Sister Wives star Kody Brown at one time described Christine Brown as his wife whose descendants hail from “royalty”. That’s because of her family history with their offshoot religion. He talked about this several times throughout the years on the TLC series. He seemed proud that he married an ancestor of the founder of the Apostolic United Brethren (AUB). But that wasn’t all.

Sister Wives: Kody Brown Bought into the Idea

Kody Brown went into the AUB in his teens. His family didn’t follow this LDS splinter group growing up. It’s true that Kody wasn’t born into a polygamous family. But the future Sister Wives patriarch learned the ropes and was ready to start a plural marriage.

When Kody was born back in 1969, his mom and dad were in a monogamous marriage. They belonged to the traditional Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS), aka Mormons, who were against polygamy.

But when Kody was a teen, his father married a second wife, changing his outlook on polygamy. Kody liked the faith and went for it himself.

Kody Takes on Several Spouses

Then he met Meri Brown, who did grow up in a plural family. So, after proposing, Kody married her two months later. Then, came his second wife, his then-sister-in-law Janelle Brown. This is when his Sister Wives plural marriage was born.

Wife two came from a monogamous household. But she was the wife of Meri’s brother before leaving him and marrying Kody Brown. But around the same time Janelle married Kody, her mother decided to marry Kody’s father as his third wife.

So, they became step-siblings as well as spouses. Then came Christine Brown, who was born into the AUB. Not only that, but her grandfather started the sect they built their life around. Hence — Kody Brown’s “royal” wife.

Christine’s grandfather, Rulon Allred, started the AUB. But not until he broke away from his brother’s religion. His brother, Ervil LeBaron, was the leader of a fundamentalist Mormon group but he reportedly ran it like a cult.

Ervil is also Christine Brown’s great uncle. So, this Sister Wives bride has an interesting history. Ervil was a very dangerous man. He reportedly had people put to death who went against him. So, some refer to him as the serial killer in Christine’s lineage.