Sister Wives

‘Sister Wives’ One-On-One Recap: Robyn Brown Says Overweight Wives and Stretch Marks Drove Kody Into Her Arms


‘Sister Wives’ One-On-One Recap: Robyn Brown Says Overweight Wives and Stretch Marks Drove Kody Into Her Arms 

Part three of the Sister Wives: One-On-One Season 17 reunion kicks off with host Sukanya Krishnan questioning Kody Brown about his relationship with his fourth wife Robyn Brown. Kody takes a dramatic sigh, stares at his watch, then flat out refuses to answer the question. 

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TLC producers play footage from a scene of Christine Brown and Kody in a heated conversation regarding the inequities between Kody and Robyn’s relationship versus his love-less marriage to Christine. Christine says that she had to watch him be an “amazing” husband and father in his marriage to Robyn — showing blatant favoritism towards Robyn. Janelle  also makes the same claims as Christine.

Kody Brown

Kody reacts to the clip by describing Christine’s feelings as, “sour graping.” He adds, “Something I discovered when we were in Vegas was that Christine wasn’t ever happy unless she was getting more than everybody else.”

Host Sukanya reminds Kody that Christine sees him treating Robyn differently and he interrupts her to say, “No, no, no…stop where you’re going. Christine watches me and Robyn? Robyn watched me and Christine. I would take Christine out for a special date, go out of town. Robyn had to watch that, too. I’m saying if Christine was envious …does that make Robyn and I bad?”

Kody Brown

Kody says everybody looks at that as “unfairness,” and that’s the “danger of polygamy.” The host pleads with Kody to understand Christine’s position and how the imbalance created jealously. The Brown patriarch dismisses Sukanya’s reasoning and basically says if Christine wanted the same affection from him, then she would have to earn it.

“Then she [Christine] has to have the energy and the effort in the relationship for that connection, that is on the merits of the relationship. Be the kind of person that is giving and loving.” Kody tells the host.

Kody Brown

Sukanya then asks Kody straight up … is Robyn his favorite wife — to which he snarly responds — “That’s the most unfair question. Because you don’t have any idea what work she has done. What she has done as a person. The sacrifices that she’s made. The games that she hasn’t played.”

Kody adds, “It’s not about a favorite. It’s about finding favor. The words Christine uses incite enmity toward Robyn.”

Kody goes onto to fiercely defend Robyn, “She never did anything to Christine but be kind to her. There is a character issue here and it’s not just about my character… it’s about their character. And who wants to run deep here. Do you want to find favor by being loyal to me and never allowing somebody to trash talk me. Or do you want to sit here and be the one who’s trash talking me?”

Kody Brown

He continues by throwing his former wives under the bus, ” Meri, Janelle and Christine have sh-t talked me from the beginning of all of our marriages. To my knowledge, Robyn puts up her dukes if you sh-t talk me.”

Christine disagrees with Kody’s theory and points out that Janelle has been blindly loyal to him and doesn’t deserve his disrespect. Janelle agrees, and feels she and Christine have been very loyal to Kody. Janelle doesn’t believe Robyn is an innocent angel. Meri believes that Robyn is the one that Kody is most comfortable with and feels he values loyalty, and that’s what he gets from Robyn.

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Christine says Robyn and Kody are soulmates and admits that made her jealous to see. Christine explains, “I didn’t know what a soulmate look like before that. Like I didn’t know there could be more in a marriage.”

Christine continues, “Kody and I had something special. We really honestly had something super, super special. And super fun, and super awesome. But then when I needed his help, and he wouldn’t give it to me, it kind of was this click where I’m like, I’ve done everything for you, and you can’t give this to me. Then he and Robyn met and he was everything for her, it seemed like. And she was also everything for him. And they were just this unit together.”

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Robyn feels the other wives didn’t want anything to do with Kody anymore and handed him to her on a silver platter, “They handed him (Kody) to me and said, ‘We don’t want to spend time with him’ basically,” she says. Robyn says the fellow wives made choices that made Kody uncomfortable to exercise his believes (she’s referring to Kody’s strict COVID rules) to protect his family. “Of course he’s gonna flourish with my kids, because he’s around them more.” 

