Janelle Brown and Christine Brown are still a united front after their respective divorces from Kody Brown — but they don’t agree when it comes to sex and spirituality.
“Apparently until you have sex with the next guy, you’re not divorced,” Christine, 52, told Janelle, 55, during the Sunday, February 2, episode of Sister Wives as the two discussed whether Janelle wanted to get a spiritual divorce from Kody, 55.
Janelle was appalled by that way of thinking, saying, “I just think that’s bulls—. I think that’s dogmatic. I’m like, whatever. I mean, that’s a dogma I used to hear, and I used to be like, ‘OK, whatever.’”
Christine later explained that it was Kody’s fourth wife — and only remaining spouse — Robyn Brown who told her the church’s take on sex and divorce.
Christine and Janelle Brown Agree Kody Has ‘Slipped Into’ Monogamy
“Robyn said in the church that we used to belong to, they teach that you’re not divorced until you basically have sex with the next guy,” Christine alleged to the cameras.
She noted that if she was Janelle, she’d “skip it all” and just “go have sex with somebody then that marriage is over” and she can “move on.”
Christine, who left Kody in November 2021, called Robyn’s explanation of church’s stance “the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard,” but seemingly agreed that Janelle should start moving on romantically. (Christine has since remarried, tying the knot with David Woolley in October 2023.)
“It kind of bothers me that Christine’s so flippant about, ‘Well you should just go sleep with somebody,’ because my brain doesn’t work that way,” Janelle confessed, noting that when she entered into a spiritual union with Kody in 1993 there were “boundaries” set into place for their family.
She explained, “Otherwise, if it’s just some guy [that] goes and gets a girlfriend, starts sleeping around with just a bunch of baby mamas.”
Janelle — who welcomed six children with Kody prior to their separation in December 2022 — added that they are a “family” and it’s not about the sex part. (Kody and Janelle’s son Garrison died in March 2023 at the age of 25.)
A Breakdown of Where Kody Brown Stands With His Sister Wives, Exes
“We are raising children together as a family structure, not just a whole bunch of women who are sleeping with some guy,” she concluded.
Kody’s first wife, Meri Brown, who confirmed her split from the patriarch in January 2023, was more aligned with Janelle on the matter.
“Until I have sex with somebody, that means I’m still attached to Kody? I don’t think it means that,” Meri, 53, said in a confessional. “I think it really is more for if you’re going to go outside of your marriage and have sexual relations, then now — that marriage is nullified.”
During Christine and Janelle’s road trip from Arizona to North Carolina, which is where Janelle recently bought land, they toyed with the idea of spiritual releases.
While Christine considered herself divorced from Kody the moment she exited the marriage, Meri went to the church elders to terminate their spiritual union. Janelle, meanwhile, expressed that she’d been unsure if she wanted to take that step because religion is so important.
“I know Meri has just recently gotten a release, like, what we call a release, which is a divorce,” Janelle told the cameras after the trip. “And it’s made me think, ‘Huh, I kind of like the idea of getting a spiritual release, but I don’t even know who to call.’”
Sister Wives’ Kody Brown Compares Polygamy and ‘Plural Monogamy’
Kody, meanwhile, weighed in on the end of his first three marriages and how they all differ.
“I didn’t feel like I needed a spiritual divorce from Meri. And I didn’t feel like I needed a spiritual divorce from Christine,” he recalled. “I don’t know if there’s some kind of karmic connection that Janelle and I are obligated to, still.”
Kody noted that when it comes to Robyn’s beliefs, she thinks they “need to have these marriages dissolved or whatever.” However, he revealed that his thought process is “in the end, God will be able to sort it out.”
Sister Wives returns with new episodes this spring on TLC.
