‘Sister Wives’ Stars Christine & Janelle on Life After Polygamy | PEOPLE

Explain the term “but it is like she’s my sister,” there’s a bond that happened when we raised our kids together. I think so, and we chose to do things together because we were a family and because we had these kids together. But now we’re choosing to do things with each other because we like the other person.

Growing up, I did not even know that people still lived polygamy. I mean, I belonged to the LDS church, and in the history of the LDS church, there was polygamy, and it was always discussed at church, but it’s something that was not done anymore. And um, I remember my grandmother because she taught school, and so she would have polygamous kids come through periodically through her classroom. I remember her saying, “Well, they’re in the clan,” and I’m like, “What is that?” I didn’t know what the clan was. It’s like, “Oh, they’re polygamous.” I’m like, I was floored. I can still remember the moments I was floored that people still lived polygamy. I was like, “What? People still live polygamy?”

So, it was not even on my radar. I was floored when I found out that I was, literally, my whole life, I was floored that there were Mormons that didn’t live polygamy. Oh, really? Yeah, yeah. Janelle, we don’t really use an order, but, you know, if you’re questioning the order of how family came together, she’s, she’s number two.

I went in with such ideas about how I feel like plural marriage was gonna be, and it was really hard. It was really hard. Very nice personalities are very different. We clashed on everything. There was a lot of jealousy, um, a lot of, I don’t know, it’s just really hard.

So, those first few years, Cody and I were amazing. So, like, when it was just us, we just kind of existed in this little bubble. But the whole family dynamic was really tough. Cody and I always had a pretty good relationship, but we definitely had two or three periods where I just wasn’t there. There was, we really had a, I don’t know, I don’t know how to explain it, like, that, had sometimes pretty severe. Oh, yeah. And so then what would happen is, you’d separate for a little bit, like, I’d stay behind.

There was one time when everybody moved to Utah, and I wasn’t sure I was going to come, so I thought about staying. I did stay behind for quite a while. I know you said you were afraid I wasn’t gonna come. Yeah, yeah. So, like, we would separate for a period of time, and then, whatever, and we’d get it, we’d figure it out because for the sake of the kids, right? I had to consider all these children that I had, and I wasn’t going to take them away from that stability.

You’re acting like you’re not even culpable in this situation. Culpable for what? What culpable for not having any respect for me about the covid? What are you… were asking me to choose between my children and you when covid came? He really got funny about the rules, and they were very strict, Cody. I was doing what I could. I was walking a line between my adult children and you and everybody else. I was following all the CDC guidelines. It was really hard for my household to observe that level just because of, of my children or adults. So that, that really started to, like, really started to twist us, twist our relationship to the point of breaking.

And so, he, he started to be away more, and I thought, wow, you know, I could do this. I could be on my own. I could do this. And then we had this really big fight, like the biggest fight we probably have ever had. And after he left, I was like, I felt relieved. There was like this emotional shock, a little bit, and then I was relieved, and I thought, I can remember I was sitting in the parking lot of a store. I’d run an errand, and I thought, wow, I just felt this burden come off me. And I thought, wow, wow, okay. I guess this is what we’re gonna do. We’re going to be apart.

You and I have intimacy and love in the relationship. I’m sorry, it’s conditional based upon being part of a plural family. A couple times a year doesn’t work for a marriage. I was always wanting more of a romantic relationship, more of a romantic partner, more. I was definitely more of a, like, I had more emotional needs that I weren’t being met for me or as you were so independent and so strong and you knew who you were, you knew your value to yourself, and you didn’t need the kind of relationship that I had, it was more for you.

How I was with your kids at first. Yeah, I need to make a choice to have joy in my life and peace and there hasn’t been a lot of hope at all until I decided to leave. I feel strongly this is the best choice for me. When I left, um, I’ll never forget how you came over the next day, like when I told all of you guys and I needed to leave, you’d come over the next day and you talked to me about it, and you’re like, really, does this mean it’s like over? And I’m like, yeah, I’m moving and everything, and, um, you’re like, okay, then what does it look like next?