‘SW’ Why Do Browns Continue To Lie About Utah Cops After Them?

When Sister Wives began, the Browns continuously discussed how Utah’s government considered their family “illegal.” They always discussed how concerned they felt that the police might show up and arrest all the adults.

Over the years, it’s been recognized that the threat was highly dramatized. However, it still confuses newer fans. Read on to see what fans are buzzing about online.

A New Fan Questions Why The Browns Fled Utah

Many people around the world welcome children with multiple partners. Newer Sister Wives viewers don’t always understand the history behind polygamy in Utah and its legal implications.

“Confused on legal threat,” a viewer asked about the Browns on Reddit. “Hi!! I have a question about the whole controversy on Kody going to be potentially arrested for being a polygamist. I’m just confused legally on how that could happen.”

“He’s only legally married to one person which is Meri at this point because I’m watching season 2,” the OP continued.

“They are packing to move to Vegas because of the threat of being arrested, but he’s only married to Meri legally and the rest of his marriages are spiritual, so I’m confused what they’re doing illegally.

Legally you can have as many baby mamas as you want and you can live with as many women as you want.”

In most states, the Brown family’s situation wouldn’t have been much of an issue. However, when Utah became a state in 1896, there were problems with plural marriages overrunning the state. In order to earn statehood, the Utah government had to crack down on polygamy.

This is also when the fundamentalist Mormon church split off from the mainstream church. Fundamentalist church members, including the AUB, chose to practice polygamy in secret while the mainstream church outright banned it.

Other Viewers Offer Their Ideas On The Subject

But as critics of the Brown family have pointed out over the years, law enforcement typically has more pressing matters to deal with than their polygamist living situation. Most agree TLC highly exaggerated the drama for the sake of ratings.

Redditors wrote:

• “I once read if someone is willingly doing an illegal activity on TV is it really illegal? 😉 There may have been the potential for welfare fraud as that religion believes in ‘bleeding the beast’ aka milking the government programs for all they have.”
• “It was exaggerated for the show and if they really had a desire to arrest them for fraud if they were abusing benefit programs, Utah could have had them extradited. But what makes Utah law interesting is that it isn’t defined based on a second attempt at a legal marriage…From the law my emphasis on ‘purports.’”
• “Not in Utah. To become a state Utah had to have a law that nobody could present as having more than one wife and/or not to cohabitate with more than one woman. Bigamy is illegal in all 50 states and is a different issue than presenting with multiple wives.”

What do you think of the Brown family’s storyline where they fled Utah? Did you believe it was real, or did you see through it from the start? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

Follow TV Shows Ace to keep up with more Sister Wives news and updates. Catch the new episode tomorrow night at 10 PM Eastern time on TLC.