Kody Brown, his four wives and 16 children became a national sensation when they starred in the TLC show “Sister Wives,” chronicling their polygamist lifestyle in Utah.
However, they also caught the attention of the police and Utah County prosecutors, who launched a bigamy investigation after the show began to air.
Although no charges were ever filed, the Brown family is planning on filing a suit challenging the anti-bigamy laws that make their lifestyle illegal.
“While we understand that this may be a long struggle in court, it has already been a long struggle for my family and other plural families to end the stereotypes and unfair treatment given consensual polygamy,” stated patriarch Kody Brown on the website of his attorney, Jonathan Turley.
Bigamy is currently a felony in Utah. Turley announced on his website that he plans to file the suit on Wednesday in Salt Lake City. He stated that the suit is to give people the right to be left alone and live in any type of relationship they want based on their beliefs.
STORY: Bigamy investigation threatens TLC’s ‘Sister Wives’
‘“We are not demanding the recognition of polygamous marriage. We are only challenging the right of the state to prosecute people for their private relations and demanding equal treatment with other citizens in living their lives according to their own beliefs,” said Turley in a statement on his website.
“Sister Wives” premiered in 2010 on TLC, following Kody Brown and his polygamist family on their daily struggles. Brown and his wives claimed that his polygamist arrangement was legal because he was only legally married to one wife. The fundamentalist Mormon family, who are members of the Apostolic United Brethren, said they did the TLC show in hopes of bringing greater understanding to the life of plural families.
