firiel]

Although it seems both myself and hitler would be viewed as equals in the made up afterlife. That's a problem with the theology as much as sending non believers to hell.

Depends on if you are a shitty person (in their view) or not. Essentially, there are three kingdoms. Only baptized Mormons can make it to the celestial (best) kingdom. Mainstream Christians and "good" non-believers go the the terrestrial (middle) kingdom. Bad people go to the telestial (worst but still good) kingdom.

Currently, the outer darkness is for those who know the truth but rejected it anyway. Currently, that covers very few people (Cain, and no one else for sure). But, my true-believing LDS friend confirmed my suspicion that at one point, the outer darkness was considered the fate of people who leave the LDS church.

[treemom]

Depends on if you are a shitty person (in their view) or not. Essentially, there are three kingdoms. Only baptized Mormons can make it to the celestial (best) kingdom. Mainstream Christians and "good" non-believers go the the terrestrial (middle) kingdom. Bad people go to the telestial (worst but still good) kingdom.

Currently, the outer darkness is for those who know the truth but rejected it anyway. Currently, that covers very few people (Cain, and no one else for sure). But, my true-believing LDS friend confirmed my suspicion that at one point, the outer darkness was considered the fate of people who leave the LDS church.

I believe according to their theology I end up in the telestial kingdom, right with hitler. "Bad people" is a pretty big group of people. You can have a different opinion than me, but I think it's pretty shitty theology. There are things I like about LDS, its view of the afterlife is not one of those things.

And I believe they must be married in addition to baptized to reach the celestial kingdom.

And many TBM still believe that if you leave the faith you are cast into outer darkness. Including those who do not leave willingly but are excommunicated.

[Firiel]

I believe according to their theology I end up in the telestial kingdom, right with hitler. "Bad people" is a pretty big group of people. You can have a different opinion than me, but I think it's pretty shitty theology. There are things I like about LDS, its view of the afterlife is not one of those things.

And I believe they must be married in addition to baptized to reach the celestial kingdom.

And many TBM still believe that if you leave the faith you are cast into outer darkness. Including those who do not leave willingly but are excommunicated.

Oh, it's shitty theology. Didn't mean to imply otherwise-- I was just jumping in with info. I have no idea which kingdom you would be in according to Mormon theology, and it would probably depend on which Mormon you talked to!

You can make it to the celestial kingdom without being married, but the celestial kingdom itself is divided into separate levels, and you can't make it to the highest level of the celestial kingdom without being married. Apparently, other than marriage being essential to the highest level, it's not really clear what separates the levels of the celestial kingdom, so you don't really know where you'll end up.

EDIT: Well, saying I have no idea which kingdom you'd be in is not really true. You wouldn't be in the celestial and you wouldn't be in the outer darkness, but between the other two-- who knows.

[mycatismyheadship]

This is a really interesting theory. Mormons in general are encouraged to marry young, like the IFB, so it could be that both Kody and Meri decided to marry simply because they were the first people they had feelings for and assumed that that was a good enough reason to get married. If your theory is correct, then it would seem that Kody simply married all of the women he sort of liked and brought them into the fold. This worked well enough until Robyn came along, and now Kody is in "adult love" and would prefer to just be monogamous with her, but he has all of these other wives and children that he has obligations for. It's sort of like the "don't give pieces of your heart" away philosophy as applied to polygamy, where Kody has to marry any semi-interesting woman he comes in contact with to retain his spiritual "purity."

A poster on the Cynical Jinx blog posited that the appeal for the women in polygamy is that it enables them to have a "hot guy" who ordinarily wouldn't pay attention to them even if it means having to share him. Kody was pretty good looking in her younger days and I could see why Meri, Janelle, and Christine would be attracted to him on a purely shallow level (I think he could still look good if he would get an age-appropriate haircut, but that's another story). In addition to the religious pressures they feel to make polygamy work, perhaps the first three wives feel like they can't aspire to anything better than Kody, so there's no point in leaving.

Lastly, it's becoming more obvious to me that these so-called "sister wives" are more like four women who have nothing in common other than the fact that their kids (minus Robyn's kids from her first marriage) all have the same father. Meri and Janelle have admitted that they aren't close and Christine seems to just "be there" most of the time. There's nothing particularly "sisterly" about their relationships, unless it's in the sense of females bonded by family ties who would otherwise never have anything to do with each other.

Exactly. It's the same "pieces of your heart" theory that the Duggars espouse, with the difference that in this religion, a man can (nay, should!) marry more than one woman, but not vice versa. Ok, not my bag, but I'll go with it.

But as you said, it's still the pressure to marry early to the first person with whom you share a connection. I can't imagine having married my first boyfriend (sure, he was a great kid and nothing bad happened, but we are so different from one another as adults that I can't imagine how we would have ever been happy together for good. And I know it does happen and know couples for whom it had worked, but that is still rare).

