Sister Wives’ Gwendlyn Brown Claims Mom Christine Made Sure Kids Were Paid for Appearing on TLC Show

Sister Wives star Gwendlyn Brown revealed that her mom, Christine Brown, fought for her and Kody Brown’s kids to be paid for their appearances on the TLC show.

Gwendlyn, 23, opened up about her experiences filming Sister Wives throughout her adolescent years while speaking to Teen Vogue in an interview published on Wednesday, May 14, explaining that she was initially “super into” filming.

“We just got thrown into fame and thrown into money. And I stopped wanting and needing things,” she said, alluding that the show helped her family get out of “a poverty situation” when the series first premiered in 2010. “Life is a lot easier for a kid that’s not going hungry. It was quite a blessing initially.”

Despite the success of the show, Gwendlyn claimed that she and her 17 siblings weren’t directly compensated for their appearances. “The network only paid the parents,” she alleged. “I’m not sure if they did or didn’t expect the parents to pay us kids, but we weren’t paid.”

Gwendlyn went on to claim that Christine — who shares six children with Kody — chose to pay their kids “a certain amount per day or half-day of camera time.”

The reality star admitted that she doesn’t know exactly how much she’s earned over the years for her time on the show, though claimed “it certainly hasn’t been a fair share.”

After Gwendlyn made the claim, a spokesperson for TLC told Teen Vogue that “compensation is handled in accordance with contractual commitments and applicable labor laws and regulations.” However, the rep declined to address the specifics of contract agreements.

Meanwhile, Christine, 53, said that she put money aside for the kids’ college funds and vehicles. She also confirmed that Gwendlyn and her siblings were not paid when the show first premiered.

While Christine and Kody, 56, were married when the show premiered, she left him in November 2021. Following their split, Kody’s wives Janelle Brown and Meri Brown also ended their spiritual marriages to the businessman. He is now in a monogamous relationship with his last remaining wife, Robyn Brown.

While speaking to Teen Vogue, Gwendlyn also opened up about her parents’ split. “I felt like they should have divorced for a while,” she admitted about Kody and Christine. “I remember one time as a kid, I saw them arguing, and my first thought was, ‘I hope they get a divorce.’ What kid thinks that, right?”

After she left Kody, Christine found love again with David Woolley. The couple had a whirlwind romance and got engaged in April 2023. They wasted no time and tied the knot during a Utah ceremony in October 2023.

In addition to reflecting on the end of Christine and Kody’s marriage, Gwendlyn also looked back on how her perspective of fame has changed after years of living in the spotlight.

“I’m growing a bigger dislike for it. And [in the past] it was like, ‘this is my normal,’” she said. “But now it’s like, ‘this does not have to be my normal,’ and it’s weird.”