Kody also says he doesn't consider himself married to Meri.
Sister Wives stars Christine and Kody Brown are figuring out how to label their relationship after separating. In an exclusive clip from the hit TLC series, Kody is distraught over the term "divorced," because they never asked the church for separation approval.
The clip shows Kody and Christine talking with fellow Sister Wives stars Robyn and Janelle, when he reveals that his daughter, Truely, broke the news to him that Christine considers them divorced.
"I was sitting there talking with Truely and she's like, 'Well, you and Mom are divorced,'" Kody recalls. "It was a little bit news to me."
Kody, who is clearly frustrated by the label, explains, "We never made an official agreement. We never signed a paper. We never agreed. We never went to our church leaders and said, 'Hey, we're divorced' or 'We want a divorce.'"
Chiming in on the debate, Robyn echoes a similar sentiment as Kody, saying that the church would need to approve the divorce. "Usually our church would say you're divorced, you have to go ask for a divorce. You have to get paperwork, you have to get approval. You have to approve that the marriage is broken," she says.
Similarly, Janelle feels that Christine's actions are going against their shared belief system. "Christine saying 'I'm divorced' is sort of invalidating our beliefs. We're spiritually married to Kody by our church," Janelle says.
Janelle also believes that if the church were to be involved in the separation, Christine and Kody would have to work on their relationship further before calling it quits. "If we want a divorce, then we have to go get their approval. Usually, they require counseling. Usually, they require lots and lots of meetings. Technically, from my understanding, until Christine is physical with another man, she's not divorced. But I don't know," Janelle says.
For her part, Christine believes she can call her separation from Kody a divorce because they never legally got married. And because both she and Kody have left the church, they do not need to get the institution's approval.
"Since I don't have any legal contract that binds me with Kody, there was no legal process that we had to go through," Christine explains. "Neither of us are a part of that religion anymore. So, me just saying I'm divorced? I don't see the problem in that at all."
Christine announced her decision to split from Kody in November 2021 after more than 25 years together. Before separating, Christine was the third of Kody’s four wives.
Sister Wives airs Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on TLC.
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