The host informs Robyn that Christine said Robyn and Kody are soulmates and were a “unit” from the beginning.

Sister Wives

Internally Robyn’s smiling bashfully but outwardly she makes a weird strained face and says, Christine and Kody … they were so cute. They were so sweet.” She added, “They had their own thing. She [Christine] had something with Kody. She did not take care of it. Kody wants a soulmate experience with each one of his wives. He wants to be looking in her eyes and get teary-eyed. I watched him do it right in front of me. When I was courting him and they came to my apartment, when I was getting to know them, and they [Christine and Kody] were listening to a song. The two of them are getting teary-eyed looking, right in front of me.”

Robyn Shades The Other Wives Bodies … Stretch Marks and Overweight 

Ol’ faithful Robyn professes Kody is, “a loving person. He’s a loving husband.”

Robyn blames the other wives for the demise of their marriages, “And what you’re seeing is years of people not taking care of their relationships. He’s had wives reject him, affection wise, because they are uncomfortable or they don’t like it. That’s not who they are.”

Sister Wives

Robyn implies that the other wives rejected Kody in the bedroom, she says “I’m sorry, but if you’re rejecting someone’s affection, your spouse, um, I don’t see how that’s gonna help your relationship. If you’re sitting there just constantly nagging at your husband about what you didn’t get, even though you have this apple in your hand but you really want her orange, then how is he supposed to feel like you see what he’s doing for you? How is he supposed to feel appreciated?”

Robyn then attacks Janelle, Meri and Christine’s physical attributes, “When I came into this family, I knew and I saw that when there’s stretch marks, and there’s weight gain, and you’re being stagnant in the marriage, or there’s fights, or there’s money problems or whatever it is. He still had this romance going on with each of them. I saw it. He had sweet things with each of them. I’m like, you have this opportunity. And why are you looking at my orange? You have an apple. It’s not better, it’s just different.”

Robyn admits that she has a hard time sympathizing with the other women’s issues with Kody, and they should, “Get your butt in there and work it out.”

Janelle and Kody’s Marriage Crumble

Next up, Sukanya talks to Janelle about her blowout fight with Kody regarding her holiday plans. They watch a clip from Season 17 where Kody believes that Janelle is “culpable for not having any respect for me about the COVID rules” that he put in place to keep the family safe. But his strict guidelines wound up causing division amongst the family, including with the couple’s sons. “Kody, you are asking me to choose between my children and you,” says Janelle in the clip.

Sister Wives

Kody then claims that his second wife “belittled” what he was trying to accomplish. And as he attempts to drive his point further, he stands from his seat and raises his voice to say: “I’m mad as hell because everybody put this s— on me.”

“When I finally get sick from COVID, that was a death-like experience,” Kody says. “I realize that you just can’t run from it by now. I was just trying to protect my family.”

Growing increasingly frustrated, Kody says: “I can’t believe I’ve done all this to save you! To save Truely! To save my children.”

“I was trying to protect [my kids] and I got criticism from you and from my boys. The worst criticism. Zero respect,” he continues. “You guys wonder why I’m mad? I’ve gone 18 months being persecuted by my own family for trying to protect them. My heart is broken. Christine left because of this.”

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In a talking head confessional, Janelle says she doesn’t feel she needs to “defend” her actions to Kody.

“This is the same ole argument. I don’t need to be beaten into submission, made to kowtow. I’m just not. I just don’t need this,” she says.

“In the last 18 months, I’ve realized that I’m pretty good. I’m independent, and I’m not going to stand here and be yelled at,” Janelle adds. “I just don’t need it. I don’t deserve it and I don’t need it.”

Janelle’s Fed Up With Robyn 

In the footage, Robyn comforts Kody, “You’ve had a lot of rejection over the last year and a half, Kody.”

After the clip is shown, Janelle smirks and tells the host that she’s tired of “Counselor Robyn.” She adds, “Oh yeah … Your pain, your pain. He acts like he’s the only person who’s been rejected, who’s been hurt. And this whole thing with Christine has been coming for a long time. And he acts so surprised by it. I’m just a little bit like, Okay alright.”

