Christine Brown Admits She Was ‘In a Cult,' Raised Kids in 1 Before Divorce

Christine Brown is opening up about losing her religion — and raising her family in what she says was a “cult” — in her new, tell-all memoir.

In the prologue for Sister Wife: A Memoir of Faith, Family and Finding Freedom, out now, Christine, 53, asked herself, “But was I in a cult?”

She acknowledged that her religious belief, what she described as a “version of fundamentalist, polygamist Mormon” faith, can be considered to be a cult by many in the outside world, but confessed, “If I was, I’m glad of it.”

Christine, whose grandfather led the Apostolic United Brethren starting in 1954, explained, “I come from a family and a community filled with talent, nurturing and love and women who had the support and ability to make good decisions for themselves.”

While she went willingly into her own plural marriage with Kody Brown in 1994, as she looked back at her upbringing and the idea of polygamy, Christine determined that her life before divorce was in fact a cult. (Christine left Kody, 56, in November 2020, publicly announcing their divorce the following year.)

“Over the years, I had questioned my faith. I felt sure my garments didn’t make me a better Christian,” Christine wrote, noting that when her and Kody’s six children were young, she stopped teaching Sunday school because she “didn’t believe our Articles of Faith were the word of God.”

The Sister Wives star continued, “I understood that a membership in our tiny church didn’t give us a monopoly on doing good deeds.”

Christine also took issue with her church preaching male superiority. “According to our church, God said, ‘Men are in charge.’ Seriously? What kind of God would come up with that plan?” she wondered.

It wasn’t until her daughter Gwendlyn told her one day after church camp that “all these girls want to do is have babies” and they “didn’t want to go to college” that Christine realized the Brown family children were raised “different.” (Christine shares son Paedon, 27, and daughters, Aspyn, 30, Mykelti, 29, Gwendlyn, 24, Ysabel, 22, and Truely, 15, with Kody.)

It was an ah-ha moment for Christine, who was told by church women that the world was going to end when she turned 15 — but she should still plan on getting married and having babies.

“Our leader was the only one who knew the rule of God,” Christine realized. “I was required to follow, without question, a strict list of rules. I grew up afraid of the outside world in a sheltered community. We judged and even ostracized those who left the church.”

She confessed, “I believe I grew up in a cult. I believe I raised my children in a cult.”

Looking back at her own life in a plural family, she wrote, “I grew up with friends and family who did and said and believed the same things I did. It was my normal. I knew what cults were — and even talked about how crazy and weird they were. But I don’t have horrible memories of abuse, ostracism and being unable to leave.”

According to Christine, “We stayed because we liked the people, and we liked the ideas. I had freedom. I felt safe. I had so much fun. I loved having a big family and my church community.”

She noted, “When I chose to live [in a] plural marriage it was an educated decision. I hadn’t been brainwashed. But like everyone else, I had a tunnel of thoughts with a particular set of boundaries.”

Christine, who left the church before her 2020 divorce, revealed that the signs were all there.

“Even before I believed we were in a cult, some of my kids figured it out as young adults,” she wrote. “I had taught them not to live in fear.”

Christine, who is now married to David Woolley and living a monogamous lifestyle, explained that with time she found that not being a part of organized religion wasn’t a bad thing in her case.

“As I became stronger in my own identity, I thought, God is fine with me, and I am fine with him,” she recalled. “I didn’t need to be part of a church, and I didn’t need to buy into ideas about men’s place over women or pierced ears.”

The reality star concluded, “The good parts of me didn’t go away with my Jesus jammies. I believe in treating people well and fairly. I believe all the things my mom taught me. I think there are many different gods and religions and there’s beauty in that.”

Sister Wife: A Memoir of Faith, Family and Finding Freedom is available to purchase anywhere books are sold.

Sister Wives returns for season 20 on TLC Sunday, September 28, at 10 p.m. ET.