Sister Wives star Kody Brown set out to prove something, but instead, it sounds like he’s morphing into a stigma for another family practicing polygamy in a TLC series. Kody failed to keep his famous polygamous family intact after setting out to prove something to the world with his reality show.
His lifestyle was once an inspiration for a wife from another TLC polygamous series, Seeking Sister Wife. But today, Dannielle Merrifield, the star of that show, adamantly shuts down the comparisons to their family with Kody’s now defunct brood.
Sister Wives: Comparisons to Kody Brown
Kody Brown made quite an impact on reality TV. So, it seems only natural that his polygamous series would collect comparisons. Especially from another show featuring a polygamous lifestyle.
But, unlike Sister Wives, where cameras follow Kody and his four wives, Seeking Sister Wife has a little more variety. Instead of one family’s trials and tribulations, the other show offers three families as examples of polygamy today.
This series covers the search for another wife, the courting stage, and the ordeal of transitioning a new wife into the family. While the Sister Wives fans saw the courting of Robyn Brown, followed by the rather rocky transitioning phase into a wife, that was over a decade ago
That’s Not Us…
Dannielle Merrifield recently rejected a comparison made about her and her husband, Garrick Merrifield, to Kody’s plural marriage. Danielle says that her relationship with her husband resembles nothing at all when it comes to Kody Brown and his once-four wives.
She pointed out that because Kody Brown’s polygamous marriages failed, it isn’t a road map for all other plural marriages. It’s the same case with monogamous marriages, when one fails, it doesn’t mean they all will.
Dannielle was very aware of Kody and his Sister Wives series. She said she started watching the show while still in high school.
While the family is in ruins today, that wasn’t always the case. She suggested the Brown family had a good thing going for many years. Dannielle talked about Kody and his wives, “I think they had a lot of problems. It’s a lot of work. Relationships are hard”.
Sister Wives: Kody Brown – Standard for Polygamy Today?
Kody and his family came on the reality scene expecting to show the world something. Their message was that polygamous families can live very normal lives. He showed up with his TLC reality show on the heels of polygamy getting a bad name in the news.
So, he had a bit of a battle on his hands. He needed to demonstrate that all families are not alike in a plural marriage. And he was successful. People warmed up to Kody and his wives.
Their kids seemed well-rounded, and their five parents demonstrated love and caring within the family. But as time went on, problems piled up. So, today Kody Brown practices monogamy with Robyn Brown, the last wife left.
Kody was adamant about showing the world they were a typical family. But instead, he had four wives and his kids had four mothers. Just like today, Dannielle pushes back when they are compared to Kody Brown and his family.
Ironically, years back, that’s how Kody started. He pushed against the headlines of the dark side of polygamy. Now another series attempts to show that it could work, as it almost did with Kody Brown when signing up for the TLC series.
