Christine Brown's Aunt Weighs in on Sister Wives Star's Breakup With Kody Brown

Christine Brown's aunt, a former polygamist, is not surprised by the Sister Wives star's recent split from Kody Brown.

Earlier this week, the polygamous couple, whose relationship was documented on the TLC reality show Sister Wives, announced in separate statements that they have split after more than 25 years together. Christine, 49, said that she and Kody, 52, "have grown apart" and that she "made the difficult decision to leave. While the two were never legally married, she was considered his third "wife." They have six children together. Kody, a father of 18, remains with his first legal wife Meri, "wife" Janelle and current legal wife Robyn.

"I could see it coming," Christina's aunt Kristyn Decker said on the podcast Reality Life With Kate Casey on Friday, Nov. 5, when asked about the breakup. "I don't think Christine's been genuinely, what I call genuinely, happy since day one."

Kristyn said she is "so proud" of Christine. She also said she does not have contact with her. The reality star has not commented on the remarks of her aunt, who was born and raised in a polygamous community and once shared a husband with another woman before divorcing and remarrying.

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Kristyn, author of the 2012 book Fifty Years in Polygamy: Big Secrets and Little White Lies, appeared on Sister Wives in 2013, when she was on the same university panel about plural marriage as Christine, Kody and his three other partners. The Brown family defended their lifestyle, while Kristyn sat on the other side of the issue.

Kristyn said on the podcast on Friday that, "Just from my own experiences...I think that as soon as another wife comes into the family, the whole dynamics change. The marriage is never going to be the same...I'm not sure [you can] even call it a marriage. But as soon as my husband took a second wife, our marriage was never the same and it was never going to be."

"Robyn coming into the family [in 2010] definitely threw another wrench in there and heartaches and depression," Kristyn said. "No one wants to have their husband having sex with another woman and having children with them and on and on. It's that it's done because we believed we had to do it. Christine believed that. That's how she was raised. And so did the other women."

Kristyn said she hoped to talk to her niece. "But I don't know if she's going to talk to me. Maybe someday, now that she is leaving Kody and hopefully leaving the system," she said. "I just hope she is and has, that she's really out of there and going to find genuine happiness, the kind that I have and want everyone to have."

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