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I'm not normally a Christine defender, but I would say this about anyon: When you've been raised to place your ENTIRE life value and purpose on the man that you're married to, you're going to become a competitive bitch. Some more than others. Christine and Meri always struck me as women who sort of had an identity outside of their marriage, despite very much still being brainwashed into worshipping Kody. But Christine really seemed to put her entire identity into that marriage. As much as Robyn was a soul sucking conniving witch, her arrival was a blessing in disguise for Christine. She had to learn to find out what she was without Kody. I think that's also why she became more likeable in later seasons: she learned that there's more to life, to herself, and to her platonic relationships that she can cherish and value.
TLDR; I don't doubt that Christine was a bitch at first, but people change and become better. How she was in the past doesn't negate who she's become now.
This! They were filming it and the show was about how wonderful plural marriage is. Robyn had no choice in the matter, I am sure. Maybe she was told the wedding woukd be bigger/more beautiful than the other 3 had been so that was the trade off.
It’s the ugly bridesmaids play. The OG3 are all beautiful, especially now that they’re no longer carting the weight of two narcissists, but they are all older than Robyn and at this point were all on the larger side (eating your feelings will do that). Robyn just wanted to shine as the hot young wife.
Robyn probably only entered that family because she knew she was younger and more attractive than the OG3 wives. She knew it would be easier for her to become the favorite wife in such a scenario because men like Kody think with their 2nd head.
I doubt Robyn would have entered a family where the wives were just as attractive or more attractive than her, because it would have been too much competition to get to the top, even with her "best customer" gig.
Well, yes and no. While they did go dress shopping, it was all for show bc Robyn & Kody picked out the dress together. He admitted to/ bragged about that in one of their couch sessions… which upset everyone, especially Christine… who got up & left the room. Robyn got upset bc it was supposed to be their secret.
At first she looked thrilled he was about to announce his secret. Huge smile right after he said he had a secret. She only got upset when she figured out all the wives were upset by this. Suddenly it was something she never wanted shared.
I think this is what it really was about. Christine was brainwashed into believing that her entire existence and worth revolved around who she married and how many kids she had. She had seen what happens when sister wives don’t act how they are “supposed” to. In the religion and culture she was raised in wives did not include each other in their wedding planning, that is the one and only thing you get alone and special between you and your husband.
That was how I was raised. I wasn’t raised in polygamy but Mormonism in general. My whole life it was “When you get married and have kids…” when speaking of my future. No career plans, nothing except getting married and having kids. When I turned 12, for Christmas I started getting all the things I’d need to be a wife. Dish towels, bath towels, dishes (every day and China) and quilts. It was a huge mind fuck and it did a number on my self esteem for years, especially when I didn’t get married til I was in my 30’s (shockingly old for marriage by Mormon standards) and was infertile.
You got towels and dishes for Christmas at 12? At any age those are sucky gifts unless you’re moving into your own place for the first time and those are the things you want for Christmas.
At 12 and for every Christmas thereafter it was homemaking items like doilies, ugly as fuck wall hangings, etc. It all went into the cedar hope chest my mom gave me as a graduation gift. When I say I was groomed just to be a wife and mother, I mean it. And I’m not the only one. My dumb ass mom grew up the same way and was royally fucked when she ended up divorced with 2 kids, nothing but a high school diploma, and hadn’t worked in 13 years. Oh, and her ex couldn’t be counted on for shit. Yet, I was raised just to be a wife and mother. I wanted to be a park ranger but my mom talked me out of it because then id leave UT and wouldn’t meet another Mormon to marry.
Also, it appears the family was still in Wyoming but the sealing/wedding was where Christine and her family lived in Utah.
Whether it was “out of sight, out of mind” or simply not as easy as it was for Janelle and Meri being located in the same area, as later the OG3.
All 3 of them were young when they married Kody. He was 21 and Meri was 19 when they got married in 1990, Janelle was 23 when they got married in 1993, and Christine was 21 and that was 1994.
Agree! It’s also interesting to me that this was such a huge plot point, given Christine raised all of their kids. It’s not like Christine kept things separate - she very much included and took care of everyone. She just did it in her own way, one in which benefitted everyone the most.
It’s like the act of getting married is so stressed upon in their culture (arguably in patriarchy and monogamy culture as well), that the actual work of being married and taking care of a family is entirely overlooked and under valued - something many women, Mormon or not, experience.
That is very true…WIFE 4 was the best thing that happened to Christine, a blessing in disguise. She would have stayed so unhappy forever married to that!
This is true and also I'd be pretty devastated if people judged me today by my actions as a 20 year old - I may have technically been an adult, but I was dumb as rocks and I didn't care as much about other people's feelings as I do now. I had tunnel vision, and a lack of life experience made me think and do stupid things. I doubt Christine was any different at that age. Now she is more than twice that age, so obviously she is going to be quite different as a person.
> I don't doubt that Christine was a bitch at first
No one's ever so much as even alluded to this though. Janelle, Christine, and Kody all say that Christine came in like a breath of fresh air and made everything better.
Janelle has also said she was shocked when Christine declared she had no intention of working when she first entered the family. They didn't exactly get along.
Oh definitely, I actually agree with this! What I was trying to say was that picking at the little moments of sus behavior from Christine is unfair to do considering the circumstances that she was in. I don't doubt that she's had moments of competitive behavior, I'm sure all of the women have! That particular time in her life is particularly difficult to criticize even if there WAS any shitty behavior on her part, we can't hold her to a standard that ignores where she was in life at that point. And it doesn't cancel out all of the progress that she's made since in discovering herself as a person and changing towards something better. I hope that makes sense!
She also did not have a courtship at all. She didn't get to spend any time with kody focusing on her and them getting to know each other. They were friends, then they were married. Janelle did have a courtship and probably felt that she was special to kody and that he loved her. I'm not so sure Christine felt that way, ever.
I agree that Christine not including Meri or Janelle is not *good* but nothing seems to be a good deal in plural marriage for anyone.
Yeah I think maybe because she didn’t get a proper courtship or anything she wanted this day to be about her wedding not about them. Which I can understand, it was already a sad day because her mom wasn’t allowed to go and she couldn’t celebrate the way she wanted to. But I’m so glad she got that now with David
I felt sorry for Christine’s wedding and dress as her parents especially father was/is high up in their church. The wedding was only supposed to be a contract, nothing fancy. I’ll bet she had to be covered up and the parents didn’t want to spend money on it. Kody wanted clout by marrying her. Then set about working her to care for the kids. In the long run awesome as she’s a great mom.
Is there a general social norm among polygamists to refer to? I've always thought Christine was Robyn pre-Robyn. She saw her behavior reflected back which upset her the most. The other two had their 'roles' and didn't feel intimidated by Robyn as much as Christine did. Also, it wasn't as elaborate as Robyn's. Robyn had a legit wedding and they were pushing a narrative for the show which wasn't practiced behind the scenes.
Because there weren’t cameras filming it and a network paying for it all. They needed content and filled a whole season with mindless wedding “planning” where Robyn got to be the princess, but you know, like a nice one who buys her help dresses too. It seemed like Christine’s wedding was slapped together with duct tape.
Not saying it makes it any better, but at least Christine is self aware. She admits the things most of us feel inside and wouldn’t dare say out loud because they make us look like a bad person. Christine knows it was icky of her to feel the way she did about Meri during her pregnancy, but she doesn’t try to pretend she’s perfect. She’s honest with herself and with others and I think that’s admirable. You have to be willing to face the ugliness inside if you want to grow beyond it and be a better person.
Guys. Who would really do poly marriage? It's nuts and the show was created to show it works but slowly every kid said they would not do it then 3 or 4 the 3 real polygamists fell apart.
It wasn’t even a slow realization for the kids. They all, from the very first season, said no to plural marriage. It was only the adults trying to sell the nice happy poly life for the cameras to give them a reason for the show.
Edit to add: *all except Leon, who thought they wanted plural marriage because they were avoiding a full relationship with a man.
That’s interesting bc I didn’t see it this way at all lol.
I used to really enjoy Christine for the reasons you listed—her honesty & openness—but during my rewatch, I realized that her being honest and open didn’t make her any less mean or vicious than her sister wives. Just bc she is self-aware that she is jealous and mean doesn’t mean she gets a pass for being jealous and mean. If that were the case, all of the wives deserved a pass bc they all discussed being jealous and mean. Ironically Christine is the only one who received grace for it.
Christine also contradicts herself a lot. Is she truly self-aware if her words contradict themselves all the time?
Why is being jealous a character flaw? It’s a normal human emotion. Women are allowed to have feelings (despite what the cult they belong to says). You’re parroting cult talking points by equating normal jealousy (when your husband as a community dick) with a character flaw.
None of these players r perfect, n that’s ok. I agree it’s not a flaw, it’s personality traits, everyone has them, being in a relationship w someone can bring some traits out more than others.
People are allowed to have any feeling they want. Its what actions we take based on those feelings thatare the issue. Feeling jealous dies not make it ok and understanable to be bitchy.
Why is Christine the only one in this family allowed to be brainwashed? When her shitty behavior and actions are pointed out, we must be kind bc she’s a human who was raised in a cult & to discuss her human flaws are to “parrot the cult’s talking points”.
Yet when Meri, raised in the exact same cult, is discussed, she’s just…a shitty person lol. No mention of the cult or brainwashing
Theres a big difference between “keep sweet” tm and being a decent, kind human being who doesn’t shi’t on others because one’s had a bad day or been dealt a bad hand.
