While reality TV stars are often expected to share every aspect of their lives with viewers, Gwendlyn Brown revealed this week that she never intended to come out as a queer on her family’s TLC series, Sister Wives, and that she only did so after being “jumped” by a producer with an unexpected question about her sexuality during filming.
In a new interview with Teen Vogue in which Gwendlyn and other children of reality TV open up about their experience growing up in front of the camera, Gwen– one of Kody and ex-wife Christine Brown’s six children and one of 18 Brown siblings– discussed the moment she came out as queer on a 2022 episode of ‘Sister Wives,’ and revealed that she wasn’t thrilled about how the conversation happened.
“We were interviewing, I think about [my parents] divorce or about my sister Ysabel moving to North Carolina,” Gwendlyn recalled. “Then all of a sudden, the producer was like, ‘Hey, your mom mentioned that you’re bi. Do you want to talk about that? And I was like, ‘Well, it’s true.’”
Gwen told the outlet that she doesn’t like the idea of people having to come out as queer when straight people are not expected to come out as straight. In fact, fans may remember that Gwendlyn “came out” publicly on X back in 2020 by adding “bisexual” to her bio on the social media platform and when congratulated by fans for “coming out,” she clarified at the time that she was “never in” the closet to begin with.
Although Gwendlyn did discuss her sexuality on that 2022 episode of ‘Sister Wives’ after being ambushed by a producer with the question, she revealed this week that she looks back on her explanation of what being bisexual means and feels that her response was “so dumb.” (Gwendlyn stated on the episode that she was “not only attracted to women” and was “also attracted to men and people that fall into other gender spectrums.”)
Gwendlyn’s recount of being caught off-guard with a question about her sexuality suggests that the TLC series may have been aiming for a “big reveal” moment, similar to the one that aired on the show in early 2017.
As fans of ‘Sister Wives’ may remember, TLC spent weeks in 2016 and 2017 teasing a big secret that was set to be revealed on Season 8 of the show. That “big reveal” turned out to be Gwendlyn’s sibling Leon Brown– the only child of Kody and ex-wife Meri Brown– coming out as gay. (Leon went on to come out as transgender in 2022, at which point they announced their new name.)
During that October 2022 episode on which Gwen discussed her sexuality, Christine told viewers that she realized her daughter was likely part of the LGBTQ+ community after Leon revealed on the show that they were gay.
“ … immediately I thought, ‘Oh, so is Gwendlyn.’ I knew immediately,” Christine said.
In the years since Leon opened up about their sexuality on ‘Sister Wives,’ they have undergone gender-affirming top surgery and married their longtime partner, Audrey Kriss. They no longer film for ‘Sister Wives.’
In 2023, Gwendlyn opened up on social media about the fact that Leon has chosen to distance themself from most of the Brown family, revealing that some of their family members were not supportive of the transgender community. Earlier that year, Gwendlyn told fans that Meri “was absolutely the most supportive” after Leon came out as transgender; however, she added that, “transphobes still very much exist, even in this family, but they’re the very small minority of us.”
While Gwendlyn didn’t reveal at the time if Kody was among those who were supportive after Leon came out as transgender, The Sun reported in August 2023 that Kody was upset by the news and did not support Leon’s transition “at all.”
“He’s actually disgusted by it, as terrible as that is,” a family source told the outlet. “Kody is telling close friends, ‘This is a new person. I don’t know who this person is, but this is not the little girl that I raised.’ They don’t have a relationship anymore.”
While Kody has never commented publicly on Leon’s transition, he stated on a Season 19 episode of ‘Sister Wives’ that he had “no problem with Gwen marrying a woman,” citing an “experience” he had where God spoke to him and told him not to judge the relationships of others. That same episode, which saw many members of the Brown family come together to celebrate Gwen and wife Bea Queiroz’s engagement, Christine told viewers she also had no problem with Gwendlyn marrying a woman, adding that she and other members of the family knew Gwendlyn was gay long before Gwen announced it.
“We lived in Flagstaff when Gwendlyn told us that she was gay,” Christine recalled. “Look, we all knew! But to see Gwendlyn’s eyes just light up about Bea, and Gwendlyn is so comfortable around her. They’re just so cute together. It’s such a relief when your child finds their person!”
As The Ashley previously told you, Gwen and Bea got engaged in November 2022 after eight months of dating. The pair went on to get hitched in July 2023 in a ceremony that was attended by nearly the entire Brown family, including Kody and his only remaining wife, Robyn Brown, whom Gwendlyn later revealed had arrived to her wedding two hours late.
New episodes of ‘Sister Wives’ air Sundays on TLC.
RELATED STORY: Gwendlyn Brown Claims She & Her Siblings Weren’t Paid for Appearing on ‘Sister Wives’ Until Her Mom Christine Paid Them Herself
(Photos: Instagram; X)
13 Responses
I remember reading that Sobbyn told Gwen to save her coming out news “for the show.” It wouldn’t surprise me if it happened that way.
I don’t blame Gwen for getting upset about her wedding shower being taken over by her sperm donor meeting David. Good for her to keep TLC out of her wedding, like Logan and Leon did.
Well, you never stop talking about it AND you even have it in your bio. Take a seat.
Seconded! I almost said in the other thread that anything she got paid was too much.
You’re both gross.
I am looking forward to the day this clan disappears into the atmosphere. Some of them cannot process the quiet. It makes them so uncomfortable that they burst forth with some new revelation or accusation.
I totally agree. Kody, Meri, Janelle and Christine made the choice to put their so called family out to the public and Robyn jumped on the gravy train. None of the kids had a choice to keep their lives private. All the b.s. that love should be multiplied, not divided blew up in their faces. The women are fools to agree with Kody and his easy way to make a buck. There is absolutely nothing attractive about their life style and certainly nothing attractive about Kody. He is a bully plain and simple. Please put an end to the show.
I really hate the”woke” world lingo.. If you don’t agree with something you’re automatically phobic towards it, which means fearful, but you’re not fearful, you just don’t agree with it. And nobody should have to agree with everything
Except the actually phobic people use the more miquetoast among you as shields and propagators of the message. You’re not innocent.
You sound ready to return to your safe place. Thanks for stopping in!
I agree. They’re allowed to feel one way but not those of us who feel the opposite. Everything is a phobia lol.
And what else would you call it? Yes it is phobia. If you don’t like being called that then don’t be it. Your opinion on these topics are not needed and when you add them it is phobia. And they call liberals snowflakes. 🤦🏻
What on earth here is “woke”?