Where Are the Sister Wives Now? A Look at Their Lives After 19 Seasons of the TLC Series — and Where They Stand with Kody Today

Over 14 years after 'Sister Wives' first premiered on TLC, Kody Brown’s polygamist family has split

A lot has changed since Sister Wives premiered nearly 15 years ago.

The TLC reality show came out on Sept. 26, 2010, introducing viewers to the lives of Kody Brown and his polygamist family. Sister Wives served as an inside look into the dynamics of a plural marriage lifestyle by following Kody and his marriages to his four wives — Robyn, Meri, Janelle and Christine — along with their 18 children.

Kody was raised “fundamentally Mormon” by parents Genielle Brown and William Brown, the latter who was also a polygamist later in life with three wives. In the pilot episode of Sister Wives, Kody explained the big difference between his religion and members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, noting that “they stopped practicing polygamy 120 years ago.”

Related: 'Sister Wives' Family: Everything to Know About Kody Brown, His 4 Wives and 18 Kids

When the show first aired, Kody was living a seemingly happy, interconnected life with wives Meri, Janelle and Christine in their joint home in Utah. But over 19 seasons, the TLC series has followed the family as they have navigated significant life changes, including moves, pregnancies, deaths, divorces and new relationships.

“The dream of the big polygamist family is just completely shot. It’s over,” Kody said in the opening scene of season 19, which premiered in September 2024.

“Christine and I just don’t talk. Janelle and I have been separated. Meri, do we say we’re divorced? No, I don’t think so, but we’re not in a marriage and I don’t want to be in that marriage,” he added.

Here’s everything to know about the sister wives and where they are now.

Who are the sister wives?

At the beginning of Sister Wives, Kody was already married to Meri, Janelle and Christine. In the first season, the polygamist courted and married his fourth wife, Robyn. The rest of the 18 seasons of Sister Wives follow the wives' dynamics and how the massive family coordinates their lives.

In 1989, Meri met Kody through his sister at church. At the time, Meri’s dad had five wives and would talk to Kody about polygamy, ultimately leading him to “convert” to the plural lifestyle. Six months after they met, Meri and Kody married in 1990, with the intention of adding more wives to the family.

Kody’s second wife, Janelle, was first introduced through Meri. According to Janelle, when she first met Kody, it felt like she had known him for a long time. Soon after, Janelle told Kody about joining his family, and they wed in 1993.

One year later, in 1994, he married his third wife, Christine. After Kody and Meri initially met Christine, who grew up in a polygamist household, it took her time to be incorporated into their family.

Then came Robyn, whose relationship with Kody was fairly new when the series premiered in 2010. Kody and Robyn tied the knot in 2014, which was featured in the season 1 finale.

Were Kody and the sister wives all legally married?

When Sister Wives first aired, Kody was legally married to his first wife, Meri, and “spiritually married” to Christine and Janelle through a “covenant” in their church.

Kody divorced Meri in 2014 so that he could legally marry Robyn, but a source close to the show told PEOPLE that he remained “spiritually married” to all four wives despite the legal restructuring.

The day after Sister Wives premiered, the Utah police announced they were investigating Kody and his wives for possible charges of bigamy, Deseret News reported.

Although he was only legally married to one woman, Utah’s state code identifies bigamy through cohabitation, not just legal marriage contracts, and the family was a unit for over 16 years at that time. However, the investigation did not lead to charges, and the family later moved to Nevada.

The following year, the Browns challenged Utah’s criminal polygamy law in what would become Brown v. Buhman. In 2013, a judge ruled in their favor, declaring parts of Utah’s polygamy laws unconstitutional, according to USA Today.

How many kids do Kody Brown and his current and former wives share?

At the time Sister Wives premiered, there were 12 kids in the family — one by Meri, six by Janelle and five by Christine, who was also pregnant with her sixth. Although each child's mother determined their living quarters in the joint home, they grew up as siblings in a plural family.

As of season 19, Kody is the father of 18 children across his current and former relationships. Kody’s first child was born in 1995 when he welcomed Leon with Meri. He and Janelle welcomed six children: Logan, Madison, Hunter, Garrison, Gabriel and Savannah. Christine and Kody also welcomed six children: Aspen, Mykelti, Paedon, Gwendlyn, Ysabel and Truely.

When Kody met Robyn, she already had three kids — Dayton, Aurora and Breanna — with her ex-husband, who Kody later adopted. They also welcomed two children: Solomon and Ariella.

On March 5, 2024, Janelle and Kody’s son Garrison died by suicide at age 25.

