Meri's Chapter
Some interesting tidbits:
- Found it difficult to lie about being a polygamist and that Janelle and Christine were not Kody's sisters but actually Kody's wives. Meri said "Lying is not part of our faith, nor part of my own moral compass so to feel as if I had to lie, or at least not tell the full truth, was quite difficult for me."
- Believes Kody is a dreamer: Kody was on board for doing the reality show long before Meri was. She "...assumed this was another one of those plans that he would eventually drop." She was wrong.
- She claims Kody's purpose for doing the show was to show a different side of polygamy, different from Warren Jeffs and the FLDS.
- Meri was very uncomfortable the first days of filming. She said that Christine was the actor of the family and Meri found it difficult to act naturally around the cameras.
- Meri feels she is a black and white type person. She doesn't sugar coat and can only be honest. The couch sessions were a wake-up call because they had to learn to think before they spoke. Occasionally, someone would "..inadvertently throw a sister wife or Kody under the bus."
- Meri's relationship with Robyn suffered at the beginning because she felt unwanted and unloved. They were able to work through those feelings, and Meri now claims this shows the audience the beauty of the sister wife relationship - the constantly evolving of relationships towards being people.
- Meri said she was terminated from her job at a rehabilitation center for troubled youth because the management was afraid that the investigation by Lehi police would "...bring unwanted attention to the facility and the children housed there."
- She still is surprised when people across the USA recognize her as a Sister Wife. She believes she is just a wife and mom who happens to be on TV.
- She says she ignores "...the polls and commentary on the Internet about our show or family members. I have more important things to do with my time!"
Janelle's Chapter
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| The Moment Kody announced he picked out Robyn's wedding gown - just before Christine left the set for 3 days! |
Some tidbits:
- Although originally apathetic about doing the reality show, as the premiere got closer Janelle found herself worrying and stressing out to the point she sought counseling. She says this annoyed Kody, who said she should think more positive.
- She was particularly worried about her job. The HR department advised her that as long as she never mentioned who she worked for, what she did in private was her own business even if it would be showcased on TV.
- Janelle said once TLC began advertising the show, her church community became very upset, "...worried that we were going to be sensational and improper. Once they discovered that we intended to film Robyn's wedding reception, some members became even more concerned."
- Janelle felt that at the beginning, the couch sessions were "...unearthing emotional hurts that we had skimmed over to keep the peace. There are times when we don't watch our words and put our feet in our mouths."
- Case in point, when Kody announced that he had selected Robyn's wedding gown, Christine walked off the set. What wasn't shown was that Christine walked out of the couch interview AND DID NOT RETURN FOR THREE DAYS!
- Janelle feels "...many intelligent Americans cannot differentiate between a healthy, polygamous family and a man cheating on his wife -- or even a harem!"
- When they decided to leave Utah, they told no one - including friends coworkers. She said even the show's producers had no clue they were leaving.
- Janelle credits moving to Las Vegas for exposing her children to a more diverse culture.
Christine's Chapter
- Christine states "My dad was drafted into the Vietnam War when he was nineteen. He was frustrated that he had to serve a country whose laws denied his family fundamental civil rights and caused them to live in fear."
- She was asked to represent her faith in Principle Voices, the public face of polygamy.
- It was Principle Voices that thought the Browns would represent polygamous families in a positive light. They were introduced to a journalist who wanted to use the Browns' story as a promo for a possible documentary. They eventually turned down this offer.
- Eventually, through Principle Voices they were contacted by Tim Gibbons, and that's how Sister Wives got started.
- During the early publicity interviews, some journalist asked extremely brutal questions to Christine, which caused her to nearly break down.
Robyn's Chapter
Some tidbits:
- Robyn attended public school and her father would walk away from her mother, brothers and sisters if he saw someone he knew outside of his faith. She was terrified someone would discover her beliefs.
- When she was dating Kody, she couldn't be truthful to her non plyg friends about the relationship.
- She initially dismissed Kody and family being on a reality show as a pipe dream.
- Eventually, she soon realized the show was happening, and that if she did marry Kody, she would be signing on for the reality show.
- Some of her family members believe being on a reality show about polygamy is sacrilegious. Her mother has struggled the most, and has even blocked Robyn's posts from her facebook page.
- She says "Sadly, during the first season, many of our fans cast me as a home wrecker out to destroy Meri, Janelle, and Christine's happy family. I try not to dwell on the Internet commentary, but since I think it's important to interact with our fans, I can't entirely avoid it. There have been so many negative comments about me that it's been difficult to shrug them off. People believe I have an ulterior motive -- that I want Kody for myself and not because I love the family or my sister wives. People believe I'm manipulative and conniving. I usually place last in the 'Favorite Sister Wife' poll."
- Robyn believes being on Sister Wives has taught her about herself and that the one constant in her life is her family.
- Kody claims the reason he left Lehi was because the situation had become unstable and unsafe.
- He coined the move as "the Vegas Vacation."
- Operation Detox partnership was due in part to his wives association with their fitness coach.
- Kody says "I'm sure that there are millions of people in the world who misinterpret what I do as hedonistic and selfish. My response is: Every day I work my tail off for this family. Every day I manage four separate marriages, four entirely different relationships, four distinct personalities. I'm not doing this for fun and games. I'm doing it because it is my calling..."
What ever, dude...
I am so glad I've finished this book, I'm just hoping I will probably never have a need to read it ever again!
Oh yeah...and a lot of trees gave up their lives for this book.
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