Why Kody Brown Proposed To Robyn Before He Was Actually Ready

After courting his then-to-be fourth wife, Kody Brown ran into an unexpected obstacle — somebody else also wanted Robyn Brown to join their family. According to the Brown family memoir, “Becoming Sister Wives: The Story of an Unconventional Marriage,” Robyn didn’t feel it was right to move on too quickly after divorcing her first spouse, David Jessop, in 2007. “Even though I had legitimate grounds for divorce from my first husband, a failed marriage still tarnished my reputation,” she shared, as per Cheat Sheet.

Her mother, Alice Sullivan, encouraged her to explore her options, so Robyn decided to attend a dance, but only to chaperone her younger siblings. “Everybody knew my story. I had been married to the son of a very prominent family, so my dirty laundry was public knowledge. It made me uncomfortable,” Robyn stated. However, she lucked out at the function and met a potential love interest, which freaked Kody out.

In his portion of the memoir, Kody shared that he wanted to propose to Robyn on her birthday, but a few days before the date, he found out another man wanted to court her. “[Robyn] told me that an older and esteemed man in our faith had called to inquire about courting her. This was a shock to my system,” the patriarch wrote. Despite not having the means to support a fourth wife, Kody asked Robyn to marry him ahead of time, and the two spiritually tied the knot in 2010.