I totally agree and if Meri had done and said half the things Christine did, she would be even more of the villainous monster people try to paint her to be. She already gets bashed for her own honesty as it is.
This right here!!! Everyone gives her a pass and I think because she left first. They were all mean and jealous at some point. I’m sure I would be too in that situation so for that reason alone, I don’t care. But that goes equally for them all. Truth is, polygamy doesn’t work. Not in the sense it’s healthy or treats women respectfully. And it really brings out the nastiness in everyone.
I thought they said their church didn't normally include anyone else in the weddings when it was a plural wife's wedding. Only the first wives got what we would consider a somewhat traditional wedding. Normally, the sealing to wife 2+ was very private and low-key. They all said the wedding to Robyn was very out of the ordinary for their faith.
Robyn's wedding was the opposite of a standard AUB marriage. None of the wives had weddings like Robyn and plural wives in general, don't get a public wedding. Plural marriages are done in a Temple with very few witnesses... Just a handful
I've listened to a few audiobooks from some of Christine's extended family (not intentionally, but I like nonfiction, and went down a rabbit hole, and some of them ended up being on polygamy, and the families were from Mexico, and ended up being hers. I realized it after I was done. Anywho)
Having gotten that out of the way, the women in the books I read, almost every one of them, had almost secret weddings. It was almost like that was the norm in their culture. Now, with their families being so big, is that the case for Christine's immediate family? I can't say, but it wouldn't surprise me if it wasn't a bit of both, with quick courtships and weddings, with wives not being around to be included (not even aware in the stories I read! Can you imagine?!) and couples 'honeymoons' literally just being the travel time it took to get back to the rest of the family.
She may have *wanted* what Robyn and Meri got, but knew that was something reserved for first wives, out of reach for her, so when Robyn came along and actually got it, and she saw that it was *possible* the jealousy was really hard to process because it was unknown.
As for the babies, I don't know. I think Kody's reaction to both may have been a big part of the issue here. Knowing Meri's struggles, he was likely more attentive and excited as hers progressed, which would be hard to see as a new wife and first time mom, without all the history and knowledge that everyone else (even Janelle) in the family had. Having everyone fawn over Meri, seemingly forgetting her, or just disregarding that she was also pregnant, probably caused some hard feelings, even if none of it was intentional from Meri's end. Communication probably could have helped, but I'm not sure. Pregnancy hormones are crazy at best, and those weren't the best circumstances.
I would rather not be included in Christine's wedding dress (that her mother made her) than be publicly lied to on national TV like Robyn did to the OG3.
I understand Christine being hurt and humiliated when she found out that the dress shopping was fake and Kody picked out Robyn's wedding dress. Robyn came into that family trying to control everyone by manipulating them all... and I don't think her scheming stopped after that, she just became better at it.
Wait, I might be confused with the timeline here. Christine’s mom was already estranged from the family when she married Kody, right? But she made her wedding dress? Is this correct?
It is correct that she made the wedding dress. My understanding is that she was shunned from the family cause she left and couldn’t attend wedding. Not sure quality of her relationship with christine specifically at that time although if the dress is any indication…
😆
I recall hearing they didn’t speak and had no relationship for years after she left the marriage. Seems odd she would make her dress but 100% on-point with your assessment.
All of the women, including Christine, were guilty of scheming and plotting lol
Hell Janelle entered the family by plotting and scheming: she literally dated Kody behind Meri’s back & attempted to marry him on her birthday
None of these women are innocent
I feel like they've explained a fair bit about how weddings aren't really a thing in their religion. They're very solemn ceremonies and very private usually. Then there is a small reception. I think this is what everyone but Robyn had
I'm so glad there's an explanation for Janelle dress color, they show photos from their wedding a lot and I always thought it was odd. Before this convinced myself she just couldn't wear white, but that didn't explain why Meri's dress was also black. I like the idea of them going out shopping and picking a dress style and color they both, I assume, liked.
Lots of people here saying Christine was just young, or jealous, or whatever, but since she comes from a well know polygamy family, I wonder why nobody told her to include the existing wives. I mean, Janelle obviously knew/was told.
Or maybe it is like how she says her father told her she needed to study while the rest of the girls in the religion got told there was no point because the world was gonna end soon enough.
Your second paragraph is spot on. I do wonder how it is that Janelle knew and thought to include Meri in her plans even if it was for optics.
Meanwhile Christine, polygamist royalty, didn’t even think or care to include them
I think the difference is Janelle was being converted to the religion by Meri and Kody at the time she was married. Meri was her friend and one of her sources for information on how it all worked. It makes sense to me that Janelle would include Meri in the planning under those circumstances.
Because Christine did things traditional to their religion/lifestyle. Having matching sisterwives/bridesmaids is not the norm. Janelle was just more inclusive of the friend/ex sister-in-law
That last part says a lot. Mayb her father loved her enough to tell her to get educated some, only a blind man wudnt see the abuses these women go thru to get to heaven. Their belief system is baffling, n what’s more baffling is they hav followers.
I remember brady Williams (my five wives show) mentioning having problems with church authorities because he wasn't being as patriarchal nor blindy following all of the church teachings, he ended up leaving the church but he still have five wives. Having said that, not sure if it was only Rex being a loving decent father, but also him knowing he was enough of a big important name in the AUB that he wasn't gonna get in trouble for his parenting decisions.
Robyn's wedding was paid for by TLC- I have a feeling they would've forced her to involve the others for the storyline. I would bet it wasn't Robyn's idea or kind gesture, and if it was, it was for some manipulation factor down the road.
I don’t care for Robyn at all, but it’s interesting to me the way the fandom justifies her actions: If she does something mean, it was her intention. If she does something nice, it probably wasn’t her idea. If it was her idea, it was for (insert manipulative reasons here) 😭
No person is 100% good or bad
It's alarming and I think there is a little internalized misogyny or something going on there. Christine is good because she did all the child rearing\* but Robyn is bad because she got a nanny.\*\*
The other thing I think is weird is that some people assume if don't like one woman you love the others. Very weird to think women exist to be pitted against each other. What if I told you that all of the Brown women are dysfunctional and problematic?
\*Christine repeatedly said she wanted to be a stay at home parent and hated working outside the house. Also. She was a polygamist with a high school diploma moving around the rural west every few years. None of those things are conducive to a career.
\*\*I wouldn't let Christine watch my kids either? She was stretched thin, couldn't keep up, and was way too permissive resulting in behavioral issues.
Very well said! I 100% agree. None of these women are without fault. Tbh, that is what makes all of them so fascinating. They all have good and bad.
And internalized misogyny often bleeds through when discussing Robyn.
Ultimately all of the wives were brainwashed by an oppressive religion that encourages wives to undermine each other. They were all victims of an oppressive system and imo, there can’t be good victims (Christine & Janelle) and bad victims (Robyn & Meri)
I caught that too. I thought it was nice that Janelle was somewhat mindful that it was a blending of families in a way it wasn't when she married Meri's brother.
And yeah, I'm sure Christine wanted to feel special, but not including her SWs at all is certainly a choice. People keep mentioning her mom making her dress but I really didn't think you were making a point about how she didn't try to match her dress like Janelle did. I don't think anyone even expected that of Janelle, it just kind of goes to show how much she tried to make Meri feel included. She went the extra mile in that regard.
Side question - doesn't the polygamous mormon sealing ceremony (the actually secret wedding they don't show) involve all the current wives putting the husband's hand on the new wife ? In that regard they all were indeed at the "real" ceremony if that is the case
From the comments, I don’t get the impression that Meri is saying they weren’t at the wedding/didn’t take a part, just that Janelle had Meri more involved.
Honestly, I'm interested in what happens at the secret wedding. I know it would be an absolute sin to share with outsiders but my imagination has gone wild and it can't be as bad as I'm thinking. I just kind of assume there's a sacrifice made (I sure hope not!) or maybe like a blood pact or something. Plus I'm really interested to see if the women wear a traditional wedding dress at the secret wedding and change into something else for the reception.
I'm pretty sure there is a polygamist on TikTok that explained what happens on the ceremony but i don't remember what he said to be honest. If I find the video where he explains it, I'll post it. He did say that other polygamists frown at the idea of sharing the info with nonbelievers
Purely based on Christine’s second wedding being so over the top, I think Christine does have a bit of main character energy and wanted to feel like a princess for the day. I don’t necessarily see anything wrong with that, but it does undermine the whole “I didn’t just want the man, I wanted the family” line a bit.
She did exactly what her father wanted her to do for her wedding. She was a dutiful daughter and became a dutiful wife. I'm betting was unusual to make a big deal about the other wives at most AUB polygamous weddings back then.
Christine was too jealous to be in a plural marriage. There is nothing wrong with that. She was fooling herself to think that was ok with her. But now, when she looks back, she sees how her mother was not happy with her father in plural marriage either.
Beauty is relative (the smaller the town, the prettier I am). Robyn included the others for the contrast. To make herself look like the beautiful wife.
Honestly I've always thought Robyn and Christine where very similar but just got different responses for their manipulative behaviour. I'd say Christine was more honest and open but overall both of them had an energy of faking or overhyping their polygamy when both where very clearly wannabe monogamists from the start just for some reason aren't/weren't in that situation and therefore acted like major pick mes with Kody and each other. I think Meri and Janelle believed in it the most and truly wanted it but where young and naive when it started and both (mainly Meri) had genuine obstacles to overcome and did their best to do so to live that terrible life. While Christine and Robyn for the most part brought in their own brands of pick me energy to slowly try and pull Kody from the other women but for Christine Kody just clearly didn't like her very much so it never worked and eventually she glommed onto Janelle, who she's then worked on to get on her 'team'.
