Notorious polygamist Kody Brown has been showcasing his lifestyle on TLC’s “Sister Wives” since 2010. He started the show with three wives, Meri, Janelle, and Christine Brown, and soon welcomed a fourth wife, Robyn Brown. The joint family has a total of 18 children. However, the patriarch’s three original marriages fell apart on screen, leaving him with only one spouse, Robyn.
Christine was the first of the sister wives to leave, announcing it in an Instagram post in 2021. Janelle followed suit about a year later, and Meri joined them quickly after. While the plural family no longer resides together, they’ve continued filming the reality show, letting us in on the ongoing tension.
Christine and Kody’s breakup is the one that started the breakup avalanche, so it comes as no surprise that the Brown family patriarch might be holding a grudge against his ex, causing many of their fights. From a lack of closeness to not agreeing on parenting methods, Christine and Kody have had their fair share of arguments on camera.
They struggled with a lack of intimacy in their marriage
One of Kody Brown’s more serious fights with his ex, Christine Brown, is the one where they discussed their lack of intimacy, which grossly contributed to their separation. During the Season 16 finale of “Sister Wives,” according to Today, Kody suggested a “romance-free” marriage to Christine, which didn’t sit right with her. “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, a partial marriage, or whatever we have,” the ex-sister wife concluded in her confessional.
Their quarrel resumed in the premiere episode of the show’s Season 17, in which the exes could again be seen fighting over the state of their love life. “A couple of times a year doesn’t work for a marriage,” Christine said, leaving Kody silent. The patriarch ultimately argued that there was love and affection in their relationship, which the third sister wife didn’t agree with. “You’re not interested in an intimate marriage with me,” she said, adding that she no longer is either. Kody then turned the blame back on his ex, saying that her jealousy was the root cause of their lasting problems. Christine admitted to feeling bitter at times, but only because Kody was treating Robyn Brown, his fourth wife, differently from his other three wives, including Christine. “I think he has a favorite wife, and that’s why all of this is like it is,” she stated.
Kody wasn’t happy about how Christine treated Robyn
Robyn Brown came up as the main topic of discussion in more than one fight between Christine and Kody Brown. Christine was convinced Robyn was Kody’s favorite wife, while Kody claimed the other sister wives, Christine in particular, weren’t nice to Robyn. In a Season 17 episode, the patriarch publicly accused Christine of not getting along with any of the other sister wives, but Robyn specifically. Amidst Kody and Christine’s breakup, as Insider reported, Robyn tried to persuade Christine to work things out for the sake of their plural family, which Christine wasn’t too fond of. Kody then took offense and said to Robyn, “[Christine’s] treated you like dirt from the very beginning; that’s the relationship you have with her, and that’s the reason I’m angry.”
The controversial polygamist went on to state that Christine’s unwillingness to bond with the other sister wives felt like “a knife in the kidneys.” While she did apologize, Christine ultimately admitted she was tired of analyzing everything that had happened throughout the years. “I’m tired. It doesn’t matter. It’s over,” she said in her solo interview. Kody, however, didn’t leave it at that and went on to claim Christine was luring his children away from him.
Kody blamed Christine for the strained relationship with his kids
According to The U.S. Sun, Kody Brown was convinced his ex-wife, Christine Brown, was trying to turn some of his kids against him. In yet another Season 17 episode, Kody asked Christine whether she talked to any of the grown children about her decision to leave him. “So, I’m curious; in all of this, it seems like my relationship with all the adult kids is really off too,” he stated, implying that Christine was to blame.
The ex-sister wife shut his claims down quickly, stating that the way he handled the COVID-19 situation is what caused a strain in Kody’s relationship with some of his children and not her. (Kody followed strict rules during the pandemic and refused to see some of his kids). The patriarch took it to his solo confessional to lash out at his ex. “[She’s] telling them. It’s Christine telling them. She’s running to this person, to this person, to this person, to complain about the relationship,” he said, adding that Christine’s “been playing games for years.”
After they’d officially separated, Christine revealed what Kody’s relationship with the six children they share really looked like. On the podcast “Reality Life with Kate Casey”, the ex-sister wife stated that the polygamist was rarely present as a father figure in their family. “I saw it in [the kids’] eyes that they didn’t really feel like they had a great connection with [Kody],” Christine shared, per People.
Kody’s behavior toward their daughter didn’t sit right with Christine
While their fight over Kody Brown’s COVID-19 rules wasn’t as explosive as some of the others, it surely had a bigger impact on the patriarch’s relationship with his ex, Christine Brown. During a Season 16 episode, Christine and Kody got into his super-strict pandemic regulations, because of which their daughter Ysabel Brown couldn’t visit her siblings at her dad’s house.
In the clip, Christine stated that Kody has a nanny who’s allowed to come and go in order to do her job, while Ysabel can’t come by. “What is the nanny … doing that makes it so [she] can come over?” Christine asked the cameras in her confessional, visibly frustrated. “When I’m home, I do exactly what I should, yet my girls can’t see their siblings,” she added. In return, Kody implied Christine was lying and actually wasn’t adhering to his imposed rules.
Before the episode aired, Kody refused to accompany Ysabel to New Jersey in 2020, where she had to have surgery on her back, according to People. He stated it would be unsafe for him to go due to the pandemic and that the family’s needs are above “what Ysabel needs.” Christine later revealed that the situation made her realize she needed to leave Kody.
Kody didn’t want Christine to move away with their youngest child
In an exclusive interview with People, Christine Brown shared that she decided to leave her marriage with Kody Brown because she no longer respected him. The patriarch’s behavior toward their daughter, Ysabel Brown, was something Christine couldn’t stomach, and that was it for her. After going public with their separation, Kody seems to be doing everything he can to make the ordeal as hard as possible for everyone involved.
When he found out Christine no longer wanted to stay in Arizona, where the joint family lived, Kody suddenly had the urge to be a bigger part of their underage daughter’s life, as Today reported. He also didn’t like that Christine wanted to move to Utah, a state where polygamy is quite frowned upon. “Well, she’s going back to a state that hates me, and she’s taking Truely [Brown]. What’s going to stop [Utah’s government] from teaming up with [Christine]? Because, remember, I don’t trust her,” the controversial polygamist shared in a Season 17 episode.
In response to Kody, Christine stated that she does want him to be a part of their children’s lives, but that he’s lost the right to share them 50/50. She says he didn’t spend enough time with them when he had the chance. The ex-sister wife ultimately relocated to Utah, took Truely with her, and got engaged to David Woolley.
