Utah Probes Polygamist Stars of Reality TV Show

.Utah Probes Polygamist Stars of Reality TV Show

Sept. 29, 2010
AOL News

Police have launched a bigamy investigation into a Utah man and his four wives
after the polygamist family invited cameras into their home for TLC's new reality show
"Sister Wives," which debuted last weekend.

The show stars a 41-year-old ad salesman, Kody Brown, and his four wives, 13 children
and three stepchildren. Brown is legally married to one of the women, Meri Paul, but he
refers to all of them as his spouses. All five are fundamentalist Mormons who call their
lifestyle "plural marriage," a practice the official Mormon church outlawed in the 19th century.



Utah authorities have known about Brown and other families like his for years,
but only launched a bigamy investigation on Monday after being flooded with
complaints from TV viewers.

"It's generally known in the community there are polygamists in Utah County,"
deputy Utah County attorney Julia Thomas told The Salt Lake Tribune.
"The problem is we typically don't have them on TV admitting to breaking the law.
We are being confronted with it in a very public manner."


In Utah, bigamy -- being married to more than one person at the same time --
is a third-degree felony, punishable with up to five years in prison.
The state law also says someone can be found guilty of bigamy through
cohabitation with multiple partners even without a legal marriage.

But authorities rarely prosecute polygamists like Brown, who is one of an
estimated 38,000 fundamentalist Mormons who practice polygamy.



The Utah family says :
"When we decided to do this show, we knew there would be risks," the statement said,
according to the Philadelphia Daily News. "But for the sake of our family, and most importantly,
our kids, we felt it was a risk worth taking."


We aren't saying this is for everybody," the second wife, Janelle, said.
"We don't even recommend it for anybody who's not interested."

Kody Brown said he sleeps in a different wife's bed each night, and that his
Mormon beliefs led him to a polygamous lifestyle.

"I just fell in love, and then I fell in love again, and then again," he told ABC.
"My belief kind of pushed me in that direction. But in retrospect, I would go all the way back
saying I do it for love because this is something that's come together out of love."