At times, Kody Brown might have mocked Christine Brown for acting like a “princess,” but it turns out she is Mormon royalty. The Sister Wives star’s second wife and first to leave has always been brought up in the Mormon religion, but as fans know, she has walked away from the church. However, her roots date back years. Here’s what we know about Christine’s Mormon-royalty connections.
Kody Brown married Christine Brown for clout
“I was attracted to your pedigree” is probably not what Christine wanted to her from her husband. However, for the patriarch, Christine’s family ties were too hot to pass up. Christine’s family is considered a “blue blood polygamist” as her lines go really deep. Christine and the rest of her blood are VIPs in the fundamentalist Mormon offshoot, the Apostolic United Brethren. The Allred family has run the AUB for over three generations. Christine has claims to fame as her ancestor, Isaac Begat William, walked with Brigham Young into Salt Lake City.
Not surprisingly, Christine’s grandfather, Rulon C. Allred, founded the AUB. In 1961, Rulon purchased 640 acres of land near the Bitterroot Mountains, where he established a united order. By 1998, over 800 people lived there under the AUB flag. Unlike future leaders, Rulon “did not consider himself and his Priesthood Council to be superior to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its leadership.”
Rulon did bring back old-fashioned doctrines deemed out of date by the modern LDS church. This included practicing plural marriage, the Adam-God teachings, and the ban on Black people from receiving the priesthood. Christine’s father, Rex Allred, is still a practicing polygamist but is not the leader of the Allred group. Her mother left the church and her marriage in the early 90s.
There was a Wild West plot to kill Rulon Allred
I swear this part sounds right out of a Western. Rulon had 18 wives and at least 48 children. But all that kinship couldn’t help him when his own cousin decided to turn against him. Evril LeBaron, Christine’s great uncle, had formed his own sect/cult called the Church of the Lamb of God. Along with his 13 wives, 50 children, and followers, he was seen as the One Mighty and Strong Prophet, sent to Earth to purify the Mormon faith. Dubbed the Mormon Manson in 1977, Evril sent two followers to take out his rival, Rulon. One follower was one of his 13 wives.
According to the episode, I Lived with a Killer, the two women walked into the doctor’s surgery where Rulon worked and shot him to death in front of his patients. In 1991, via the Desert News, 20 of Rulon’s children sued Rena Chynoweth, one of the shooters. In 1992, Rena was found liable for the wrongful death of Rulon Allred and ordered to pay $52 million in damages to the Allred family. The debt was never paid. Needless to say, there was some deep generational trauma between the LeBarons and Allreds.
Christine Brown’s mother left polygamy too
In Season 8, Ruth Anne Stevens, Christine’s mother, opened up about her choosing to leave the church. She shared “I had a defining moment where I knew I was going to leave. And It was one of the most terrifying moments I’ve had in my life because you just don’t leave. People don’t leave.” At the time, Christine shared she knew her mother was unhappy, adding, “She left my dad, and she left our faith, and well, it wrecked my world completely. It was awful. When Aspyn was about four, we heard that my mom helped organize this group against plural marriage. There were several people that talked to us about how we should not associate with her anymore.”
As Christine prepared to leave her marriage, Season 17 highlighted why Kody wanted to marry the Mormon royal. He stated, “I felt a lot of pressure. She’s basically royalty in our church. I look back, and it wasn’t fair for me to go, ‘Oh, this will make me cool in our church,’ you know.” Christine rarely talks about her Mormon heritage now and is keeping her ancestry at arm’s length.
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