In the latest Sister Wives episode, viewers watched Christine try to persuade her daughters to move back to Utah. It’s a topic that Christine just won’t stop pressing about.
In the scene, Christine started by announcing to Gwendlyn, Ysabel, and Truely that polygamy was decriminalized in Utah. Being that the show was taped last spring, the news was current at the time.
After sharing the news with her girls, she asked them, “How do you feel about moving back?”
Gwendlyn wasted no time responding with, “I don’t want to move back.”
Gwendlyn continued, “I like where we are. I think it’s better. Plus, we’ve already, like, put a ton of money into Coyote Pass.”
Christine quickly replied, “Which we haven’t built on.”
Gwendlyn responded that she thought it was weird that they haven’t built on their property yet. Ysabel didn’t look thrilled, either, and mentioned that she had friends in Flagstaff she didn’t want to leave.
Was Christine really shocked that her daughters didn’t want to move back to Utah?
Back on the confessional couch, Christine looked surprised to hear her daughters’ reactions, saying, “I’m pretty shocked. Just, no, they don’t wanna go back? Why wouldn’t they wanna go back?”
She tried again, asking them if they were sure they wouldn’t want to move back to Utah. Ysabel was quick to say “no” and brought up they’re already settled in Flagstaff.
Truely chimed in, “Yeah, I don’t think I wanna move back, either.”
Christine confessed to the cameras that maybe they’d change their minds in three years. The girls applauded the change in Utah’s law, but Gwendlyn made sure to say, “But we’re not going back,” and told her mom that she objected to the idea.
Truely and Ysabel agreed with their older sister, both saying they objected to the idea, too.
Christine was relentless with her proposition
But Christine didn’t stop prodding there — she proposed that they sell the land at Coyote Pass and use the money to purchase land in Utah. Although her daughters didn’t take the proposition well, Christine felt hopeful about getting through to Kody and the other wives with her idea.
Christine was convinced that moving to Utah “is the next logical step.” Ysabel looked frustrated when she asked Christine, “Why do we move so much? Why can’t we just pick a place and stay there?”
Christine later told the cameras, “Next time I see Kody, I’m going to talk to him about what this conversation was like and I’m gonna tell him I frickin’ wanna move back to Utah even though the girls don’t want to.”
Family friends the Dargers helped change the laws in Utah
Previously, polygamy was a felony in the state of Utah, punishable by jail time. Last year, the Browns’ family friends, the Dargers, played a substantial role in changing the charge from a felony to an infraction under the SB0102 bill.
Christine noted that the Dargers stayed in Utah and kept fighting while the Browns chose to leave the state. During her confessional, she said of the law change, “I can’t believe it’s happened.”
Christine expressed that their family coming forward as polygamists helped erase the stigma that plural marriage is “some huge, scary cult.”
Christine shared a little bit about her upbringing in polygamy, noting that she lived in fear that her family would be split up and her father thrown in jail for living polygamy for her entire childhood.
Now that the Browns can live safely in Utah, is it a possibility that the family would ever move back?
With Kody Brown’s big plans for converting some of Coyote Pass into rental properties and the arguments over lots, it doesn’t seem likely, but fans know that anything is possible in this family.
Sister Wives airs on Sundays at 10/9c on TLC.