At this point, all loyal Sister Wives viewers are well aware that Kody Brown and his family have been battling a number of financial problems.
This was a constant theme of the show's latest season because Kody and company had both purchased a large lot of land and shelled out lots of money for various rented homes in Arizona.
A week ago, moreover, we reported on the loan Kody and Robyn desperately applied for in March.
While many fans of this franchise know all about these ongoing monetary woes, however, few of the folks out there may know about the following:
The Browns have been stuck in a financial crisis for many years -- using food stamps, government aid and filing bankruptcies to survive.
Back in 2011, a motivational speaker who came from a polygamous family, Rebecca Kimbel, exposed these secrets to the world.
She explained, for instance, that Kody was the owner of two defunct businesses and is connected to three bankruptcy filings.
He and Meri declared bankruptcy in June of 2005.
Such an action freed the couple from a debt of $85,000; aside from just under $2,000 in medical bills, all of this debt stemmed from credit card charges.
Kody’s second wife, Janelle, also declared bankruptcy in 1997.
For Christine, the bankruptcy filing took place in March of 2010, leading to debt forgiveness of around $25,000.
On an old episode of the family's show, Kody noted that one of the kids he shares with Christine an emergency appendectomy years ago and it was a challenge because the couple had no health insurance.
This $2,000 medical bill was listed in Christine’s bankruptcy papers, while the remainder of her aforementioned money owed was centered around credit card debt.
We also now know that Christine was collecting food stamps awhile back, even while filming Sister Wives in 2010.
Moreover, Janelle and Meri all lived off of food stamps for many years.
They reportedly took advantage of government food programs such as the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)... and recieved welfare money from the federal government.
In her expose, Kimbel -- one of nine kids born to six wives -- delved deeply into the plural family charade, as she called it.
She detailed how polygamous men rarely financially support all the children they breed, stating that polygamist men are “very creative” in enlisting others to support their kids.
“Why is Kody Brown having more children, when he can’t support the ones he’s got? Is using the law to protect someone from the bills they create a lifestyle that we want to legalize in America?" she asked in 2011, continuing;
"How many children can one man have, without the financial obligation that sticks? There hasn’t been an effective way to force polygamous men to support their families.
"But there are laws to force YOU, the taxpayer, to do it for them. People who create needy people as a way of living, is a polygamous lifestyle."
To be clear, this is old news.
But it also may be fresh information for some Sister Wives fans.
Kody has 18 kids by four women and it makes perfect sense the family would suffer financial problems as a result.
But it sounds as if Kody hasn't been doing very much to help, aside from scam his wives or the government, while digging his loved ones into an even bigger hole via various real estate decisions.
So, while we wonder whether Sister Wives will be renewed, perhaps it's worth remember this Kimbel quote;
Sister Wives reality TV show is not reality. It is an attempt to deceive the public into accepting polygamist cults.
Kody Brown and his wives are from the same polygamist group I was born and cultured in.
I am fifth generation fundamentalist polygamist. I was born a slave and sold as a slave.
