‘Sister Wives’ Star Kody Brown Was a Sucker for ‘Get-Rich-Quick’ Schemes, Daughter Says

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Always looking for a buck. Raising more than a dozen kids isn’t cheap, so it’s no surprise that before they became TV stars, the <a href=”https://cheatsheet.com/tag/sister-wives”>Sister Wives</a> family often struggled to make ends meet. <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/sister-wives-kody-brown-doesnt-respect-boundaries-maddie-brown-says.html/”>Kody Brown’s daughter Maddie Brown Bush</a> recently said her family was “very poor” when she was growing up and that her dad sometimes got caught up in get-rich-quick schemes.

<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-sister-wives-star-says-her-family-was-very-poor-before-the-tlc-show”>‘Sister Wives’ star says her family was ‘very poor’ before the TLC show </h2>

<figure class=”wp-block-image size-full” id=”emb-1″><img decoding=”async” src=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Sister-wives-cast-TLC.webp?strip=all&quality=80″ alt=”‘Sister Wives’ cast on stage at the TCA press tour” class=”wp-image-3730785″><figcaption class=”wp-element-caption”>Meri Brown, Janelle Brown, Kody Brown, Christine Brown, and Robyn Brown at the 2010 Summer press tour | Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images</figcaption></figure>

In the Dec. 9 episode of her The Authentic Society podcast (via <a href=”https://youtu.be/W3J1jDOks2o?feature=shared” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>YouTube</a>), Maddie discussed how her family was often scraping by before they landed their TLC show.

“Before the show, we were very poor,” she said. “I think my dad made decent money, but we had 15 kids. A lot of kids.”

Maddie is the daughter of Kody and <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/sister-wives-star-janelle-brown-short-lived-starter-marriage-meri-brown-brother.html/”>his second wife, Janelle Brown</a>. In their 2012 book <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/kody-brown-said-robyn-brown-brought-emotional-honesty-sister-wives-family.html/”>Becoming Sister Wives</a>, Kody and Janelle admitted that making ends meet was a constant struggle before their reality TV fame.

“Paying the bills was always a challenge. We never had enough money no matter how hard we worked,” Janelle recalled.

“Our biggest struggles have been financial,” Kody admitted. “There have been lean times. It took me longer than I’d hoped to establish myself in a career, especially with wives to support.”

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Constant financial pressure meant that Kody constantly looked for fast ways to make cash, Maddie said.

“My dad always chose the get-rich-quick scheme, almost always,” she said.

“My dad was a sign salesman, but he was always doing something [on the side],” Maddie added. “Even after the show started. They did a lot of investments with people, stuff like that.”

<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-kody-brown-s-family-had-a-poverty-mindset-maddie-says”>Kody Brown’s family had a ‘poverty mindset,’ Maddie says </h2>

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Financial uncertainty and stress mean that Kody and his three wives didn’t always have a healthy relationship with money, said Maddie.

“When we got our tax returns when we were younger, my parents immediately spent it on something,” Maddie said, noting that they were stuck in a “poverty mindset.”

While Maddie has worked hard to change her approach to money, she says her childhood influenced her views on finances as an adult.

“I think we inherit so much of our thought process around money from our parents,” she said, adding that her approach to money was “very different now” compared to when she first got married. That’s due in part to her husband, Caleb Bush, who was raised with a different approach to money.

“Caleb’s family were both educated and they did not [immediately spend their tax refund]. They saved it,” she said. “They saved every penny they could. It was very different from my parents.”

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