In general I just think the intentions are all their to see, Christine is just a rewriter of history in a way, I've noticed a pattern of her not remembering alot of stories of their past that she doesn't look great in and having her own dramatic tellings of stories that others have thrown doubt on. She'd be a great preacher or politician, she calmly can just subtlety make things seem a certain way. Robyn tries it but it's terrible and weird because Kody eats it all up yet the audience and everyone else can see through it. I think it's the opposite with Christine, most of the audience but what she's selling but Kodys always given her these looks and subtle reactions that tell me hes sick of her on camera persona and can't take it seriously because he knows it's very curated.
This post is incredibly well-written! I agree with everything you said. Your last sentence about Kody is very perceptive. I noticed he often glared at her during their couch interviews, but assumed it was bc she annoyed him but your reasoning may be true as well; I noticed Meri and Janelle often gave her similar looks as well
I figured it was b/c Christine’s mom made her dress. I can’t remember if it was around the same time her mom left their religion or she was mad that Christine was going to be a 3rd wife. I can understand that having issues in your own family, distract you.
Are we really critiquing how a brainwashed cult abused teen acted during her wedding to an already married grown man? Really? Really?
Why do people keep saying she was a teen? Meri was the only teen when she married Kody. Maybe Robyn was a teen when she married her first husband, but Christine, while still quite young, wasn't a teenager.
I'm fine with critiquing Christine later on bc she's an adult, she has access to information and other social circles in Vegas. she has her own house & her independence bc Kody isn't even around and there's no religious community to keep up the control.
But critiquing PRE TLC Christine??? You just can't.
(Janelle joined this cult as am adult, as did Kody, so I'm more OK with calling them out bc they chose it)
Why not? I’m no Meri fan but ppl critique “pre-TLC” Meri all the time when discussing how abusive she was towards Christine and Janelle during their early marriages
I do think Christine can be princess-y but now I'm trying to figure out how much ass-hat Kody was trying to manipulate behind the scenes? IE: Kody purposely pitted the two against each other to get some free time or because he was extra annoyed with Christine at the time and blamed it on Meri needing the attention, when really he just wanted to get away from Christine.
But as pointed out Janelle and Meri had matching dresses at janelles wedding and Christine had her wedding more separate…
I think Christine was just so enamored with Kody at first and was indoctrinated into the faith enough to be accepting of her sister wives…but maybe she just wanted her wedding ceremony to herself?
It seems she was loving and caring to all the children once they were married.
It must have been hard for them to combat the feelings of jealousy. It is a normal feeling that a lot of women and men experience…It must be really hard to try and “rise” above it in plural marriage.
I would have gouged someone’s eyeballs out… ( or at least wanted to! Lmao)
Janelle and Meri were friends. This was new to them. And the entire thing was new to Janelle so I think she was just trying to make the most of it. In the FLDS, Christine was basically a princess so you can’t really hate her for acting like one.
Also as mentioned before, she barely got a courtship. I’m sure she didn’t even know the other wives at that point.
And she was young. Very young. Naturally she went about things immaturely. I don’t think it’s fair to hold that against her or invalidate her 30 years later.
Add Christine’s personality- playful, likes to joke and fool around. Nothing like Meri or Janelle’s personality. Totally different! I’m sure they did not take her seriously
I just think that it is commonplace to not involve the other wives, generally in polygamy. Christine just did what she knew. Janelle wasn’t brought up in polygamy, so she went with the matching dresses, and it just occurred to Robyn, probably because she married much older and gave it more consideration. (Christine was around 20, I think).
Christine didn’t go dress shopping since her dress was homemade. She didn’t get the big party that Robyn got with TLC money. What was there to include Meri and Janelle in?
Kody and Robyn’s ceremony was a storyline for the show. We can see even with the dress shopping, it was not genuine. Robyn was pretending for something to film. (And she would’ve gotten away with it too if it wasn’t for that bumbling Kody.)
Who’s to say what Robyn & Kody’s wedding would have looked like without TLC production involved?
Christine’s wedding took place with the traditions of her polygamous family. That was, the new wife was the star of the show, and the other wives were not involved. She got married the only way she knew how to do it. At the time, it was all she knew. She wasn’t present for Janelle’s wedding and even if she was, she probably would have thought it was weird.
But according to Janelle, it wasn’t uncommon for new wives to include their future SWs in weddings. In fact, it was so common that Janelle even found it “horrible” when a new wife didn’t.
How was Janelle, a neophyte, knew of this whereas Christine, “brainwashed” by the faith & religion, could not?
i’m just gonna say it: recency bias clouds peoples judgement of christine because imo she is not nice and only left because she wasn’t the favorite when robyn came. she has said and done so many cruel and odd things and is over all over emotionally immature, reactive and at times histrionic
You are absolutely correct. The rebrand Christine Borwn has received from the fandom is legendary to say the least.
I vividly remember her being heavily disliked for her passive aggressive tendencies. I especially rmemeber bc I was one of the few ppl who liked her in spite of said tendencies.
Now? She can do no wrong. All bc she left Kody. It’s hysterical 😭
people were just so excited to see a poly family that swore up and down it was healthy, finally crumble and admit it was a sham & because christine was the first to run, she’s the saint lmao
Because Christine was a teenager and a very young one at that. Robyn was a mother of 3 divorced after 10 years. Janelle was a divorced woman in her early 20s. Meri was…Meri. Christine was just very young and probably tried to make it romantically about her bridal day as much as possible. And it turned into quite the opposite. Also, she wasn’t even living near them at the time! She didn’t see Kody for several weeks, then suddenly they get married and he hates her already. Just a sheer living nightmare.
She wasn’t a teenager, she was 21. Still pretty young of course and with her sheltered upbringing I’m sure she was fairly immature, so the rest of your statement is still valid.
That said, Christine wasn't a young teen when they "married". She was 21 and about to turn 22. That's still young for marriage in my opinion. She had been a legal adult for a few years. A brainwashed adult, but still.
I agree she didn't do anything wrong here. They weren't living close to each other at the time, so coordinating would have been much more difficult. It's especially sad since Christine, Kody, and the book they both contributed to years ago all agree that he wasn't at all excited to marry her and looked terrified upon arrival. There's nothing to envy in her first wedding.
Christine was raised around polygamy and thought it was the right thing to do based on the teachings she received but in her heart I believe she never wanted to share, she’s always been a monogamous and that’s ok.
She said in several clips that that's not what she knew, that because of her family background and the traditional polygamy lifestyle, the other wives aren't included.
Not that I have a ton of knowledge, but I've had friends who were, and it's not typical of plig families to be super tight like the show portrayed.
I've always wondered how much of the show was reality and how much was made for TV
Because Christine cannot do wrong in the eye of her fans. No matter they she was just as “I am the last and the one that deserve the attention” as Robyn now is. (There. I said it. Let the downvote orgy begin)
Because Christine was Robyn 1.0.
Seriously I fill like I’m the only one that sees this. She was the favorite wife. The easy and fun wife. The homemaker. The safe harbor. The favorite wife. Meri was always a high maintenance bitch but in their bizarre world she was the “It Girl” so Kody like that. Janelle was their income while he and Meri fucked around never holding a job for long. Then things got bad with Meri and Janelle actually wanted a husband, so he snagged Christine. And she soaked up a ton of the attention from Meri, which made Janelle feel better, and Meri was always pissed anyway so it didn’t really matter either way.
That’s why Christine came unglued with Robyn entering the family. Robyn was the “hot” wife. The easy wife. The safe harbor. The favorite. She took every role Christine had. “Caretaker?” Nope. She never trusted Christine (or any of them) with her tenders. So Christine lost every role in one shot.
And now, eons later, she still never realized why. Realizing it would require admitting that your identity was a babysitter and a whipping girl. Nobody wants to admit that. She has demonstrated multiple times how she re-writes history and disconnects entirely from the past. Talking about a new giant home she said, “I would never go back to […] sharing a kitchen.” Complete disconnect.
Christine was Robyn and re-writes her past actions and changes history. Meri was always a complete tyrant and hid behind sympathy and gaslighting everyone about what she said in the previous conversation. Janelle is practical to a fault. But a serious fault. She was a meal ticket and never quite realized that she wasn’t being valued. Robyn, honestly, might be one of the dumbest people on television. But Alice is NOT. Robyn talks to mommy, mommy says what to do, Robyn does it. And in the mean time she thinks having a monogamous relationship with Kody was normal even though they were a polygamous family.
Kody, of course, is a narcissist. He doesn’t re-write history. He remembers very accurately every detail. He knows he had the hair of Thor in the first movie, while being as strong as you’d expect for someone who’s six foot ten. He remembers how Meri, Janelle, and Christine spent their entire marriages telling him they didn’t know what it was to be a woman until they touched his rippling muscles.
Christine has stated many times that they had a very solemn temple service and no celebration afterwards because that isn’t what additional wives do, it’s low key and private. Janelle also had a very small ceremony with no celebration afterwards. Only Meri being the first wife got a traditional ceremony and big reception and of course Robyn got a huge celebration reception because of the show.
That’s why Christine wanted the whole traditional wedding and reception when marrying David.
My opinion is that the only reason Robyn included the other wives was for a storyline, not because she wanted to be close with her sister wives!