I also feel I should clarify, if I didn't in my first post, that my assessment wasn't how I think Kody actually thinks of his wives as it stands: moreso how those relationships would have played out in the more mainstream world. The relationships were then very much encouraged by religion and, i would venture to guess, by children. Each wife does seem to be committed to being a good mom and raising their children together (though they show it differently from one another), so I can completely see the children making the relationships feel at times, or even overall, more functional than they would be without kids.

[Evilbad]

I think I'm most curious about what happens with them all once the kids are moved out. They are united right now in being parents and raising the kids together, but what happens when there's no more littles around to keep them connected?

[NotALoserLikeYou]

I think I'm most curious about what happens with them all once the kids are moved out. They are united right now in being parents and raising the kids together, but what happens when there's no more littles around to keep them connected?

I think they anticipated staying in their culture, and having the kids follow suit, and then 100 grandkids. The holidays. Weddings. Parties galore. That's like the big payoff for enduring the tough years. Now the kids are pretty "liberal" and will probably be scattered about. I think they stay in LV because in Utah it's either you're secret plyg or you're monogamous and accepted. I don't think Janelle has a better chance of making it in real estate there than in Utah where regular lds wouldn't do business with her.

[Georgiana]

I think we've already seen a huge change in the Meri/Kody dynamic since Mariah moved out. And that was one of the stronger relationships.

[Mama Mia]

But now in polygamy land....... your young love, your best friend, and your side chick are now all your wives!!!! .

Okay since I read this the other day I have had an ear worm of the raunchiest, filthiest, most non p.c., misogynist -- but hilarious, and catchy --rap song on this topic. -- totally nsw. And I'm sure triggering for some. But if you're curious go to youtube and look up :

Tech N9ne " My Wife, My Bitch, My Girl"

If I was tech savvy I'd do one of those bobbly head videos with dancing Browns to the lyrics :lol:

[Letgo]

I'm looking forward to seeing the next show when the divorce/marriage issue is supposed to be explained. I keep wondering how Janelle feels about what happened, if it was done for insurance reasons. Several years ago her children were uninsured and Madison needed an emergency appendectomy. I remember Kody saying it took them years to pay off the bills. At that time Janelle had six children and Meri had one. Wouldn't it have made far more sense for Janelle to be the legal wife and have all six of her children on Kody's insurance plan? Or Christine? She had five children then and it would have been better for her five to be covered by insurance as opposed to Meri's one child. Was the birth of Truly covered by insurance? Meri did not step aside for either Janelle or Christine. Why do it for Robyn? If it actually was for insurance purposes, why now? And where would Kody get insurance? He doesn't have a job now, does he? Other than the show and jewelry business, I mean. If he bought insurance on his own, Robyn could do the same. How does Obamacare cover THIS situation? :P

[Mama Mia]

I'm looking forward to seeing the next show when the divorce/marriage issue is supposed to be explained. I keep wondering how Janelle feels about what happened, if it was done for insurance reasons. Several years ago her children were uninsured and Madison needed an emergency appendectomy. I remember Kody saying it took them years to pay off the bills. At that time Janelle had six children and Meri had one. Wouldn't it have made far more sense for Janelle to be the legal wife and have all six of her children on Kody's insurance plan? Or Christine? She had five children then and it would have been better for her five to be covered by insurance as opposed to Meri's one child. Was the birth of Truly covered by insurance? Meri did not step aside for either Janelle or Christine. Why do it for Robyn? If it actually was for insurance purposes, why now? And where would Kody get insurance? He doesn't have a job now, does he? Other than the show and jewelry business, I mean. If he bought insurance on his own, Robyn could do the same. How does Obamacare cover THIS situation? :P

Being the legal wife would make 0 difference regarding insurance for any of Janelle or Christine's children. Because they are Cody's biological children. They would have just as much legal right to be on any insurance plan Cody had as would his child with Mary.

Legal marriage status would ONLY matter if Cody has an insurance plan through an employer that covers dependents and they wanted to cover Robin's children from her previous marriage. Because the insurer would likely require documentation, like a marriage certificate, that Cody is their legal step-father.

But yeah, unless that multi-level marketing thing he promotes provides employer sponsored insurance that covers dependents, there is no insurance based reason for the marriage. I think it's more likely the biological dad has basically flaked and is willing to terminate parental rights so as not to pay child support and allow Cody to do a step-parent adoption. There would be nothing stopping the Browns from still allowing visitation in that case, but would give Cody automatic custody of the children if something happened to Robin. In the episode that focused on Robin they did emphasize how crappy her first marriage was. And heavily hinted at abuse, or at least that was my take. I guess we'll find out Sunday :D

[Letgo]

We have to wait until March 1. They are skipping a week. The Academy Awards are on this Sunday. Didn't want to compete, I guess.

Huh, so if it isn't insurance, it would seem it would have to be because of the father of Robyn's children. He does see them; would he really want to abandon his children knowing it would be on the show? I guess I'll have to wait and see.

[Coconut Flan]

TLC just announced that Sister Wives has been renewed and will be on again in the Fall. What does it take to get cancelled on this network?