"Kody and I are deeply saddened to announce the loss of our beautiful boy Robert Garrison Brown," she captioned a series of images of her son in an Instagram statement. "He was a bright spot in the lives of all who knew him. His loss will leave such a big hole in our lives that it takes our breath away."

Kody posted the same statement on his own Instagram.

Are the sister wives still married to Kody Brown?

Christine was the first wife to leave the plural marriage in November 2021, announcing that she was separating from Kody in an Instagram statement.

"After more than 25 years together, Kody and I have grown apart and I have made the difficult decision to leave," she wrote. "We will continue to be a strong presence in each other's lives as we parent our beautiful children and support our wonderful family."

In August 2022, Christine told PEOPLE the final straw in leaving Kody came after he refused to travel for daughter Ysabel's scoliosis surgery. "He broke my little girl's heart," she said. "I really find it hard to stay with a guy who I don't respect. I understood COVID, and why he couldn't come, but she didn't. And she still has a really hard time with it."

Christine's departure sparked a “domino effect” that led to three of Kody’s marriages imploding within 14 months. In December 2022, it was revealed that Janelle separated from Kody after nearly 30 years of marriage.

Legally, Kody and Meri have been divorced since 2014, when he married Robyn. However, they remained spiritually married.

In January 2023, Kody and Meri posted a joint announcement on Instagram announcing that they had decided to end their marriage. “After more than a decade of working on our relationship in our own unique ways, we have made the decision to permanently terminate our marriage relationship,” it read.

Their split came years after the relationship became more platonic than romantic. Though they were happily married for some time, Meri's 2015 catfishing scandal — when she had an online relationship with a woman she thought was a man — changed the nature of their relationship.

Robyn is the only wife still with Kody, but in season 19, he said their marriage was in a “struggling place.” In the 2022 premiere, she echoed his statement. “We’re probably doing the worst we’ve ever done in our marriage," she said.

“It’s been tough between us. He doesn’t know who to blame, himself or one of the other wives," Robyn explained. "Kody’s feeling a lot of rejection, so I think he’s kind of looking at me going, ‘Are you going to reject me too?’ "

She continued, "So I’m on my toes. I’m having to consistently make sure that he’s not sabotaging our relationship."

Where are the sister wives now?

When Sister Wives debuted, the plural family lived in Lehi, Utah. Since then, they have moved twice: first to Las Vegas, Nev., and then to Flagstaff, Ariz., where only a few family members remain.

Janelle, who is not in communication with Kody, still resides in Flagstaff — for now. She’s been “dreaming” of purchasing property with her daughter Madison, and at the beginning of season 19, she looked at places in Montana — five hours from Christine in Utah.

More recently, Janelle spent much of the summer in North Carolina where some of her kids reside and hinted at plans for a future there. In September 2024, she, her daughter Madison and son-in-law Caleb announced the launch of a new business venture and passion project, Taeda Farms.

Meanwhile, Christine returned to Utah, where she met her current husband, David Woolley, through a dating app. They went public with their relationship in February 2023 and announced their engagement two months later.

Christine and David tied the knot on Oct. 7, 2023, in a ceremony that she described as “a fairytale.”

Even though she no longer considers herself a polygamist, Christine still keeps her sister wife Janelle close. Christine shared with PEOPLE that she told David, “Everywhere I go, Janelle has to come with me, and all of her children come, too.”

As for Meri, she moved back to Utah following her split from the polygamous marriage — and has re-entered the dating scene.

"Prince Charming has not arrived. I'm not really looking for a prince," she explained in an Instagram video in April 2024. "No, I'm looking for a king. There's a bit of an energetic difference there. A prince is still a boy. I want a man who knows who he is."

Despite being in the same state as some of her sister wives, Meri has been distant from them. “When I see them we have cordial conversations, but I don't seek them out to have a relationship,” she said on the Miss Understood Podcast in June 2024. A month prior, Meri launched a passion project called Worthy Up, and in August 2024, she announced she would temporarily close her bed and breakfast, Lizzie’s Heritage Inn, for renovations.

These days, the kids don’t all have relationships with Kody, and not all the wives have good relationships with one another. Neither Christine nor Janelle speaks with Kody outside of co-parenting, and Christine has voiced that she doesn’t want a relationship with her ex-sister wife Robyn or her kids.

In the season 19 premiere, Robyn — who still lives in Flagstaff with Kody — revealed that she misses “the camaraderie that I did have with my sister wives.” In August 2024, Kody and Robyn put the Flagstaff two-acre property up for sale, asking $1.65 million.

“I feel like the idiot that got left behind,” Robyn said in a trailer for Sister Wives season 19. As for Kody, he told PEOPLE in September 2024 that ​​he hopes everyone in his family “is happy."

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 or go to suicidepreventionlifeline.org.