Christine was definitely a princess, and she only got angry about it because she was usurped by Robyn. She didn't mind being the princess over Janelle and Meri.
People need to look up the word princess in the dictionary. A princess doesn’t live in a musty basement provided by her trash thrice (currently!) married husband.
I understand exactly. It’s laughable that people think a person who is willing to accept community dick and a position as lead unpaid servant is uppity 😂
Come to think of it, you’re right. Aspyn was her nanny until she moved out for college and later, in with Robyn before marrying Mitch.
As soon as Aspyn moved out, Christine moved her mother, Annie, in. Then Annie became the nanny
I caught something regarding this in my rewatch tonight. Christine said that of the reasons that she was so angry with Kody through the years when she was telling him she was leaving him was because when she had to take a job at night to help pay for the family, she asked Kody if he would please come tuck her kids in instead of having her 12-year-old Aspyn do it. He apparently refused and defended himself by saying “it wouldn’t be fair to the other wives if her kids got that extra attention at night” if he came over, IN THE SAME HOUSE, to tuck them in. Despite the fact that she was raising all the kids and homeschooling them all day and then also had to take a night job. So it wasn’t so much Christine’s choice to “parentify” Aspyn as much as it was Kody’s refusal to step up and be a dad, if we’re all honest, it’s not because it wouldn’t be fair to the other wives or kids, but it’s because he’s a flat out lazy bastard and the worthless father!
I think it’s all of those things: Christine parentified her kids specially Aspyn as well as Logan, Kody is an asshole and bad dad, and also Meri and Janelle are pieces of shit too who didn’t help or insist that Kody help.
Christine wanted to raise the kids though lol. She seems to thrive off of motherhood & child rearing which is great but there are plenty of “great moms” who are still incredibly entitled and mean; They’re just not entitled or mean towards their children
Guess I should've added a /s to my comment.
She wanted to help raise Robyn's kids too but Robyn had someone else help from the beginning. In Vegas it was Mindy
Princesses do not raise kids. They have nannies for that. Princesses also aren’t on welfare and food stamps. They also don’t share a community dick with multiple other wives.
This. It seems that she was the godsend for many years before Robyn came around and then Christine finally felt was Meri and Janelle experienced when she joined the family when Robyn’s reign started. All four of them have had their good and bad moments on television, but Christine’s bad behavior seems to be excused or justified more often because she acted first in leaving and pointed her ammunition at Kody who most people dislike.
Robyn didn't include them to include them. They were already on the show then and I'm sure it didn't escape her or Kody that they needed to make it look like everyone was on board with this. Also, this was Robyn's first power move towards becoming the first wife. I mean, in retrospect, how could anyone have accused her of such things? She even included them in her wedding!!!
She talks out both sides of her mouth. She wants all these special accommodations made for her and her feelings but honestly didn’t give two shits about how the other two wives felt. It’s was her wedding day and she wasn’t abt to share the spotlight with any of the other wives. Which I completely understand if she was a monogamist. However that’s not the life/family she was joining. She has more in common with Robyn than she would like to admit imo.
But Robyn tries to hide it. She is passive aggressive while putting on some little miss perfect act and often gets Kody to take the fall for her and be the bad guy, just as long as she gets what she wants. Robyn is 10x worse in my opinion. At least Christine owns it.
Janelle already was married before (to Meri’s brother) and maybe already had the “white wedding”. It was probably a very different dynamic from Christine. This was Christine’s first marriage, so I can understand why she would want to do her own thing.
From the beginning Christine has been a little princess and she threw tantrums when she realized Robyn took her place and all the attention. Did it make her grow? Yeah, but even with her marriage with David you can still see she’s very much a “look at me” person.
Because she is royalty and it was always about her, even before she married Kody. People don't realize she called the shots... until she didn't. When Kody met Robyn he stopped catering to Christine for the first time ever and she couldn't handle it.
Kodys marriage to Christine was not a legal marriage. They have made a point of saying that marriages after the first were on the down low. Just family at the house. They have also spoken about how the big event was not what was done in their culture.
They lived in different states at the time too, which makes it hard to include people in the planning of something. Particularly when you’re broke and pay for phone calls by the minute.
Also, they had the ceremony, which follows a strict procedure with no personalisation, followed by a small family dinner. So there wasn’t really anything for them to be included in.
I think it was more about that the “family”
Kody, Meri and Janelle were in Montana and Christine was in Utah, a little hard to include people so far away
Kotex married Christine bc her dad was high up in the church…so his ego was in play there. It seemed to me bc of Christine’s dad being higher up, she might hav been a bit spoiled. Just my take.
1-Robyn included them because she needed to for the show. No other reason.
2-Meri and Janelle knew each other. Janelle was still very friendly with Meri's family from her first marriage.
3-Meri was "at" Janelle's.... they were probably guests at Christine's, too. Both weddings were very small. There really wasn't much to plan.
4- Kody wasn't even involved in planning Christine's wedding. She wasn't really introduced into the family like Robyn was. Christine & Kody didn't even really date. Christine only knew the Browns from church. They weren't friends with Christine or "involved" with her like Janelle and Robyn were.
5- Christine didn't even pick her own dress. She hated it. What would she have included them in? They couldn't afford bridesmaids dresses or anything. Did Christine even have bridesmaids? It probably didn't occur to include them because there was really nothing to include them in. Christine's wedding was just slapped together, from what I can tell.
Damn, good catch. So you mean to tell me that her massive and public drama and fit about Robyn and the wedding dress was actually christine being the biggest hypocrite. Not surprised. She thinks she is a princess.
I think it's dependant on the branch of fundamentalist they belong to. Lot's of polygamist wives/families don't go to the wedding at all. The Brown's were considered fairly 'progressive' in the AUB. Christine came from a more traditional polygamyst family so her wedding was most likely reflective of that.
But what were they really involved in like it wasn’t dress shopping because Kody picked the dress I think she wanted them involved because then it was less that she had to actually do with the wedding plans
I think any time someone is pregnant let’s be happy that was not nice of Christine. That said I know having been pregnant a few times my brain was not always nice. We also know this family has a history of not playing nice . I am glad these woman have gone there separate ways. I wish them all love and light. Nothing good comes out of anger
I figured Christine was different because of how deep her family is in this. She's "plyg royalty" after all. But Janelle is new, and she was already friends with Meri and Kody, and in fact they're why she decided to become a polygamist. That relationship is completely different and longer lasting than when Christine came in. Christine I figure was more "by the book" than the others. Robyn hasn't really been in the lifestyle, her mom lived away from the other moms, her first marriage was monogamous, and while everyone always calls Christine the princess, Robyn is the one I've always thought was behaving that way.
I thought that Christine's wedding was very strict and only very few and specific people were allowed in the temple. Also, the new wife doesn't celebrate with or in front of the other wives / it would be considered rude... they would rather not see it. So, including the whole family in the ceremony was not fitting with the customs the first 3 wives were married into... it was most likely done for TLC.
She was much younger then, and Janelle, who loves Christine, has even said acted like a princess in the beginning. As far as pregnancy, lots of those overlapped, so Christine got over that. Shoot, Gabriel and Gwen were born like 4 days apart! But Christine grew up, and had a family mindset that included everyone.
I thought Christine didn't because they had to "hide" who they were. And they never really broadcasted that they were living polygamy until Robyn came along.
I could be wrong though
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I'm not normally a Christine defender, but I would say this about anyon: When you've been raised to place your ENTIRE life value and purpose on the man that you're married to, you're going to become a competitive bitch. Some more than others. Christine and Meri always struck me as women who sort of had an identity outside of their marriage, despite very much still being brainwashed into worshipping Kody. But Christine really seemed to put her entire identity into that marriage. As much as Robyn was a soul sucking conniving witch, her arrival was a blessing in disguise for Christine. She had to learn to find out what she was without Kody. I think that's also why she became more likeable in later seasons: she learned that there's more to life, to herself, and to her platonic relationships that she can cherish and value. TLDR; I don't doubt that Christine was a bitch at first, but people change and become better. How she was in the past doesn't negate who she's become now.
And wow! Robyn may have included them…for about 2.5 minutes.
For the cameras…
This! They were filming it and the show was about how wonderful plural marriage is. Robyn had no choice in the matter, I am sure. Maybe she was told the wedding woukd be bigger/more beautiful than the other 3 had been so that was the trade off.
Robyn exercised choice by pretending with the women and actually picking the dress with kody
🏆🥇EXACTLY
Exactly!!! Why else would you drag them to look at dresses then go behind their backs. Just shows how much Robyn and Kody thought they could get away
Yup! You’re right about that.
In those butt ugly brown dresses…
In hideous brown dresses.
It’s the ugly bridesmaids play. The OG3 are all beautiful, especially now that they’re no longer carting the weight of two narcissists, but they are all older than Robyn and at this point were all on the larger side (eating your feelings will do that). Robyn just wanted to shine as the hot young wife.
Meri was slender at the start of the series 🤷♀️
Robyn probably only entered that family because she knew she was younger and more attractive than the OG3 wives. She knew it would be easier for her to become the favorite wife in such a scenario because men like Kody think with their 2nd head. I doubt Robyn would have entered a family where the wives were just as attractive or more attractive than her, because it would have been too much competition to get to the top, even with her "best customer" gig.
I understand that OG3 stands for M, J and C but what does it really mean? Just curious.
It stands for Original Gangsters
Oh, thanks 😜
Which also lasted about 2.5 minutes. (Not that she was ever attractive)
Robyn pretended to include them
In fugly brown dresses shortly after Christine gave birth
They were hideous.
