"Sister Wives" star Christine Brown says her children's happy marriages helped her reconsider her own.
Christine and Kody Brown married in 1994 after meeting in a church youth group, she recalled in the jointly written book "Becoming Sister Wives". She was his third of four wives; they shared six children. In November 2021, after 26 years of plural marriage, they announced their divorce — the first of many seismic changes for the Brown family.
Speaking to TODAY.com, Christine Brown says her children's marriages made her realize what hers with Kody was lacking.
"When Kody and I first got married, I loved him and I thought that he loved me too. We were just fine. I didn't think there was anything wrong with the relationship we had," she says. "I figured sometimes there's good and bad days. Then there were good and bad weeks, good and bad months and good and bad years."
"It wasn't until I saw Maddie and Caleb (Brush) together and I thought, 'Oh my gosh, this is what soul mates look like.' I see," she says, referring to Janelle's daughter Maddie Brown Brush and husband Caleb Brush.
Christine says polygamy's appeal came in “whole big family experience” rather than in the experience of romantic love. Still, she came to sense her marriage was missing a puzzle piece after comparing it to her kids' marriages and Kody Brown's bond with his fourth wife.
In the "One on One" special that aired Nov. 26, Kody Brown said his connection with Robyn Brown started from a place of love, whereas the others didn't.
“I fell in love with Robyn. I never fell in love with anybody else. I was just choosing to be in that covenant of love with them,” he said. His other marriages were a reflection of his "anxiousness" to "be living the principle of plural marriage," rather than compatibility, he said.
Meri and Christine Brown both said Kody and his fourth wife are "soul mates" during the same special.
Speaking to TODAY.com, Christine Brown says she heard her sister wife refer to Kody Brown as her soul mate — and she knew she didn't feel the same.
"I was like, we're not (soul mates). I knew Kody and I were not. I just knew it. And I thought, 'That's OK. That's fine.' Then I saw Maddie and Caleb's (marriage). And I'm like, 'Maybe there's some more soul mates out there, I don't know," she says.
Then her own children got married, and she saw examples of marriages that started from a place of personal connection, rather than a shared desire for a polygamous lifestyle.
"Then my other kids get together. Mykelti and Tony and Aspen and Mitch. Maybe there's something here. But I still was OK with what I had. I was great with what I had. Because what we had was this awesome family," she says.
Three of Christine Brown's children are married: Mykelti Brown married Tony Padron in 2016; Aspen Brown married Mitch Thompson in 2018; Gwendlyn Brown married Beatriz Quieroz earlier this year.
Christine Brown says things changed "very obviously" when the family relocated from Nevada to Flagstaff, Arizona.
"We really stopped working as a unit. We were just separate groups and separate families," she says.
Seasons 17 and 18 of "Sister Wives" showed the Brown family unit fracturing further, specifically around conversations around COVID-19 protocols, prolonged estrangement between Kody Brown and some of his children and questions of whether Robyn Brown was his "favorite" wife.
Janelle Brown announced she and Kody had separated in December 2022. Meri and Kody Brown announced their decision to "permanently terminate" their marriage in January 2023.
Christine Brown has since found the soul mate connection she was searching for with David Woolley. Their romance played out publicly in 2023, starting with an Instagram reveal in February 2023 and a wedding in October.
"It's a new era of life where there's so many possibilities. I don't want to wait anymore. I want to grab it with both hands, adventure and explore," she says.