As someone said date a child molester or more commonly average less than 900,000 to a million viewers per episode. I've seen TLC renew a couple of first or second season shows with fewer viewers per episode, but it was for a very short (6 to 7 episodes) and final season. They need filler and schedule spackle occasionally. The longer the show has been on the air the more likely it will be cancelled at a somewhat higher viewer number because the costs go up each year.

[NotALoserLikeYou]

But the ex husband hadn't flaked during the five years Meri has been thinking about this. The kids have been visiting with their dad. I guess it's possible he's willing to give up his rights now.

In all seriousness, isn't is possible that janelle and Christines kids don't even have Kody listed on their birth certificates? Because at least Christine got food stamps before and that's because she was passing herself off as a single mother.

[Alexa]

Being the legal wife would make 0 difference regarding insurance for any of Janelle or Christine's children. Because they are Cody's biological children. They would have just as much legal right to be on any insurance plan Cody had as would his child with Mary.

Legal marriage status would ONLY matter if Cody has an insurance plan through an employer that covers dependents and they wanted to cover Robin's children from her previous marriage. Because the insurer would likely require documentation, like a marriage certificate, that Cody is their legal step-father.

But yeah, unless that multi-level marketing thing he promotes provides employer sponsored insurance that covers dependents, there is no insurance based reason for the marriage. I think it's more likely the biological dad has basically flaked and is willing to terminate parental rights so as not to pay child support and allow Cody to do a step-parent adoption. There would be nothing stopping the Browns from still allowing visitation in that case, but would give Cody automatic custody of the children if something happened to Robin. In the episode that focused on Robin they did emphasize how crappy her first marriage was. And heavily hinted at abuse, or at least that was my take. I guess we'll find out Sunday :D

I never thought about it this way, Meri didn't care enough about Christine or Janelle's kids to let Kody put them on his insurance as his kids. It was said that Kody didn't want to lose his job due to being out as a polygamist and his 12 biological kids were not on his work insurance. Unless David Jessop has legally signed away rights to his 3 kids with Robyn, there is no way Kody can adopt them. From what we've heard about David Jessop, he seems to want a relationship with his kids. Since he has been divorced from their mom for 6 or 7 years and has kept their relationship going, I don't see why he'd give it up now. Robyn has so much baggage, what a horrible pick for a new wife. The Browns already had enough problems on their own, they didn't need to add Robyn and her many problems.

Since I don't think there will be a legal adoption, I bet the Browns are going to spin it that Kody married Robyn because if something does happen to her they will then have a chance of keeping the first 3 kids (which is so unlikely without legal adoption it defies common sense). Anyway, I stand by my thought that Kody wanted to be married to Robyn and that was that. Did Meri look like someone who was wanting to file for divorce or doing out of the good in her heart? She looked devastated to me and she is a terrible actress and Meri is not known to put anyone else above herself, especially another wife.

[Mama Mia]

But the ex husband hadn't flaked during the five years Meri has been thinking about this. The kids have been visiting with their dad. I guess it's possible he's willing to give up his rights now.

In all seriousness, isn't is possible that janelle and Christines kids don't even have Kody listed on their birth certificates? Because at least Christine got food stamps before and that's because she was passing herself off as a single mother.

She could have had Cody on the birth certificate and still been a single parent household for food stamps. Food stamps budgets are based on the people who live in a household and share resources and prepare food together. Depending on Cody's income she may or may not have included him and still received food stamps. If she had gone for any sort of cash aid and Cody was the identified father than the government would have pursued child support from him, often at a cost to him that would be equal to whatever financial benefits Christine received. So applying as a single parent for cash aid would be a bad idea. Of course, if Cody was unemployed at the time the entire family could have applied for and received cash aid.

TL/DR -- generally for non- cash resources like food stamps Christine would qualify as a single parent if Cody didn't live in the home, even if he was the acknowledged father. For cash benefits he would if had to be on the grant or pay child support.

[LovelyLuna]

she said 5 years? why on earth would she even entertain the idea of going through fertility treatments for another kid if she was thinking about divorce? I think thats bull. I don’t know why they did it but I have a hard time believing Meri has been secretly thinking of escaping all this time. Janelle and Christine, maybe but not Meri she loves her position and her wet bar too much.

[polecat]

she said 5 years? why on earth would she even entertain the idea of going through fertility treatments for another kid if she was thinking about divorce? I think thats bull. I don’t know why they did it but I have a hard time believing Meri has been secretly thinking of escaping all this time. Janelle and Christine, maybe but not Meri she loves her position and her wet bar too much.

Boy, I don't know. She seems to have gained a lot of weight since the show started, and as someone who eats her feelings, I can sort of identify. When I get stressed, I BALLOON into the blob. If she's been trying to hold her stuff together for a while, it would explain the weight gain.

(I feel like I need to emphasize the fact that I am NOT body snarking on her. She can weigh and be and do whatever she wants. But eating emotions is not an uncommon reaction to stress and particularly not in women for whatever reason.)

[patsymae]

Sorry if this was mentioned before and I missed it, but did you notice Christine's face in the TH when Kody said he works every day on the relationships with his wives? Very brief and fleeting, but gobsmacked was there.