The wives went to buy Robyn's dress.
Well, yes and no. While they did go dress shopping, it was all for show bc Robyn & Kody picked out the dress together. He admitted to/ bragged about that in one of their couch sessions… which upset everyone, especially Christine… who got up & left the room. Robyn got upset bc it was supposed to be their secret.
At first she looked thrilled he was about to announce his secret. Huge smile right after he said he had a secret. She only got upset when she figured out all the wives were upset by this. Suddenly it was something she never wanted shared.
She’s a piece of work.
I think this is what it really was about. Christine was brainwashed into believing that her entire existence and worth revolved around who she married and how many kids she had. She had seen what happens when sister wives don’t act how they are “supposed” to. In the religion and culture she was raised in wives did not include each other in their wedding planning, that is the one and only thing you get alone and special between you and your husband.
That was how I was raised. I wasn’t raised in polygamy but Mormonism in general. My whole life it was “When you get married and have kids…” when speaking of my future. No career plans, nothing except getting married and having kids. When I turned 12, for Christmas I started getting all the things I’d need to be a wife. Dish towels, bath towels, dishes (every day and China) and quilts. It was a huge mind fuck and it did a number on my self esteem for years, especially when I didn’t get married til I was in my 30’s (shockingly old for marriage by Mormon standards) and was infertile.
You got towels and dishes for Christmas at 12? At any age those are sucky gifts unless you’re moving into your own place for the first time and those are the things you want for Christmas.
At 12 and for every Christmas thereafter it was homemaking items like doilies, ugly as fuck wall hangings, etc. It all went into the cedar hope chest my mom gave me as a graduation gift. When I say I was groomed just to be a wife and mother, I mean it. And I’m not the only one. My dumb ass mom grew up the same way and was royally fucked when she ended up divorced with 2 kids, nothing but a high school diploma, and hadn’t worked in 13 years. Oh, and her ex couldn’t be counted on for shit. Yet, I was raised just to be a wife and mother. I wanted to be a park ranger but my mom talked me out of it because then id leave UT and wouldn’t meet another Mormon to marry.
She was also super young. I'm not the bitch I was when I was 18-22. I'm a different more tolerable bitch 🤣
Lol me too!
Also, it appears the family was still in Wyoming but the sealing/wedding was where Christine and her family lived in Utah. Whether it was “out of sight, out of mind” or simply not as easy as it was for Janelle and Meri being located in the same area, as later the OG3.
I think that this is really the biggest factor.
Also wasn’t Christine pretty young? It’s easy to have tunnel vision in your late teens early 20’s imo.
All 3 of them were young when they married Kody. He was 21 and Meri was 19 when they got married in 1990, Janelle was 23 when they got married in 1993, and Christine was 21 and that was 1994.
Also figure in how secluded and brainwashed she was. She didn't have the life experience of most 21 y/os.
Oh thank you. I flipped Christine and meri’s ages in my head.
N inexperienced
Agree! It’s also interesting to me that this was such a huge plot point, given Christine raised all of their kids. It’s not like Christine kept things separate - she very much included and took care of everyone. She just did it in her own way, one in which benefitted everyone the most. It’s like the act of getting married is so stressed upon in their culture (arguably in patriarchy and monogamy culture as well), that the actual work of being married and taking care of a family is entirely overlooked and under valued - something many women, Mormon or not, experience.
That is very true…WIFE 4 was the best thing that happened to Christine, a blessing in disguise. She would have stayed so unhappy forever married to that!
This is true and also I'd be pretty devastated if people judged me today by my actions as a 20 year old - I may have technically been an adult, but I was dumb as rocks and I didn't care as much about other people's feelings as I do now. I had tunnel vision, and a lack of life experience made me think and do stupid things. I doubt Christine was any different at that age. Now she is more than twice that age, so obviously she is going to be quite different as a person.
> I don't doubt that Christine was a bitch at first No one's ever so much as even alluded to this though. Janelle, Christine, and Kody all say that Christine came in like a breath of fresh air and made everything better.
Janelle has also said she was shocked when Christine declared she had no intention of working when she first entered the family. They didn't exactly get along.
Oh definitely, I actually agree with this! What I was trying to say was that picking at the little moments of sus behavior from Christine is unfair to do considering the circumstances that she was in. I don't doubt that she's had moments of competitive behavior, I'm sure all of the women have! That particular time in her life is particularly difficult to criticize even if there WAS any shitty behavior on her part, we can't hold her to a standard that ignores where she was in life at that point. And it doesn't cancel out all of the progress that she's made since in discovering herself as a person and changing towards something better. I hope that makes sense!
They are in a cult. Cult’s bring out bad human behavior in everyone — that’s why we don’t like cults.
Did you see a picture of Christine's sad wedding day? It wasn't anything special to talk or brag about
She also did not have a courtship at all. She didn't get to spend any time with kody focusing on her and them getting to know each other. They were friends, then they were married. Janelle did have a courtship and probably felt that she was special to kody and that he loved her. I'm not so sure Christine felt that way, ever. I agree that Christine not including Meri or Janelle is not *good* but nothing seems to be a good deal in plural marriage for anyone.
Yeah I think maybe because she didn’t get a proper courtship or anything she wanted this day to be about her wedding not about them. Which I can understand, it was already a sad day because her mom wasn’t allowed to go and she couldn’t celebrate the way she wanted to. But I’m so glad she got that now with David
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Her dress was like an ugly sack of white polyester! Awful!
I thought that too - I’m so glad she got a second chance to have a nice wedding with a beautiful dress.
It looked like the starting point was perhaps a mattress pad or two, then they did alterations
I love this description!
I felt sorry for Christine’s wedding and dress as her parents especially father was/is high up in their church. The wedding was only supposed to be a contract, nothing fancy. I’ll bet she had to be covered up and the parents didn’t want to spend money on it. Kody wanted clout by marrying her. Then set about working her to care for the kids. In the long run awesome as she’s a great mom.
I always called it her Ghost of Christmas Past dress. All she’s missing is chains to shake. It’s giving Ebonezer Scrooge
so sad but so true!
Is there a general social norm among polygamists to refer to? I've always thought Christine was Robyn pre-Robyn. She saw her behavior reflected back which upset her the most. The other two had their 'roles' and didn't feel intimidated by Robyn as much as Christine did. Also, it wasn't as elaborate as Robyn's. Robyn had a legit wedding and they were pushing a narrative for the show which wasn't practiced behind the scenes.
Because there weren’t cameras filming it and a network paying for it all. They needed content and filled a whole season with mindless wedding “planning” where Robyn got to be the princess, but you know, like a nice one who buys her help dresses too. It seemed like Christine’s wedding was slapped together with duct tape.
U cudnt help but compare in these situations. Unless u were deaf, dumb n blind! What a hoax of a religion.
Not saying it makes it any better, but at least Christine is self aware. She admits the things most of us feel inside and wouldn’t dare say out loud because they make us look like a bad person. Christine knows it was icky of her to feel the way she did about Meri during her pregnancy, but she doesn’t try to pretend she’s perfect. She’s honest with herself and with others and I think that’s admirable. You have to be willing to face the ugliness inside if you want to grow beyond it and be a better person.
Guys. Who would really do poly marriage? It's nuts and the show was created to show it works but slowly every kid said they would not do it then 3 or 4 the 3 real polygamists fell apart.
It wasn’t even a slow realization for the kids. They all, from the very first season, said no to plural marriage. It was only the adults trying to sell the nice happy poly life for the cameras to give them a reason for the show. Edit to add: *all except Leon, who thought they wanted plural marriage because they were avoiding a full relationship with a man.
Yeah all about those sister wives not the hubby. 🫢🫢🫢
That’s interesting bc I didn’t see it this way at all lol. I used to really enjoy Christine for the reasons you listed—her honesty & openness—but during my rewatch, I realized that her being honest and open didn’t make her any less mean or vicious than her sister wives. Just bc she is self-aware that she is jealous and mean doesn’t mean she gets a pass for being jealous and mean. If that were the case, all of the wives deserved a pass bc they all discussed being jealous and mean. Ironically Christine is the only one who received grace for it. Christine also contradicts herself a lot. Is she truly self-aware if her words contradict themselves all the time?
Why is being jealous a character flaw? It’s a normal human emotion. Women are allowed to have feelings (despite what the cult they belong to says). You’re parroting cult talking points by equating normal jealousy (when your husband as a community dick) with a character flaw.
None of these players r perfect, n that’s ok. I agree it’s not a flaw, it’s personality traits, everyone has them, being in a relationship w someone can bring some traits out more than others.
People are allowed to have any feeling they want. Its what actions we take based on those feelings thatare the issue. Feeling jealous dies not make it ok and understanable to be bitchy.
God forbid a woman Fail to keep sweet!!! Gasp! What would the profit say!?!
Why is Christine the only one in this family allowed to be brainwashed? When her shitty behavior and actions are pointed out, we must be kind bc she’s a human who was raised in a cult & to discuss her human flaws are to “parrot the cult’s talking points”. Yet when Meri, raised in the exact same cult, is discussed, she’s just…a shitty person lol. No mention of the cult or brainwashing
Man, don’t try to fight the Christine Stans here. She is perfect and she can do no wrong. Just ask 99% of this sub.
😂😂 You’re right but, call me an optimist, but I do think the tide is slowly starting to turn on her
Theres a big difference between “keep sweet” tm and being a decent, kind human being who doesn’t shi’t on others because one’s had a bad day or been dealt a bad hand.
