The 'J Sisters' story was always destined to come to a very public end.

For a lot of young girls growing up in the 2000s meant a hyper-fixation on boy bands. 

Whether you were a part of the early wave that adored Backstreet Boys, you went more niche with British pop band Blue or you held a special place in your heart for One Direction — chances are you had at least one of their posters covering your bedroom wall.

As we grew up the posters came down and the adolescent love we felt for them became a distant memory. However, there was one boy band that has continued to have longevity spanning from our childhood through to adulthood — and that band is Jonas Brothers.

Growing up together we've seen the Jo Bros dabble with solo careers, discover new sounds and...fall in love. The past ten years have been a decided phase of domesticity with each Kevin, Joe and Nick getting married and having children.

At the centre of this new era for the brothers has been the emergence of another kind of group, one that has garnered almost as much attention as the band themselves and they were affectionately named the 'J Sisters'. The wives of the Jonas Brothers had become a girl group in their own right and the public was lapping it right up.

Danielle Jonas, Priyanka Chopra and Sophie Turner had inadvertently been bound together in a sisterhood that tapped into what we all longed for when we were young: to be married to the Jonas Brothers. 

As soon as the trifecta was completed (when Joe and Sophie married in 2019) the world fell in love with these women and followed on as they lived the dream. But now in a new tell-all interview with British Vogue a former Jonas wife, Sophie has lifted the veil on what it was really like living in that bubble. 

Perhaps being a 'J Sister' wasn't exactly the dream we had all believed (or wanted to believe) after all.

Listen to The Spill team explain the PR plan behind Sophie Turner's Vogue cover. 

The rise of the 'J Wives'.

The first J wife to come along was Danielle Jonas. The love story dates back to 2007 when she met the eldest Jonas brother, Kevin while on holidays in the Bahamas. Two years later they married and now have two daughters — Alena, 10, and Valentina, 7.

For a while Danielle was a bit of a lone agent as Joe and Nick had their various romances over the years. Then in 2016 Joe met actress Sophie Turner and they began dating. A few years later in 2018 Nick and Priyanka began their romance and things were starting to get serious in the love department for the two younger brothers.

Later in 2018 Nick and Priyanka were married and not long after Joe and Sophie tied the knot in 2019 — and with that, the J-wives trio was complete. 

In 2018 during Priyanka's bachelorette celebrations in Amsterdam she uploaded a number of images with her soon-to-be SILs with the hashtag #TheJSisters and thus a new term was born that took off like wildfire.

Priyanka Chopra and Sophie Turner. Image: Instagram/@priyankachopra

Perhaps what started out as a joke on Priyanka's behalf quickly became a beloved nickname for the women and the world was falling for it. In fact, a W Magazine journalist boldly declared that the J Sisters could soon "supplant the Jonas Brothers."

In March, 2019 the Jonas Brothers released their new single "Sucker" with an accompanying video that was an homage to the J Sisters that were quickly growing in popularity amongst fandom circles.

Nick told publication Cigar Aficionado that the inspiration behind the music video was always about honouring their wives.

"We knew that context needed to be given about where we are now. And I think the biggest piece of that puzzle is those three incredible women who stand by our side," he said. 

"And they stole the show in our video."

Danielle, Priyanka and Sophie all starred in the video clip decked out in outrageously fabulous costumes, playing up to the camera and having the time of their lives. They sold the J wives phenomenon and all we wanted was to be a part of that club.

As intense interest in the J sisters grew, almost every interview quickly turned to their bond. During a 2019 interview on The View, Priyanka couldn't stop gushing about her new sisters.

"You know, I never had a sister, [they] are all amazing achievers in their own right and we’re super supportive of everything we all do," she said. 

"It’s a new sort of feeling for me and it is amazing to have two girls like that to call sisters."

In 2020 Sophie told Elle magazine that her sister-in-law Priyanka is "just the nicest person" and that they travel all the time to visit Kevin and Danielle. She also went on to open up about how she lucked out in the in-law department.

“It’s also nice to have built-in girlfriends who are actually really cool, who I can hang out with and we can really talk to each other about, like, how crazy the boys’ lives are," she told the publication.

"We can relate on so many different levels."

From the outside we could see that these women had developed a beautiful connection and we believed every word they said.

What really happened behind-the-scenes of the J sisterhood.

In September of 2023 shockwaves pulsed through the entertainment industry when it was announced that Joe and Sophie had filed for divorce after four years of marriage. The once happy-go-lucky couple who shared two daughters Willa, 3 and Delphine, 2, were no longer.

As a tumultuous slander of character began to unfold in the media, it was clear that Sophie was no longer a part of the uber-famous trio of wives.

But now, in an interview with British Vogue, Sophie candidly opened up about what it was like being in the J Sisters crew. And it turns out, the whole thing never sat right with her.

"There was a lot of attention on the three brothers, and the wives," she said.

"Well, we were always called the wives, and I hated that. It was kind of this plus-one feeling. And that’s nothing to do with him – in no way did he make me feel that – it was just that the perception of us was as the groupies in the band."

Having gotten married at such a young age (23) it's clear now that Sophie was still figuring out who she was when she was thrust into the J Sisters zeitgeist. Only now is she able to see that she never felt comfortable having her identity wrapped up in such a confined moniker of 'the wives'.

I think we forget that while the J Sisters name was a bit of fun, it really did them limits to who they were as individual women. 

The collapse of the public J Sisters dream.

Not long after the news of Joe and Sophie's divorce became public Priyanka posted a photo with husband Nick on Instagram. Fans were quick to jump to conclusions that this was a shady time to be showing off her marital bliss. 

Despite her intentions, it was clear that the Jonas fandom were feeling a type of way about the J Sisters coming to an end.

Months later both Sophie and Priyanka unfollowed each other on social media signalling a very modern end to a friendship that once was. But maybe it was never that deep — we just wanted to believe it was.

I don't know why we keep falling for it but we often act surprised when the polished veneer of celebrity turns out to be not as perfect as we once believed. As much as we bought into the J Sisters phenomenon and wanted to vicariously live the dream of being in the Jonas world, these women just turned out to be as human as us.

The J Sisters were a moment in time propelled by a hungry appetite from the fandom and put on a pedestal by the media. It was the perfect story because we wanted to believe it was the perfect story. 

By Sophie's admission that living inside the J Sisters universe wasn't as rosy as it appeared to the public, we're reminded that women in the entertainment world remain a commodity. They're raised up when it suits a certain narrative and then pulled back down to size when the picture-perfect story doesn't line-up anymore.

In a way, I'm glad Sophie has told her truth because now she can freely live outside a narrative that never really felt comfortable to her. Now she can hang up her J sisterhood badge and we can take the posters down from our bedroom wall.

It is now rumoured that Joe is dating social media influencer Stormi Henley. Whether this is something serious or not, perhaps we can all move forward and leave any notion of a J Sisters 2.0 behind.

Feature Image: Getty.

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