With “Sister Wives” being on air for 17 seasons, people have had the chance to see how the Brown family — particularly its patriarch Kody Brown — has operated for years.
Kody is no stranger to controversy. Besides the fact that polygamy is illegal in the U.S. — which he circumvents by only having one legal wife and having spiritual marriages to the others — he has shown his true colors in varied instances. The Brown family, which consisted of Kody, Meri, Janelle, Christine, Robyn, and their 18 children, have made their lives public for people to see the positive side of a plural marriage and debunk misconceptions about the lifestyle.
However, in recent years, the polygamist family has had its fair share of ups and downs — especially with the departure of Kody’s first three wives and stories of favoritism with his children. The onslaught of problems encountered by the Brown family seems to come from one source — Kody. Even now, Kody continues to wreak havoc in his own family — his wives and children alike. Here are five times Kody Brown was a disaster — on and off the screen.
Implying Janelle was ‘too lazy’
With the threat of contracting COVID-19, it is understandable that precautions are taken to keep away from the disease. And for Kody Brown, this meant writing his own “Rules for Family Exposure” and expecting his wives to follow them if they wanted him to visit their homes in Arizona. In a clip of “Sister Wives” published by People, tensions are high as Kody’s second wife, Janelle, criticized his pandemic rules.
“I mean some of these are great, but clean mail with alcohol wipes? I’m looking at these rules and I’m astounded,” she said. Even fellow “Sister Wives” star Christine commented that the rules were unrealistic. “You can mock it or you can find a way … Are you too lazy to do a few chores? All these [are] little chores,” Kody said, visibly agitated.
Entertainment Tonight (via YouTube) posted a clip of the show wherein Janelle went on to say how Kody implies she does not follow proper safety protocols, but reiterated that she wears a mask, maintains social distancing, sanitizes her hands, and even follows the guidelines set by the Center for Disease Control pertaining to COVID-19.
Reservations on Robyn because of her divorce record
It was actually Kody Brown’s first wife, Meri, who introduced Robyn into the Brown family. Despite being matched up by Meri, Kody still expressed his concerns regarding Robyn. “Initially, I had some personal reservations. For whatever reason I kinda shuddered. I actually had an ick factor,” Kody said in a 2010 interview with journalist Natalie Morales (via YouTube). However, in the same interview, Robyn was quick to defend Kody, she explained, “When you marry someone who has children, who has divorce, there is this past, this history. There are children from another spouse and you have to deal with all of that and that’s a lot of work and he already has a lot of work.” Robyn has three children from her previous marriage — Dayton, Aurora, and Breanna — and all three of them were legally adopted by Kody.
Despite Kody’s initial reservations, Robyn became the favorite wife. In January 2022, an insider revealed to Us Weekly that Kody seemingly focuses all his attention on Robyn while the other “Sister Wives” stars were left to fend for themselves. “He spent the holidays with Robyn and her kids … He didn’t even try making plans with the others. All the wives were very much separated for the holidays, spending time with their own families,” the source told Us Weekly. As of June 2023, Robyn is the only wife that Kody has left after Christine, Janelle, and Meri left him.
He refused to be intimate with Christine because of her behavior
For many people, intimacy is an important aspect of a relationship. So for Kody Brown to blatantly say he did not want an intimate marriage with Christine was utterly devastating. In an exclusive interview with People, Christine shared how hurt she was about Kody’s confession. According to her, the Brown family patriarch disclosed that he didn’t want an intimate marriage with her because he didn’t like her behavior.
“It’s over. The intimate part of our marriage is over … And to be honest, I’m not okay with that. I’m not okay with staying in a marriage where there’s no intimacy. That’s not a real marriage. I’m not interested in a half marriage or a partial marriage or whatever we have,” she emphasized.
In November 2021, Christine announced through Instagram that she and Kody are separating after 25 years of being together. Kody responded in a separate Instagram post and said that they will continue to be committed parents despite their split. “We enjoyed many years together and I have a large amount of respect and admiration for her … Although we are moving forward on different paths, we will always remain committed parents,” he wrote.
Another negative comment against Christine
It seems that Christine has often received the brunt of Kody Brown’s sharp tongue — this time commenting that he wasn’t attracted to her. In another interview with Natalie Morales, this time in 2012, nachos were the culprit for Kody’s tasteless comment against his third wife. “I will be honest, I was not attracted to Christine in any kind of physical sense … The nachos grossed me out enough to make me go, ‘OK, I’m waiting to marry her,'” he said (via YouTube).
Christine responded that she was heartbroken about what Kody said, she even said that his remark was appalling. Despite the unfortunate insults hurled against her by Kody, they continued their relationship until 2021.
It seems like blessings kept pouring in for Christine, since after her separation from Kody, she booked her own cooking show “Cooking with Just Christine.” Christine is having the time of her life now with a new partner as well. In April 2023, she got engaged to David Woolley — even buying a new home in Utah with her fiancé. She also posted on Instagram that she has been spending more time with some of her children lately.
Kody wasn’t present for his daughter’s surgery
There have been numerous instances of Kody Brown being a bad husband. But it seems that there were times he was also a bad father — in this particular instance, to his daughter Ysabel. In December 2021, Ysabel — who is one of Kody’s six children with Christine — was preparing to go to New Jersey for corrective scoliosis surgery. People reported that Christine mentioned how the surgery will be challenging for Ysabel to go through without Kody because she needs her father the most when she’s in pain. “Ysabel’s really hurt that Kody’s not here. She’s really hurt,” Christine emphasized.
Kody’s reasoning for not being with his daughter during the surgery was that he doesn’t want to break his own rules, harking back to his controversial list of COVID-19 guidelines for the Brown family. “I’m not traveling with Christine and Ysabel on the way to surgery, I’m not going to surgery, I think it’s very risky … I also feel like a total hypocrite if I’m not keeping the rules that I’m asking — begging, literally begging — everybody to keep,” Kody rebutted.
In the same episode, Ysabel herself shared that although she was frustrated by Kody’s actions, she understood his father’s concerns. Despite this, Ysabel was one of his two kids — the other being her sister Gwendlyn — to acknowledge the Brown patriarch on Father’s Day on social media.
