Warning: The following post contains discussions of suicide.
When Sister Wives first started, the TLC docuseries shared the story of Kody Brown and his first three sister wives, Meri, Janelle, and Christine, as they welcomed a fourth wife, Robyn, eventually swelling into a family with 18 kids. “Love should be multiplied, not divided,” Kody told viewers in the first episode as he introduced his plural, fundamentalist Mormon family.
Now, though, that love has been divided… and divided… and divided. Hundreds of episodes later, Kody is divorced from Meri, Janelle, and Christine, and he’s struggling in his relationship with Robyn, by his own admission. He’s not speaking to several of his children, and off-screen, the family is dealing with a heartbreaking tragedy. So, should TLC’s cameras still be rolling?
On one hand, Sister Wives remains compelling, perhaps even more so now that the Browns are candid about the tensions that existed long before reality TV producers came knocking. We viewers know now that Meri, Janelle, and Christine struggled to connect in the family’s early days — and that when Robyn entered the picture, it was clear to them that she was Kody’s favorite.
Now that the dirty laundry is airing out, the women of Sister Wives are asserting their power. Meri is enjoying a fresh start, even as she holds her ex-husband accountable. Janelle is loving life as a single woman. Christine has already found the love of her life with another man. And Robyn is doing everything she can to get Kody to mend fences. In these latter (day) seasons of Sister Wives, Meri, Janelle, and Christine prove it’s never too late to find happiness. Janelle and Christine are even close friends now!
TLC
On the other hand — and we know this might seem like a knife in the kidneys — perhaps it’s time to let the Browns live their lives off-camera.
Nowadays, it seems the family drifts farther apart with each successive season — Kody even called the family dysfunction a “civil war” in a recent episode. And yet Sister Wives forces Kody, Meri, Janelle, Christine, and Robyn to rehash the past instead when they should be looking to the future.
Worse yet, Sister Wives’ confessionals mean that those five stars all hear and respond to each other’s thoughts about each other, which can’t be healthy for anyone. Robyn seems miserable when she has to rewatch scenes from the show, and Kody can get openly hostile when he does. We’re not convinced any of the Sister Wives stars actually want to be on the show, and maybe TLC paychecks are the only thing keeping them on our TV screens at this point. (Coyote Pass isn’t going to pay for itself.)
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Plus, with everyone but Kody and Robyn living separate lives — and with many of the Brown children no longer appearing on camera — not much happens in each episode. We don’t know how many more shots of Meri doing yard work we can take — but producers can only do so much, considering how little is keeping Meri connected to anyone else these days.
Meanwhile, we’re hurtling toward what stands to be the Brown family’s most painful chapter yet. Garrison Brown, one of Janelle’s sons, died by suicide in March 2024, and though the show mentioned Garrison’s death in a title card at the start of Season 19, the onscreen narrative hasn’t caught up to the tragedy. Frankly, we were surprised Sister Wives even returned for a 19th season after Garrison died. But now that it has, it’s only a matter of time before we witness the family’s excruciating grief. And until then, it’s painful to watch the Browns go about their lives, unaware of the devastation to come.
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All of that is to say, maybe the Browns don’t have to do a 20th season. Maybe they can follow the lead of some of their kids and step out of the spotlight. Maybe they can heal and move on without cameras rolling, without mics recording their off-the-cuff thoughts about one another. If the Browns want to continue the show, that’s their call, but we certainly hope they don’t feel forced to.
If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988. If you or a loved one are in immediate danger, call 911.
Sister Wives, Sundays, 10/9c, TLC