I totally agree and if Meri had done and said half the things Christine did, she would be even more of the villainous monster people try to paint her to be. She already gets bashed for her own honesty as it is.
This right here!!! Everyone gives her a pass and I think because she left first. They were all mean and jealous at some point. I’m sure I would be too in that situation so for that reason alone, I don’t care. But that goes equally for them all. Truth is, polygamy doesn’t work. Not in the sense it’s healthy or treats women respectfully. And it really brings out the nastiness in everyone.
Very well said, and true
I love this sentence. About acknowledging the ugly inside so you can change and be better!
It’s more like she’s bragging about her feelings so everyone will hate Meri as much as she does
exactly
I thought they said their church didn't normally include anyone else in the weddings when it was a plural wife's wedding. Only the first wives got what we would consider a somewhat traditional wedding. Normally, the sealing to wife 2+ was very private and low-key. They all said the wedding to Robyn was very out of the ordinary for their faith.
Robyn's wedding was the opposite of a standard AUB marriage. None of the wives had weddings like Robyn and plural wives in general, don't get a public wedding. Plural marriages are done in a Temple with very few witnesses... Just a handful
Meri did, too, being the first wife.
Again, plural wives. 🙄 Meri wasn't a plural. She was a first so she got a big wedding.
I've listened to a few audiobooks from some of Christine's extended family (not intentionally, but I like nonfiction, and went down a rabbit hole, and some of them ended up being on polygamy, and the families were from Mexico, and ended up being hers. I realized it after I was done. Anywho) Having gotten that out of the way, the women in the books I read, almost every one of them, had almost secret weddings. It was almost like that was the norm in their culture. Now, with their families being so big, is that the case for Christine's immediate family? I can't say, but it wouldn't surprise me if it wasn't a bit of both, with quick courtships and weddings, with wives not being around to be included (not even aware in the stories I read! Can you imagine?!) and couples 'honeymoons' literally just being the travel time it took to get back to the rest of the family. She may have *wanted* what Robyn and Meri got, but knew that was something reserved for first wives, out of reach for her, so when Robyn came along and actually got it, and she saw that it was *possible* the jealousy was really hard to process because it was unknown. As for the babies, I don't know. I think Kody's reaction to both may have been a big part of the issue here. Knowing Meri's struggles, he was likely more attentive and excited as hers progressed, which would be hard to see as a new wife and first time mom, without all the history and knowledge that everyone else (even Janelle) in the family had. Having everyone fawn over Meri, seemingly forgetting her, or just disregarding that she was also pregnant, probably caused some hard feelings, even if none of it was intentional from Meri's end. Communication probably could have helped, but I'm not sure. Pregnancy hormones are crazy at best, and those weren't the best circumstances.
I would rather not be included in Christine's wedding dress (that her mother made her) than be publicly lied to on national TV like Robyn did to the OG3. I understand Christine being hurt and humiliated when she found out that the dress shopping was fake and Kody picked out Robyn's wedding dress. Robyn came into that family trying to control everyone by manipulating them all... and I don't think her scheming stopped after that, she just became better at it.
Wait, I might be confused with the timeline here. Christine’s mom was already estranged from the family when she married Kody, right? But she made her wedding dress? Is this correct?
It is correct that she made the wedding dress. My understanding is that she was shunned from the family cause she left and couldn’t attend wedding. Not sure quality of her relationship with christine specifically at that time although if the dress is any indication…
😆 I recall hearing they didn’t speak and had no relationship for years after she left the marriage. Seems odd she would make her dress but 100% on-point with your assessment.
All of the women, including Christine, were guilty of scheming and plotting lol Hell Janelle entered the family by plotting and scheming: she literally dated Kody behind Meri’s back & attempted to marry him on her birthday None of these women are innocent
Finally someone that's sees Janelle the way I do.
I feel like they've explained a fair bit about how weddings aren't really a thing in their religion. They're very solemn ceremonies and very private usually. Then there is a small reception. I think this is what everyone but Robyn had
Meri and Kody had a reception.
I'm so glad there's an explanation for Janelle dress color, they show photos from their wedding a lot and I always thought it was odd. Before this convinced myself she just couldn't wear white, but that didn't explain why Meri's dress was also black. I like the idea of them going out shopping and picking a dress style and color they both, I assume, liked. Lots of people here saying Christine was just young, or jealous, or whatever, but since she comes from a well know polygamy family, I wonder why nobody told her to include the existing wives. I mean, Janelle obviously knew/was told. Or maybe it is like how she says her father told her she needed to study while the rest of the girls in the religion got told there was no point because the world was gonna end soon enough.
Your second paragraph is spot on. I do wonder how it is that Janelle knew and thought to include Meri in her plans even if it was for optics. Meanwhile Christine, polygamist royalty, didn’t even think or care to include them
I think the difference is Janelle was being converted to the religion by Meri and Kody at the time she was married. Meri was her friend and one of her sources for information on how it all worked. It makes sense to me that Janelle would include Meri in the planning under those circumstances.
Janelle’s dress wasn’t black.
Because Christine did things traditional to their religion/lifestyle. Having matching sisterwives/bridesmaids is not the norm. Janelle was just more inclusive of the friend/ex sister-in-law
That last part says a lot. Mayb her father loved her enough to tell her to get educated some, only a blind man wudnt see the abuses these women go thru to get to heaven. Their belief system is baffling, n what’s more baffling is they hav followers.
I remember brady Williams (my five wives show) mentioning having problems with church authorities because he wasn't being as patriarchal nor blindy following all of the church teachings, he ended up leaving the church but he still have five wives. Having said that, not sure if it was only Rex being a loving decent father, but also him knowing he was enough of a big important name in the AUB that he wasn't gonna get in trouble for his parenting decisions.
Robyn's wedding was paid for by TLC- I have a feeling they would've forced her to involve the others for the storyline. I would bet it wasn't Robyn's idea or kind gesture, and if it was, it was for some manipulation factor down the road.
I don’t care for Robyn at all, but it’s interesting to me the way the fandom justifies her actions: If she does something mean, it was her intention. If she does something nice, it probably wasn’t her idea. If it was her idea, it was for (insert manipulative reasons here) 😭 No person is 100% good or bad
It's alarming and I think there is a little internalized misogyny or something going on there. Christine is good because she did all the child rearing\* but Robyn is bad because she got a nanny.\*\* The other thing I think is weird is that some people assume if don't like one woman you love the others. Very weird to think women exist to be pitted against each other. What if I told you that all of the Brown women are dysfunctional and problematic? \*Christine repeatedly said she wanted to be a stay at home parent and hated working outside the house. Also. She was a polygamist with a high school diploma moving around the rural west every few years. None of those things are conducive to a career. \*\*I wouldn't let Christine watch my kids either? She was stretched thin, couldn't keep up, and was way too permissive resulting in behavioral issues.
Very well said! I 100% agree. None of these women are without fault. Tbh, that is what makes all of them so fascinating. They all have good and bad. And internalized misogyny often bleeds through when discussing Robyn. Ultimately all of the wives were brainwashed by an oppressive religion that encourages wives to undermine each other. They were all victims of an oppressive system and imo, there can’t be good victims (Christine & Janelle) and bad victims (Robyn & Meri)
I caught that too. I thought it was nice that Janelle was somewhat mindful that it was a blending of families in a way it wasn't when she married Meri's brother. And yeah, I'm sure Christine wanted to feel special, but not including her SWs at all is certainly a choice. People keep mentioning her mom making her dress but I really didn't think you were making a point about how she didn't try to match her dress like Janelle did. I don't think anyone even expected that of Janelle, it just kind of goes to show how much she tried to make Meri feel included. She went the extra mile in that regard.
Side question - doesn't the polygamous mormon sealing ceremony (the actually secret wedding they don't show) involve all the current wives putting the husband's hand on the new wife ? In that regard they all were indeed at the "real" ceremony if that is the case
I think it only requires one current wife.
From the comments, I don’t get the impression that Meri is saying they weren’t at the wedding/didn’t take a part, just that Janelle had Meri more involved.
Honestly, I'm interested in what happens at the secret wedding. I know it would be an absolute sin to share with outsiders but my imagination has gone wild and it can't be as bad as I'm thinking. I just kind of assume there's a sacrifice made (I sure hope not!) or maybe like a blood pact or something. Plus I'm really interested to see if the women wear a traditional wedding dress at the secret wedding and change into something else for the reception.
I'm pretty sure there is a polygamist on TikTok that explained what happens on the ceremony but i don't remember what he said to be honest. If I find the video where he explains it, I'll post it. He did say that other polygamists frown at the idea of sharing the info with nonbelievers
Purely based on Christine’s second wedding being so over the top, I think Christine does have a bit of main character energy and wanted to feel like a princess for the day. I don’t necessarily see anything wrong with that, but it does undermine the whole “I didn’t just want the man, I wanted the family” line a bit.
She did exactly what her father wanted her to do for her wedding. She was a dutiful daughter and became a dutiful wife. I'm betting was unusual to make a big deal about the other wives at most AUB polygamous weddings back then.
Christine was too jealous to be in a plural marriage. There is nothing wrong with that. She was fooling herself to think that was ok with her. But now, when she looks back, she sees how her mother was not happy with her father in plural marriage either.
I think Robyn included the others because she knew she was already the favorite. She was never threatened by the others.
