Why I Always Dreamed of Being a Sister Wife

Modern Love

The New York Times

Love, New York Times, Nytimes, Essay, Loss, Storytelling, Society & Culture, Redemption, Nyt

4.3 • 9K Ratings

🗓️ 10 September 2025

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Christine Woolley always knew she wanted to be in a plural marriage. She grew up in a fundamentalist Mormon community, loved having two moms and several grandmothers, and wanted to raise her own children in that environment. As an adult, and after Woolley married a man with two other wives, her family decided to share their lives on the TLC show “Sister Wives.” Woolley stayed in the relationship for 25 years, with much of it televised, but slowly she realized she needed to leave and go out on her own. On this episode of “Modern Love,” Woolley discusses what she loved about her upbringing, the joys and pitfalls of a shared marriage, and what she’s learned from her first monogamous relationship. Here’s how to submit a Modern Love essay to The New York Times. Here’s how to submit a Tiny Love Story.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Love now and more.
0:02.5	I love.
0:03.2	Love was stronger than anything.
0:06.5	And I love you more than anything.
0:09.8	There's to love. Love. Love.
0:14.1	From the New York Times, I'm Anna Martin. This is Modern Love.
0:18.1	Today I'm talking to Christine Woolley.
0:20.3	You might know her from the TLC reality show,
0:22.7	Sister Wives. She grew up as part
0:24.6	of a fundamentalist Mormon community
0:26.4	and was one of four women in a plural marriage.
0:29.7	Christine has a new memoir out now
0:31.0	all about how she grew up,
0:32.7	what she loved about polygamy,
0:34.6	but why ultimately she left her husband,
0:37.1	Cody, and the church.
0:39.4	Here's our conversation.
0:44.7	Christine Woolley, welcome to Modern Love.
0:47.5	Thank you. I'm so excited to be here. I'm a big man.
0:51.2	Thank you for saying that. We're excited to have you. So, Christine, you are here today to talk about your new memoir.
0:58.0	I read this book on a plane ride to California, front to back.
1:03.0	I could not put it down.
	...

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