After leaving her plural marriage to Kody Brown in 2021, Christine Brown is rethinking what her relationship with her former sister wives will look like now.
These days, she's living far away from Flagstaff, Ariz., where Janelle, Robyn and Meri Brown reside with her ex-husband, Kody. Instead, she's building a new life in Utah.
Speaking to TODAY.com, Christine says the distance has created the "space" that she told Robyn she needed in a recent episode of "Sister Wives."
Of course, the ongoing Season 17 was filmed over a year ago, so we were curious: Has anything changed since then? Or does Christine still want space from her former sister wives?
“I don’t know if I’m ever going to be anything different. You know, I think it might just always be that when we see each other we will be cordial. I think that’s all that’s going to happen, to be honest," she tells TODAY.com over Zoom.
While she says she's close to Janelle, Christine doesn't share the same connection with Robyn and Meri. She shares that dynamic hasn't really shifted since she moved to Utah.
"I thought maybe there would be more back then (while filming this season), but I don’t think so," she said.
Now that she's in a whole new chapter of her life, Christine says she's being very intentional about who she spends her time with.
"I just want people in my life that are safe and people that I trust. So that’s what I’m going to do: Surround myself with people that I trust, and that I know trust me," she says.
Part of being in a plural family means blending your families (children included).
Ultimately, the mother of six is committed to being amicable for the sake of the kids whenever she does run into Meri, Robyn or Kody. Case in point? Christine recently spent time with Robyn and Kody when they all attended her daughter Mykelti's baby sprinkle, or a shower for a couple's second child (or beyond).
"Kody and Robyn came and there were enough activities, enough things to do that it was OK. The cameraman was like, 'You know, it was awkward at first. But then we could tell that you guys were just gonna be adults,'" she says.
The dynamic was similar when Christine and Robyn reunited for Mylketi's birth (Christine's daughter had twin boys in November).
"It just comes down to I’ll do whatever the heck my kids want me to do. And Mykelti needed Robyn there as bad as she needed me there. So of course Robyn was gonna be there," she says.
"She’s gonna be there for every major thing that happens to Mykelti because Robyn is Mykelti’s other mom and she always will be. And I get that because I'm an other mom too. The relationship is just special, so I’ll do whatever I can. We’re all adults," she says.
Throughout Season 17, Janelle has been a confidant for Christine. She says the two have gotten even closer over the past year.
“Janelle is super supportive. She’s awesome,” Christine says. "She’s an incredible, incredible friend because she’ll listen and she’ll understand and she’ll comprehend. But then when it comes down to it, where I need the hard like, smackdown, (she's there)," she says. "I think it’s all about that balance that we have to hit. And I feel like I let some people in and I don’t let everybody in.
Christine says Janelle has been "really supportive" of everything going on in her life, and she's had fun confiding in her as she embarks on her dating journey. She says that sister wife friendships are never guaranteed, so she's especially thankful that she and Janelle have a bond.
"You name it, you know, we’ve been through it. In the end, we realized we are going to be in each other’s lives because our kids love the other person," she says.
As she moves forward in this next phase of her life, Christine says Janelle will be a friend for life.
"Now I will always choose her to be in my life," she says. "We vacation together. We went to California together, we went to Hawaii together for business because we chose to be in the same business together. We chose to work with each other. And so we’ll always be bonded because of it."