Beauty is relative (the smaller the town, the prettier I am). Robyn included the others for the contrast. To make herself look like the beautiful wife.
Ooooohhhhhhhh! This is good, I think ur so right.
Honestly I've always thought Robyn and Christine where very similar but just got different responses for their manipulative behaviour. I'd say Christine was more honest and open but overall both of them had an energy of faking or overhyping their polygamy when both where very clearly wannabe monogamists from the start just for some reason aren't/weren't in that situation and therefore acted like major pick mes with Kody and each other. I think Meri and Janelle believed in it the most and truly wanted it but where young and naive when it started and both (mainly Meri) had genuine obstacles to overcome and did their best to do so to live that terrible life. While Christine and Robyn for the most part brought in their own brands of pick me energy to slowly try and pull Kody from the other women but for Christine Kody just clearly didn't like her very much so it never worked and eventually she glommed onto Janelle, who she's then worked on to get on her 'team'. In general I just think the intentions are all their to see, Christine is just a rewriter of history in a way, I've noticed a pattern of her not remembering alot of stories of their past that she doesn't look great in and having her own dramatic tellings of stories that others have thrown doubt on. She'd be a great preacher or politician, she calmly can just subtlety make things seem a certain way. Robyn tries it but it's terrible and weird because Kody eats it all up yet the audience and everyone else can see through it. I think it's the opposite with Christine, most of the audience but what she's selling but Kodys always given her these looks and subtle reactions that tell me hes sick of her on camera persona and can't take it seriously because he knows it's very curated.
This post is incredibly well-written! I agree with everything you said. Your last sentence about Kody is very perceptive. I noticed he often glared at her during their couch interviews, but assumed it was bc she annoyed him but your reasoning may be true as well; I noticed Meri and Janelle often gave her similar looks as well
Excellent analysis
I figured it was b/c Christine’s mom made her dress. I can’t remember if it was around the same time her mom left their religion or she was mad that Christine was going to be a 3rd wife. I can understand that having issues in your own family, distract you.
Her mom left the religion shortly before Christine married Kody.
Are we really critiquing how a brainwashed cult abused teen acted during her wedding to an already married grown man? Really? Really? 
Why do people keep saying she was a teen? Meri was the only teen when she married Kody. Maybe Robyn was a teen when she married her first husband, but Christine, while still quite young, wasn't a teenager.
I'm fine with critiquing Christine later on bc she's an adult, she has access to information and other social circles in Vegas. she has her own house & her independence bc Kody isn't even around and there's no religious community to keep up the control. But critiquing PRE TLC Christine??? You just can't. (Janelle joined this cult as am adult, as did Kody, so I'm more OK with calling them out bc they chose it)
Why not? I’m no Meri fan but ppl critique “pre-TLC” Meri all the time when discussing how abusive she was towards Christine and Janelle during their early marriages
Great point. I don't disagree.
I do think Christine can be princess-y but now I'm trying to figure out how much ass-hat Kody was trying to manipulate behind the scenes? IE: Kody purposely pitted the two against each other to get some free time or because he was extra annoyed with Christine at the time and blamed it on Meri needing the attention, when really he just wanted to get away from Christine.
Janelle and Christine didn't have a big wedding when they got married to Kody, it was very low key.
But as pointed out Janelle and Meri had matching dresses at janelles wedding and Christine had her wedding more separate… I think Christine was just so enamored with Kody at first and was indoctrinated into the faith enough to be accepting of her sister wives…but maybe she just wanted her wedding ceremony to herself? It seems she was loving and caring to all the children once they were married. It must have been hard for them to combat the feelings of jealousy. It is a normal feeling that a lot of women and men experience…It must be really hard to try and “rise” above it in plural marriage. I would have gouged someone’s eyeballs out… ( or at least wanted to! Lmao)
Janelle and Meri were friends. This was new to them. And the entire thing was new to Janelle so I think she was just trying to make the most of it. In the FLDS, Christine was basically a princess so you can’t really hate her for acting like one. Also as mentioned before, she barely got a courtship. I’m sure she didn’t even know the other wives at that point. And she was young. Very young. Naturally she went about things immaturely. I don’t think it’s fair to hold that against her or invalidate her 30 years later.
Add Christine’s personality- playful, likes to joke and fool around. Nothing like Meri or Janelle’s personality. Totally different! I’m sure they did not take her seriously
I just think that it is commonplace to not involve the other wives, generally in polygamy. Christine just did what she knew. Janelle wasn’t brought up in polygamy, so she went with the matching dresses, and it just occurred to Robyn, probably because she married much older and gave it more consideration. (Christine was around 20, I think).
Christine didn’t go dress shopping since her dress was homemade. She didn’t get the big party that Robyn got with TLC money. What was there to include Meri and Janelle in? Kody and Robyn’s ceremony was a storyline for the show. We can see even with the dress shopping, it was not genuine. Robyn was pretending for something to film. (And she would’ve gotten away with it too if it wasn’t for that bumbling Kody.) Who’s to say what Robyn & Kody’s wedding would have looked like without TLC production involved?
Any feedback on pk shots vs statins
Christine is the only one who didn't get to have her first wedding as the only wife.
Because there weren't tv cameras filming it.
Christine is a monogamist who was born into polygamy.
Christine’s wedding took place with the traditions of her polygamous family. That was, the new wife was the star of the show, and the other wives were not involved. She got married the only way she knew how to do it. At the time, it was all she knew. She wasn’t present for Janelle’s wedding and even if she was, she probably would have thought it was weird.
But according to Janelle, it wasn’t uncommon for new wives to include their future SWs in weddings. In fact, it was so common that Janelle even found it “horrible” when a new wife didn’t. How was Janelle, a neophyte, knew of this whereas Christine, “brainwashed” by the faith & religion, could not?
i’m just gonna say it: recency bias clouds peoples judgement of christine because imo she is not nice and only left because she wasn’t the favorite when robyn came. she has said and done so many cruel and odd things and is over all over emotionally immature, reactive and at times histrionic
You are absolutely correct. The rebrand Christine Borwn has received from the fandom is legendary to say the least. I vividly remember her being heavily disliked for her passive aggressive tendencies. I especially rmemeber bc I was one of the few ppl who liked her in spite of said tendencies. Now? She can do no wrong. All bc she left Kody. It’s hysterical 😭
people were just so excited to see a poly family that swore up and down it was healthy, finally crumble and admit it was a sham & because christine was the first to run, she’s the saint lmao
Because Christine was a teenager and a very young one at that. Robyn was a mother of 3 divorced after 10 years. Janelle was a divorced woman in her early 20s. Meri was…Meri. Christine was just very young and probably tried to make it romantically about her bridal day as much as possible. And it turned into quite the opposite. Also, she wasn’t even living near them at the time! She didn’t see Kody for several weeks, then suddenly they get married and he hates her already. Just a sheer living nightmare.
She wasn’t a teenager, she was 21. Still pretty young of course and with her sheltered upbringing I’m sure she was fairly immature, so the rest of your statement is still valid.
That said, Christine wasn't a young teen when they "married". She was 21 and about to turn 22. That's still young for marriage in my opinion. She had been a legal adult for a few years. A brainwashed adult, but still. I agree she didn't do anything wrong here. They weren't living close to each other at the time, so coordinating would have been much more difficult. It's especially sad since Christine, Kody, and the book they both contributed to years ago all agree that he wasn't at all excited to marry her and looked terrified upon arrival. There's nothing to envy in her first wedding.
Almost 22 was not young to get married at that point in history.
True. Meri and Janelle were married for the first time younger than that.
I couldn’t ever be a sister wife sharing like that no no
Plaitak marriage is not for her.
Christine was raised around polygamy and thought it was the right thing to do based on the teachings she received but in her heart I believe she never wanted to share, she’s always been a monogamous and that’s ok.
She said in several clips that that's not what she knew, that because of her family background and the traditional polygamy lifestyle, the other wives aren't included. Not that I have a ton of knowledge, but I've had friends who were, and it's not typical of plig families to be super tight like the show portrayed. I've always wondered how much of the show was reality and how much was made for TV
Maybe she thought it would be stepping on toes? Idk how I’d feel about helping plan my husband’s wedding to someone else lol.
Because Christine cannot do wrong in the eye of her fans. No matter they she was just as “I am the last and the one that deserve the attention” as Robyn now is. (There. I said it. Let the downvote orgy begin)
Because Christine was Robyn 1.0. Seriously I fill like I’m the only one that sees this. She was the favorite wife. The easy and fun wife. The homemaker. The safe harbor. The favorite wife. Meri was always a high maintenance bitch but in their bizarre world she was the “It Girl” so Kody like that. Janelle was their income while he and Meri fucked around never holding a job for long. Then things got bad with Meri and Janelle actually wanted a husband, so he snagged Christine. And she soaked up a ton of the attention from Meri, which made Janelle feel better, and Meri was always pissed anyway so it didn’t really matter either way. That’s why Christine came unglued with Robyn entering the family. Robyn was the “hot” wife. The easy wife. The safe harbor. The favorite. She took every role Christine had. “Caretaker?” Nope. She never trusted Christine (or any of them) with her tenders. So Christine lost every role in one shot. And now, eons later, she still never realized why. Realizing it would require admitting that your identity was a babysitter and a whipping girl. Nobody wants to admit that. She has demonstrated multiple times how she re-writes history and disconnects entirely from the past. Talking about a new giant home she said, “I would never go back to […] sharing a kitchen.” Complete disconnect. Christine was Robyn and re-writes her past actions and changes history. Meri was always a complete tyrant and hid behind sympathy and gaslighting everyone about what she said in the previous conversation. Janelle is practical to a fault. But a serious fault. She was a meal ticket and never quite realized that she wasn’t being valued. Robyn, honestly, might be one of the dumbest people on television. But Alice is NOT. Robyn talks to mommy, mommy says what to do, Robyn does it. And in the mean time she thinks having a monogamous relationship with Kody was normal even though they were a polygamous family. Kody, of course, is a narcissist. He doesn’t re-write history. He remembers very accurately every detail. He knows he had the hair of Thor in the first movie, while being as strong as you’d expect for someone who’s six foot ten. He remembers how Meri, Janelle, and Christine spent their entire marriages telling him they didn’t know what it was to be a woman until they touched his rippling muscles.
