One recurring theme on Sister Wives is the wives constantly being jealous of each other. With Meri, Janelle, Christine, and Robyn all sharing one husband, even simple things like a family outing or dinner tend to turn ugly very quickly. All the wives knew that they were entering into a polygamous marriage, even first wife Meri, who came from a polygamous family herself and expected it to be the same when she married Kody. So, why can’t the wives move past the green-eyed monster?
For the Browns, polygamy is more than a lifestyle choice - it’s an important part of their religion. Even though they were asked to leave their church, they still hold tight to what they refer to as “the principle of polygamy.” So while Kody’s wives often rebel against him, they can’t easily leave him. This religious pressure is part of the reason Christine’s aunt Kristyn Decker speaks out against polygamy.
No matter what a religious or philosophical ideal says, human beings have real emotions that sometimes can’t be just willed away, as shown so often on Sister Wives. While people can choose not to act on their feelings, they will still feel them. The Browns’ religion might prescribe that wives should overcome all their jealousy, but that is not always realistic, especially not in a situation like polygamy. Imagine being asked to leave your house for half the week so someone else could live in it, wear your clothes, and eat your food? How much harder is it to share a husband? Add the fact that Kody doesn’t treat his wives equally, and jealousy just becomes a very natural end result.
On top of that, if the Sister Wives stars truly could leave behind all their jealousy, what sort of relationship would they have? While too much jealousy is bad, is it love if you don’t care how much time your spouse spends with you or who they sleep with? Is that even a relationship or is it just the old idea of “friends with benefits?” If the wives stopped feeling jealous of Kody and how he is sleeping with other women, it would probably be a sign that their marriages were ending and they had stopped caring.
While it seems like so many of the Brown women’s problems would be solved if they got over their jealousy, it’s a nearly impossible thing to ask. No one knows that better than Kody himself. After Meri’s catfishing scandal came to light, Kody was disgusted and outraged that Meri would entertain attention from what she thought was another man and won’t ever let her forget it. If Kody can’t control his jealousy over Meri emotionally cheating with another person, he probably should not expect the Sister Wives to control their feelings as he has other relationships with other women.