'Sister Wives' star Christine Brown leaves husband, Kody Brown, after 27 years of marriage

• The "Sister Wives" star Christine Brown announced she was leaving her husband, Kody Brown.
• Kody responded by saying, "Christine's decision to leave comes with a great deal of sadness."

The "Sister Wives" star Christine Brown announced she was splitting up with her husband, Kody Brown, after 27 years of marriage.

In a statement on Instagram Tuesday, the TLC star said she and Kody, whose polygamist family has been chronicled in TLC's "Sister Wives" since 2010, "have grown apart" and she made "the difficult decision to leave."

She added: "We will continue to be a strong presence in each other's lives as we parent our beautiful children and support our wonderful family."

Christine then asked fans for "grace and kindness as we navigate through this stage within our family."

A post shared by Christine Brown (@christine_brownsw)

Kody soon after issued his own Instagram announcement about the news.

"Christine's decision to leave comes with a great deal of sadness," he wrote. "We enjoyed many years together and I have a large amount of respect and admiration for her."

He added: "Although we are moving forward on different paths, we will always remain committed parents."

A post shared by Kody Brown (@kodywinnbrown)

The couple married in 1994 - with Christine becoming Kody's third wife, according to In Touch - and share six children: Aspyn, 26, Mykelti, 25, Paedon, 23, Gwendlyn, 20, Ysabel, 18, and Truely, 11, according to Us Weekly.

Kody is still committed to his three other wives - Meri, Janelle, and Robyn - though he is legally married to Robyn only.

He and Robyn legally wedded in 2014 so Kody could adopt Robyn's three children from her previous marriage: David (known as "Dayton"), Aurora, and Breanna. Robyn and Kody also share two biological children: Solomon and Ariella, according to Us Weekly.

Kody had to legally divorce Meri, previously his only legal wife, to wed Robyn, though he and Meri remained committed. But that divorce (in name only) came during a time when Meri and Kody were having difficulties in their relationship, as was documented on several seasons of "Sister Wives."

Meri was at the center of a catfishing scandal in 2015 and acknowledged she was considering leaving the family. But in a December Instagram post, Meri said that despite her and Kody's struggles, "I'm HUMAN. I'm here. I'm committed. I'm not going anywhere. Don't get your hopes up on that."

Kody later opened up about his and Meri's issues, telling Us Weekly in February that his relationship with Meri "had been in a very dark place" and that they were trying their best to "get ourselves out of this hole that we dug ourselves into."