The 'Sister Wives' Family Makes Some Big Changes

On this season of Sister Wives, there has been way more arguing than ever before. Between Christine getting pissed that Kody's still friends with someone who told him he should leave his wives to Janelle feeling like she's ostracized from the rest of the family, it's hardly been polygamy paradise in Vegas. And now, there's another shakeup in the Brown family — but don't worry, it definitely doesn't sound like anyone's going anywhere. According to TMZ, Sister Wives' Kody Brown has secretly divorced Meri in order to legally wed Robyn instead. Um, what?

This is probably a bit confusing for you if you're just a casual viewer of the TLC show, so let me help make sense of this development. Although Kody and his family fought to strike down the laws against cohabitation in Utah and won, it's still illegal to be married to more than one woman on paper, so Kody's always remained married to his first wife, Meri, as far as the courts are concerned. By divorcing Kody, Meri relinquishes her legal rights as Kody's wife and instead hands them over to Robyn, who would now hold the power to do things like file taxes with Kody as his spouse and make medical decisions for him in the future.

Despite all the rumors that have been circulating about the family lately, this time, this seems to be a legit thing that's happening. Starcasm has obtained the court papers from Kody and Meri's divorce, as well as proof that Robyn and Kody tied the knot on December 11, 2014.

If you think about it, it's a rational decision, especially when you consider the fact that Robyn has children from her previous marriage. Dayton, Breanna, and Aurora all came from Robyn's first marriage, and although Kody's children with his other wives are bound to him by blood, Robyn's three aren't. By marrying Robyn, her children become his, and for reasons like providing them with health insurance, this makes a lot of sense.

Regardless of how much sense the decision makes, though, I still feel for Meri. A divorce — even one that's for legal reasons only — can't be easy, especially when Meri and Kody have been legally wed for decades. And knowing this family, I'm sure a lot of drama and a lot of tears came along with this decision... and for that reason, the devil on my shoulder has her fingers crossed that it was all caught on film by the TLC cameras. Maybe next season?

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