Robyn Brown’s ex-husband is David Preston Jessop, whom she married in June 1999 and whose divorce petition came in April 2007. Their three children, Dayton, Aurora, and Breanna, were legally adopted by Kody Brown in 2014.
Sister Wives has aired for more than a decade and a half, yet Jessop has never appeared on it. What exists on the record comes from court documents, a handful of Robyn’s own statements, and one arrest report, and that record tells a harder story than the show ever did.
The First Marriage: 1999 to 2007
Robyn wed Jessop in June 1999, eight years and three children before TLC cameras entered her life. Jessop was the petitioner in the April 2007 divorce, according to court documents obtained by In Touch, and the legal separation was finalized in 2009, per Yahoo’s account of the filings.
Robyn has characterized the marriage in stark terms twice. In a November 2011 tweet responding to a bullying storyline, she wrote, “I ended my first marriage because of abuse. My kids come first ALWAYS,” as reported by E! Online. A decade later, on an April 2021 episode, she went only slightly softer: “In that marriage, there was a lot of fighting and there was a lot of pain.”
The Custody Fight Behind Kody’s Adoption
After the divorce, Jessop was ordered to pay $159 per month in child support for all three children. By the time Kody Brown legally adopted them in 2014, Jessop had gone 30 months without paying, per the same court records.
The adoption was not friction-free. Jessop at one point pursued stepparent adoption, an arrangement that would have ended his child support obligation, and dropped the effort when he learned it would also end his visitation rights. He accused Robyn of pushing the children toward Kody; Kody, on the Mormonism Live podcast in November 2023, flatly rejected the keeping-kids-away narrative: “Robyn never did that. He had access to them all the time.” The children, by Kody’s account, chose the distance themselves.
Sister Wives fandom has never stopped wanting the other side of that story:
“She has no redeeming qualities. I would love to hear from Dayton and her ex husband.”
– r/TLCsisterwives, January 2026 (190 upvotes)
He has never given that interview, and every indication is that he never will. The fan impulse itself is bigger than this one family; McBee Dynasty viewers ran the same excavation on Allie Eklund’s ex-husband in 2026.
Where David Jessop Is Now
Two facts mark his life since the show made his ex-wife famous, both grim. Radar Online reported he was arrested on January 12, 2018, for alleged partner or family member assault causing bodily injury, and released four days later. In February 2023, per Yahoo’s reporting, he was diagnosed with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia, a blood cancer typically managed with long-term medication.
Beyond those reports he keeps no public profile: no interviews, no social media presence tied to the show, no response to fifteen years of Sister Wives coverage naming him.
The Family-Tree Question
The strangest thread in the Robyn Brown ex husband story is the claim that Jessop and Kody are relatives. Fan outlets, The Things among them, have run headlines calling Jessop Kody’s cousin, and the Jessop surname runs deep in the same fundamentalist communities the Browns come from. No member of the family has ever confirmed the connection on the show or in interviews, so it stays an unverified fan claim, repeated often enough that Google now asks it.
FAQ
Who is David Preston Jessop?
David Preston Jessop is Robyn Brown’s first husband and the biological father of Dayton, Aurora, and Breanna. He married Robyn in June 1999, filed for divorce in April 2007, and has stayed out of public life since.
Why did Robyn Brown and David Jessop divorce?
Court documents cite an irretrievably broken marriage. Robyn herself went further in a 2011 tweet, writing that she ended the marriage because of abuse, and later described it on air as full of fighting and pain.
What happened to Robyn Brown’s oldest son?
Dayton, Robyn’s oldest child with Jessop, was legally adopted by Kody Brown in 2014 along with his sisters. He has kept a low profile and appears only rarely in Sister Wives storylines.
Is Robyn still married to Kody Brown?
Yes. Robyn is Kody Brown’s only remaining wife after Christine left in November 2021, Janelle split in December 2022, and Meri confirmed her separation in January 2023.
