I’ve obtained two ‘brother husbands’ — it’s solely ‘honest’

Texas couple Kenya and Carl Stevens had been married for a dozen years, when he confessed to his spouse that he had emotions for a co-worker.

However quite than being indignant together with her husband, Kenya proposed they exit for dinner as a trio.

“My husband needed a number of wives. He truly talked to me about this earlier than we obtained married, and I laughed, like, ‘No matter!’ I used to be open to the concept, but when he has the privilege, I’d completely need the identical privilege, which is simply honest,” Kenya, 48, instructed The Submit.

They determined to see a wedding counselor, who instructed Kenya and Carl to remain monogamous, work on their relationship and “simply neglect about it” once they observed different folks.

“And we didn’t need to do this anymore,” Kenya mentioned.

They determined to develop into non-monogamous and now their marriage additionally consists of Kenya’s different husband, Tiger. 

Their unconventional household is among the topics of the brand new TLC reality series “Looking for Brother Husband.” Premiering March 26 at 10 p.m., the present follows quite a lot of {couples} wherein the girl is both courting different males — together with her husband’s data and blessing — or, in Stevens’ case, has obtained two “brother husbands,” primarily a gender-flipped model of “Sister Wives.” (Although many of the guys are additionally courting, the present focuses on the ladies.)

Married for 26 years, Kenya and Carl, 52, are each Houston entrepreneurs and authors who preach about their life-style as a part of their Progressive Love Academy. Whereas Kenya’s solely legally wed to Carl, she’s been “married” to her second husband, Tiger Moonstone, 40, an investor, for a decade.

After a long time sharing the identical mattress, Kenya mentioned she and her first husband have been “not curious about sharing a bed room any longer.” And so Carl has his personal room of their home, whereas Kenya shares hers with Tiger.

Carl and Tiger additionally date different girls — however amongst their trio, Kenya is the one one who has a number of live-in companions whom she considers spouses.

And she or he instructed The Submit she’s open to including extra.

“What is just too many?” she mentioned. “We like neighborhood. We don’t consider that the nuclear household is sustainable, and we predict neighborhood is extra sustainable than a nuclear household.”

Whereas they’ve guidelines about navigate jealousy — Kenya wouldn’t go into element for concern of showing “spoilers” — she mentioned her two “brother husbands” have a great relationship with one another. 

“I feel they turned so shut as a result of each time I had a problem with Tiger, I’d have Carl speak to him,” she mentioned.

“So, he turned like an enormous brother. [Tiger] began out as a foreigner, any person who’s new to this household. However my different husband, Carl, turned his confidante — any person who had expertise coping with me.”

When Kenya and Carl first determined to open up their marriage, they sat down with their three children, who have been teenagers on the time, and shared the information. 

“Most of their mates’ dad and mom are divorced,” mentioned Kenya. “So my kids have been excited that we nonetheless love one another and weren’t coming to have the divorce speak, like nearly all of their different mates. They’d questions — they questioned how would it not work, would they’ve one other father? These forms of logistical questions. However general, there was pleasure, as a result of they’ve a neighborhood to lift them, as an alternative of two very drained dad and mom.”

There have been different studying curves alongside the best way, Kenya mentioned. 

“We needed to clarify to Tiger’s ex-wife why his son ought to keep in a home with a married girl and her husband, and what that was like. I needed to befriend his ex-wife and actually clarify the logistics of polyamory to them. That took years. At the moment, everybody is de facto nice collectively. 

“Whenever you’re an ex-wife, you continue to love your husband. I made it clear that they may nonetheless love one another [whether platonically or romantically] — that will be wonderful! She’s a great pal of ours, now. There are plenty of relationships concerned in our marriage.” 

As for naysayers, she mentioned she counters them with statistics. 

“We’ve had folks going, ‘Why are you doing this? That is mistaken,’ ” she mentioned. “We ask them, ‘Have you ever appeared on the divorce fee? It’s 55%. Have you ever appeared on the dishonest fee? It’s 66% within the US and 75% within the UK. Forty % of {couples} at the moment married are sexless.’ So, we direct them again to the stats, and ask, ‘Have we beat the stats?’ And the reply is sure.” 

Elisa Alpizar, 32, an LA bridal stylist who can be featured on “Looking for Brother Husband,” has only one hubby, mechanical engineer Mike Onorato. However with Onorato’s blessing, she’s courting different males, too. She and Onorato, 35, have been monogamous originally of their eight-year relationship, till she cheated on him two and a half years in. 

When she anxiously confessed, she assumed they might break up. 

“This was the primary time I had ever cheated on a associate, however it wasn’t the primary time I had skilled having emotions for any person else whereas being in love with a associate,” she mentioned.

“And I used to be all the time confused, as a result of I used to be all the time like, ‘If I actually love my boyfriend, why am I feeling this fashion about any person else?’ After I defined that to Mike, he was like, ‘It sounds such as you need to have the ability to see a number of folks, and be in love with a number of folks at one time.’ ”

The couple determined to remain collectively and develop into non-monogamous. However they nonetheless took two years to speak it via, do analysis and “work on our basis” earlier than courting different folks, she mentioned. 

“I had met individuals who have been like, ‘I’m in an open relationship.’ However for essentially the most half, it was guys, and sometimes it appeared like they weren’t being totally trustworthy. So, my preliminary notion of any kind of state of affairs with a number of relationships was not good,” she mentioned. 

However after her husband Mike floated the concept of courting different folks whereas staying married to one another, “I began doing analysis, and I noticed, ‘Oh wow, this can be a very viable possibility.’ ”

Surprisingly, her family and friends reacted to the information positively. 

“My mates are all like, ‘Do no matter makes you content — so long as all people is blissful, that’s all that issues.’

“My dad and mom have been truly very supportive. My dad likes to joke, ‘This isn’t a brand new factor — again within the ’70s, folks have been doing this on a regular basis!’ ”