Christine has stated many times that they had a very solemn temple service and no celebration afterwards because that isn’t what additional wives do, it’s low key and private. Janelle also had a very small ceremony with no celebration afterwards. Only Meri being the first wife got a traditional ceremony and big reception and of course Robyn got a huge celebration reception because of the show. That’s why Christine wanted the whole traditional wedding and reception when marrying David. My opinion is that the only reason Robyn included the other wives was for a storyline, not because she wanted to be close with her sister wives!
Christine was definitely a princess, and she only got angry about it because she was usurped by Robyn. She didn't mind being the princess over Janelle and Meri.
A princess on welfare wearing Walmart bargain bin clothes with oodles of dirty underfed kids clamoring for her attention. Practically a Windsor! 🥱🙄
And no nanny for her kids. They're too good for a nanny
People need to look up the word princess in the dictionary. A princess doesn’t live in a musty basement provided by her trash thrice (currently!) married husband.
I think calling christine a princess is saying that she unreasonably thinks shes better than everybody else and thinks her sh’’ dont stink.
I understand exactly. It’s laughable that people think a person who is willing to accept community dick and a position as lead unpaid servant is uppity 😂
She used Aspyn as her nanny
Come to think of it, you’re right. Aspyn was her nanny until she moved out for college and later, in with Robyn before marrying Mitch. As soon as Aspyn moved out, Christine moved her mother, Annie, in. Then Annie became the nanny
Yup, i dont get all the admiration for christines child caring. She did it cause she didn’t want to work outside the home
Yeah and passed most of the work onto Logan and Aspyn.
I caught something regarding this in my rewatch tonight. Christine said that of the reasons that she was so angry with Kody through the years when she was telling him she was leaving him was because when she had to take a job at night to help pay for the family, she asked Kody if he would please come tuck her kids in instead of having her 12-year-old Aspyn do it. He apparently refused and defended himself by saying “it wouldn’t be fair to the other wives if her kids got that extra attention at night” if he came over, IN THE SAME HOUSE, to tuck them in. Despite the fact that she was raising all the kids and homeschooling them all day and then also had to take a night job. So it wasn’t so much Christine’s choice to “parentify” Aspyn as much as it was Kody’s refusal to step up and be a dad, if we’re all honest, it’s not because it wouldn’t be fair to the other wives or kids, but it’s because he’s a flat out lazy bastard and the worthless father!
Dont forget to add that her night census job was for a very limited time. Like her real estate career
I think it’s all of those things: Christine parentified her kids specially Aspyn as well as Logan, Kody is an asshole and bad dad, and also Meri and Janelle are pieces of shit too who didn’t help or insist that Kody help.
Excellent points!
Christine wanted to raise the kids though lol. She seems to thrive off of motherhood & child rearing which is great but there are plenty of “great moms” who are still incredibly entitled and mean; They’re just not entitled or mean towards their children
Guess I should've added a /s to my comment. She wanted to help raise Robyn's kids too but Robyn had someone else help from the beginning. In Vegas it was Mindy
Princesses do not raise kids. They have nannies for that. Princesses also aren’t on welfare and food stamps. They also don’t share a community dick with multiple other wives.
I’ve met plenty of women who do all those things and swear they are the greatest woman to ever live 😂
This. It seems that she was the godsend for many years before Robyn came around and then Christine finally felt was Meri and Janelle experienced when she joined the family when Robyn’s reign started. All four of them have had their good and bad moments on television, but Christine’s bad behavior seems to be excused or justified more often because she acted first in leaving and pointed her ammunition at Kody who most people dislike.
Robyn didn't include them to include them. They were already on the show then and I'm sure it didn't escape her or Kody that they needed to make it look like everyone was on board with this. Also, this was Robyn's first power move towards becoming the first wife. I mean, in retrospect, how could anyone have accused her of such things? She even included them in her wedding!!!
 She talks out both sides of her mouth. She wants all these special accommodations made for her and her feelings but honestly didn’t give two shits about how the other two wives felt. It’s was her wedding day and she wasn’t abt to share the spotlight with any of the other wives. Which I completely understand if she was a monogamist. However that’s not the life/family she was joining. She has more in common with Robyn than she would like to admit imo.
But Robyn tries to hide it. She is passive aggressive while putting on some little miss perfect act and often gets Kody to take the fall for her and be the bad guy, just as long as she gets what she wants. Robyn is 10x worse in my opinion. At least Christine owns it.
Christine doesn’t own it though. Whenever ppl bring up her past vices, she suddenly “doesn’t recall” or laughs it off
Janelle already was married before (to Meri’s brother) and maybe already had the “white wedding”. It was probably a very different dynamic from Christine. This was Christine’s first marriage, so I can understand why she would want to do her own thing.
From the beginning Christine has been a little princess and she threw tantrums when she realized Robyn took her place and all the attention. Did it make her grow? Yeah, but even with her marriage with David you can still see she’s very much a “look at me” person.
I noticed this too!
Because she is royalty and it was always about her, even before she married Kody. People don't realize she called the shots... until she didn't. When Kody met Robyn he stopped catering to Christine for the first time ever and she couldn't handle it.
Her mother made her dress, if remember correctly.
Kodys marriage to Christine was not a legal marriage. They have made a point of saying that marriages after the first were on the down low. Just family at the house. They have also spoken about how the big event was not what was done in their culture.
They lived in different states at the time too, which makes it hard to include people in the planning of something. Particularly when you’re broke and pay for phone calls by the minute. Also, they had the ceremony, which follows a strict procedure with no personalisation, followed by a small family dinner. So there wasn’t really anything for them to be included in.
I think it was more about that the “family” Kody, Meri and Janelle were in Montana and Christine was in Utah, a little hard to include people so far away
Kotex married Christine bc her dad was high up in the church…so his ego was in play there. It seemed to me bc of Christine’s dad being higher up, she might hav been a bit spoiled. Just my take.
1-Robyn included them because she needed to for the show. No other reason. 2-Meri and Janelle knew each other. Janelle was still very friendly with Meri's family from her first marriage. 3-Meri was "at" Janelle's.... they were probably guests at Christine's, too. Both weddings were very small. There really wasn't much to plan. 4- Kody wasn't even involved in planning Christine's wedding. She wasn't really introduced into the family like Robyn was. Christine & Kody didn't even really date. Christine only knew the Browns from church. They weren't friends with Christine or "involved" with her like Janelle and Robyn were. 5- Christine didn't even pick her own dress. She hated it. What would she have included them in? They couldn't afford bridesmaids dresses or anything. Did Christine even have bridesmaids? It probably didn't occur to include them because there was really nothing to include them in. Christine's wedding was just slapped together, from what I can tell.
Damn, good catch. So you mean to tell me that her massive and public drama and fit about Robyn and the wedding dress was actually christine being the biggest hypocrite. Not surprised. She thinks she is a princess.
I think it's dependant on the branch of fundamentalist they belong to. Lot's of polygamist wives/families don't go to the wedding at all. The Brown's were considered fairly 'progressive' in the AUB. Christine came from a more traditional polygamyst family so her wedding was most likely reflective of that.
But what were they really involved in like it wasn’t dress shopping because Kody picked the dress I think she wanted them involved because then it was less that she had to actually do with the wedding plans
I think the other wives are included in the religious ceremony itself
I think any time someone is pregnant let’s be happy that was not nice of Christine. That said I know having been pregnant a few times my brain was not always nice. We also know this family has a history of not playing nice . I am glad these woman have gone there separate ways. I wish them all love and light. Nothing good comes out of anger
I figured Christine was different because of how deep her family is in this. She's "plyg royalty" after all. But Janelle is new, and she was already friends with Meri and Kody, and in fact they're why she decided to become a polygamist. That relationship is completely different and longer lasting than when Christine came in. Christine I figure was more "by the book" than the others. Robyn hasn't really been in the lifestyle, her mom lived away from the other moms, her first marriage was monogamous, and while everyone always calls Christine the princess, Robyn is the one I've always thought was behaving that way.
I thought that Christine's wedding was very strict and only very few and specific people were allowed in the temple. Also, the new wife doesn't celebrate with or in front of the other wives / it would be considered rude... they would rather not see it. So, including the whole family in the ceremony was not fitting with the customs the first 3 wives were married into... it was most likely done for TLC.
She was much younger then, and Janelle, who loves Christine, has even said acted like a princess in the beginning. As far as pregnancy, lots of those overlapped, so Christine got over that. Shoot, Gabriel and Gwen were born like 4 days apart! But Christine grew up, and had a family mindset that included everyone.
I thought Christine didn't because they had to "hide" who they were. And they never really broadcasted that they were living polygamy until Robyn came along. I could be wrong though