TLC’s newest venture into reality television, My Five Wives, has been causing quite a stir due to its portrayal of self-declared “progressive polygamists,” Brady Williams and his five wives.

'My Five Wives' – Progressive Polygamists

TLC viewers will note the similarities between My Five Wives and the network’s other controversial programing, Sister Wives, also about a polygamist family. However, the stars and producers of My Five Wives are quick to say their family is unlike any polygamist family the world has seen before.

“I really consider myself a feminist,” Brady told ABC News Nightline, saying that he doesn’t consider himself the ruler of the household.

Williams and his wives, Paulie, Robyn, Rosemary, Nonie and Rhonda, consider themselves to be “progressive polygamists,” a term denoting their more liberal views. Brady, 43, was born into a Mormon family, but was only introduced to polygamy as a teen. He married his first wife, Paulie, when he was 22, knowing that he would soon take another wife – the two have been married for 21 years. Less than a year later, Brady married Robyn, and two years after that he married his third wife, Rosemary. Brady didn’t marry Nonie, his fourth wife, until three years later and finally married wife number five, Rhonda, one year after that. Brady was married to all five wives before he turned 30, and, together, they have 24 children total, of ages ranging from 21 to 2.

The large family meets together every night for a family meal, but they live in two houses situated next door to each other in rural Utah, surrounded by polygamist neighbors. Unlike their neighbors, however, the Williams family has left the Mormon Church, no longer believing that polygamy is required to go to heaven. The family even supports gay marriage.

My Five Wives premiered on TLC in early March, and will document not only the complicated life of a family of 30, but also the family’s journey as they plan to move out of their conservative, religious community. In the end, what the Williams family wants is to be seen as normal people with, mostly, normal family problems.

“The initial idea was fascinating. You wonder how it works. They have ups and downs, and at the end of the day the family comes together despite conflicts between individuals. I hope that American sees they are just like the rest of us but on a larger scale,” explained executive producer and showrunner Jenn Duncan.

The show also teases that it will go where no reality television show has gone before: the bedroom. Brady and his wives are open about their polygamist marriage and what that means for their sex lives. (Brady spends every night with a different wife, rotating between them.) They hope that being honest with viewers about every aspect of their relationships will help people become more accepting of their family.

“As long as no one is being hurt, and it’s all about love, what’s wrong with that?” Brady says.

'My Five Wives' Recap

One “normal” problem the unconventional family must deal with is good, old-fashioned jealousy. In the show’s most recent episode, Brady takes Rhonda on a weeklong trip to Washington to celebrate their 10-year anniversary. Already a bit bitter at Rhonda’s week alone with their shared husband, sister wives Paulie, Robyn, Rosemary and Nonie are furious when they find out that Brady and Rhonda have been looking at homes, as Brady wants to move the family to Seattle, where he grew up. The suggestion that Rhonda and Brady would be deciding where the family would live without consulting the other wives is sure to have negative consequences on the spouses, as they want to feel that they are all making this decision together. Next week’s episode will deal with the fallout from Brady’s spontaneous decision to go house hunting.

My Five Wives airs Sundays at 10 p.m. on TLC.

– Olivia Truffaut-Wong