‘Sister Wives’ Star Reveals ‘Absolutely Devastating’ Oxycodone Addiction

Christine Brown is opening up about her private battle with oxycodone addiction.

The Sister Wives star, 53, writes candidly of her brief addiction in her new memoir, Sister Wife (out Sept. 2), revealing that she was first prescribed oxycodone after having to undergo surgery to repair her ACL and meniscus.

When her then-husband, Kody Brown, 56, brought her home from the hospital, Christine wrote that he had not gotten instructions about how she should take her prescribed pain pills.

“I had never taken oxycodone before — if something hurt, I took ibuprofen or aspirin,” she wrote, as per Us Weekly. “Real pain indicates that something’s wrong, and if I take something that masks the problem, I’m not going to fix the problem, so I generally avoid it. With the surgery, I had already fixed the problem, and it hurt, so I took my meds.”

On the third day after her surgery, Christine wrote that she felt like she had the flu and was “achy from head to toe” — symptoms that vanished when she took an oxycodone. “Oh, I thought. I’m not taking this for my knee anymore. I’m taking it because I’m achy everywhere,” she wrote.

For about a month, oxycodone continued to make Christine feel like she was “on top of the world” and “could accomplish everything,” including filming her Sister Wives confessionals. “I could do anything on oxy,” she shared.

Ultimately, it was Janelle Brown’s 29-year-old daughter Maddie who confronted Christine about her pill problem. “You’re a mess. I miss you — we all miss you,” Christine recalled her saying. “We all need you back, so whatever you’re doing, figure it out.”

After confessing her dependency to Kody, Christine said she was able to halve her dose of remaining pills before she completely stopped taking them.

“I never had the high again and I never had the low,” she wrote. “After about a week of that, Kody took all of the young girls out of town, and I spent the weekend in bed sobbing, watching Pretty Woman over and over and sobbing. I couldn’t handle my life, I couldn’t handle anything. My mom stayed with me and took care of me. At the end, I gave the rest of the oxycodone to my mom.”

While her addiction only lasted about a month, Christine said she felt “unbalanced” for six months after. “I didn’t feel like me and all I wanted was oxycodone, I couldn’t get it and that made me angry,” she wrote, adding, “I knew I would never feel that high again. It was that fast to become addicted and then that long to find myself again.”

“I don’t know if I would have been strong enough to get out of it if I hadn’t already discovered that I loved myself enough to want me back,” the TLC star added. “But my kids weren’t done with me.”

Sister Wife: A Memoir of Faith, Family, and Finding Freedom is out now.

If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse or addiction, please call SAMHSA’s National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357). SAMHSA’s National Helpline is free, confidential and available 24/7.