Sister Wives Christine Brown Stuns Fans by Revealing a Blood Relation to Kody Brown

After more than a decade on Sister Wives, viewers may think they know every detail of the Brown family.

But a recent episode delivered a revelation few saw coming: Christine Brown and her ex-husband Kody Brown are related.

A Family Tie Few Expected

During a candid moment on the long-running TLC series, Christine, 54, disclosed that she and Kody, 56, are “third cousins, once removed.” The confession came while she was reflecting on how unusual plural weddings can be—a topic that quickly took an unexpected turn.

Speaking in a confessional alongside her current husband, David Woolley, Christine explained how growing up in a close-knit religious community shaped her expectations around marriage.

“I knew growing up that I would have to marry a convert because I was literally related to everybody in the church,” she said. “I did marry a convert, but I was still related to him, too.”

David’s stunned reaction prompted Christine to spell it out plainly.

“Yeah, I’m related to Kody.”

She was quick to clarify that while polygamy itself may be illegal, their family connection is not.

“Third cousins, once removed is fully legal,” Christine said. “Fully. Polygamy’s not legal, but [I’m] third cousins, once removed from Kody.”

An Inside Joke Within a Small Community

The revelation, while surprising to some viewers, wasn’t exactly new gossip within the Brown family. Janelle Brown—another of Kody’s former wives—shared that the topic had long been a running joke.

“There was always a ‘joke’ that Kody and Christine were cousins,” Janelle, 56, explained, noting that the relationship was so distant it barely registered in daily life.

“I think in the polygamous families, this kind of stuff happens all the time,” she added. “It wasn’t the kind of relationship where you saw each other at a family reunion. It was a very distant relationship but they would always joke about being cousins. It’s a small community.”

Christine and Kody entered into a spiritual marriage in 1994, at a time when Kody was already married to Meri Brown and Janelle Brown. Their union lasted nearly three decades before they separated in November 2021.

Since then, both have moved on—Kody remains married to Robyn Brown, while Christine found love again and married David Woolley in October 2023.

When Family Lines Cross Even Further

Interestingly, Christine and Kody’s distant blood relation isn’t the only example of overlapping family ties within the Brown household.

In a separate moment from the Nov. 30 episode of Sister Wives, Janelle revealed an even more unusual connection involving her own family.

While dining with friends Alice, Kristina, and Angela, she recalled how she was first introduced to polygamy as a teenager—long before she married Kody in a spiritual ceremony in 1993.

“I was starting to talk to Kody and I met the family and was really intrigued,” Janelle said. “My mom’s like, ‘Oh, heck no, heck no, heck no, heck no.’ My mom came to save me and ended up marrying Kody’s dad.”

That twist made Janelle both Kody’s wife and, technically, his step-sibling.

“She ended up marrying Kody’s dad and they actually got married three months before we did,” Janelle said of her mother, Sheryl Usher, and Kody’s father, Winn Brown. “When they decided to get married, I was like, ‘That’s gonna be a little hard to explain, but alright.’”

With revelations like these, Sister Wives continues to show just how intertwined—and complicated—life can become within polygamous communities.

Sister Wives airs Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on TLC.

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