‘Sister Wives’: Robyn Brown’s Most Maddening Personality Traits: From Crying Fake Tears to Manipulating Kody Brown

The reality show star hasn’t won favor from fans for how she has historically acted on the TLC series.

Sister Wives star Robyn Brown historically behaves in a way that cannot be described in any other way but maddening. From crying fake tears to manipulating Kody Brown, here are some of her most maddening personality traits and hot-button topics that infuriate viewers.

Robyn Brown manipulates Kody Brown

Perhaps the most maddening personality trait Robyn Brown shows throughout TLC’s Sister Wives is how she manipulates Kody Brown. This is despite him taking a stance of patriarchy and believing Robyn subscribes to it.

Robyn’s manipulation of Kody was apparent in an episode filmed before their 2010 spiritual marriage. Robyn selfishly insisted he needed to spend equal time with her and her children to help transition them. However, his other wives, Meri, Janelle, and Christine Brown, differed in their opinions.

From a two-week honeymoon to saying she didn’t want to buy their current house [but needed five bedrooms], Robyn is her own dichotomy. She insisted she wanted polygamy but didn’t allow Kody to foster his other relationships once she entered the picture.

She became his loyal follower, deferring to his every whim. Most of all, she fulfilled his need for both patriarchy and a submissive woman by his side while manipulating him to get what she wanted.

Robyn Brown’s Fake Tears

Sister Wives’ critics believe Robyn uses her tears to manipulate Kody Brown. Also, she utilizes them as a way to generate sympathy for her plight as the Brown family scapegoat.

Robyn’s fake tears are also a running joke between the Brown children. While watching the Sister Wives season 17 tell-all, Gwendlyn Brown said on her Patreon account that Robyn’s crying has a “lack of tears.”

During one installment, Robyn claimed Meri, Janelle, and Christine had “stolen” the sister-wife experience promised when she married Kody. “Was it just me, or were there like no tears?”

Gwendlyn asked before saying, “Oh God, that must suck. Crying, and no tears are coming out.”

Robyn Brown plays the victim card

Seemingly, Robyn has played the victim role from the moment she joined the Brown family. She never felt she was entirely accepted and used that to her advantage to manipulate Kody to defend her against his other wives.

Kody Brown deeply insinuated that his second wife, Janelle, should be more like Robyn. When discussing their broken relationship, he told her, “I have somebody in my life who is fundamentally loyal to me, who sees me as the head of the family. I’m telling you that you and I get that if you’re loyal to me.”

He later accused Christine of never accepting Robyn into their family. Before telling his third wife how hard it was to love her, he told Robyn, “She’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.”

Historically, viewers have seen that while Robyn isn’t overtly manipulative, she uses tactics to keep Kody close to her. She plays the role of a nice and submissive wife as his other wives speak out about their wants and needs. This role has worked for her because Kody cannot handle conflict and typically hides from the wives he was fighting in the arms of a different wife.

She oversteps with the adult Brown children

Most of all, Robyn came into the Brown family and immediately started parenting the children of Meri, Janelle, and Christine Brown. However, she didn’t extend the same courtesy to her sister wives other than Meri.

One of the most infamous cases is when Maddie Brown, Janelle and Kody’s daughter, wanted to pick her own church, and Robyn loudly disagreed. “Choose your church when you’re an adult.”

This led Maddie to respond: “Well, I hate the church we have right now, so…,” as Janelle tried to calm her down. Kody, as usual, did nothing to defend his second wife and their daughter against Robyn’s overstepping.

While it’s not known the relationships between Robyn and the eldest Brown kids, Logan, Aspyn, Leon, and Maddie Brush, Mykelti Padron is particularly close to both her father and his now legal wife. However, Gabriel, Savannah, Garrison, and Gwendlyn Brown are not.

They didn’t like that Kody didn’t spend time with them during the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. The kids also didn’t like how Robyn reportedly initiated a fight that splintered the family for good in a Christmas text chain.

Gwendlyn explaining the children all wanted to do a Secret Santa, but Robyn ruined the plans. “Robyn made it all about herself, bringing up how there’s all this past trauma. Which, by the way, where’s the trauma coming from? Because dad prefers them,” she said.

“They were complaining about trauma, how we don’t respect her as a mother, and all this weird stuff. I’ve always considered them my siblings, and I still do; I consider her a mom,” Gwendlyn concluded during the episode “Battle Lines are Drawn.”

Sister Wives airs Sundays at 10 p.m. EST on TLC.