Janelle Brown

Janelle says Robyn placated Kody and explains her boys feel just as rejected by their dad. Kody says during that fight, he was so angry with Janelle and feels Janelle being friends with Christine (who just dumped him) is “betrayal.” Kody also says that instead of supporting his COVID rules, Janelle went against him and caused a major rift with his adult sons, Gabe and Garrison Brown, who are now estranged from him. Kody claims that hurt him deeply, then he turns to the camera and says, “Boys, I’m sorry. I was trying to protect my family. Next time, I’d manage it differently and I’m sorry.”

Janelle and Kody Separated

Janelle confirms she’s split from Kody after nearly 30 years of marriage.

Sukanya tells Kody he wasn’t vulnerable enough with Janelle after Christine left, and Kody blames his lack of vulnerability on Janelle chasing after Christine when she left and Janelle disrespecting his COVID rules. Kody says the COVID ordeal opened his eyes to which wife respects him, and who doesn’t respect him. He says, “She [Janelle] doesn’t respect me.”

The host returns to Janelle for answers, and asks: “Is it love?” To which Janelle responds, “At this point … No, it’s not.” She adds, “It’s duty. It’s commitment. It’s a faith that tells you – you work it out and stick it out. I think if we both really sat down, we’d look at each other and say really. We’ve been separated for several months.”

Sister Wives

Kody and I have separated, and I’m happy, really happy.” Janelle tells Sukanya.

She explains, “Things just really became sort of indifferent. Like, I just didn’t care anymore.” Despite not caring anymore, Janelle says she still respected him but currently she’s “losing respect for him,” in regard to what happened with their kids. 

When the host tells Janelle that Kody feels disrespected by her, she responds: “Well, it’s mutual. It’s a two-way street. I think if he had truly been watching out for me and my children, he would have figured out a way to make it work for the whole family. Instead of having his rules and hanging out with the wife, staying where he has, he was respected and obeyed.”

Sister Wives

Back to Kody’s interview, he feels that Janelle’s “enjoying her life without” him. Kody shares that since separating, Janelle told him, “I haven’t missed you much.” 

The host asks Kody if he wants to try and fix the relationship with Janelle, and he responds: “Absolutely.” However, he “won’t go to a place where I’m not respected because love doesn’t matter to me. Respect matters to me.”

When asked if they’re separated, Kody confirms that he and Janelle have parted ways. But he does want to fix it but explains that’s a whole new negotiation since they’re in a new place in the relationship. He laughs while saying, “Christine’s left. Janelle likes her. That was just, like, why couldn’t you have been good sister wives when you were sister wives? That’s such a mess.”

Christine chimes in on Kody and Janelle’s separation, “For Janelle, I think that she’s frustrated and she’s so hurt. And that man that she was married to, she realizes that he’s totally different, but she’s different too. So she’s not expecting … she just wants a good dad for her kids.”

Back in Kody’s interview, the host wants to know if Kody and the kids can reconcile would that change the dynamics of his separation from Janelle. “Yeah, we could probably reconcile,” he responds.

Then goes on to compare how Robyn’s adults kids followed his COVID restrictions versus Janelle’s kids lack of respect for his rules.

Janelle’s Housing Not Prioritized

Janelle’s back in the hot seat to discuss her housing dilemma and Kody’s issue with her independence. She has an issue with Kody depleting the family account to buy Robyn a $900k house. But when it came time to pay off the land at Coyote Pass so Janelle can start building her forever home, Kody shot her down and condemned her for buying an RV.

Robyn says she has no parts of it and to leave her out of it. Robyn says that she’s being punished and blamed for being Kody’s favorite. “I’m tired of feeling bad that I have a good relationship with Kody when other people don’t. That’s on them. They need to figure that out.” Robyn asserts. 

Sister Wives

As for a reconciliation with Kody on Janelle’s part, she’s says “I’ve kind of mourned that — that part of our life is gone. I wasn’t heartbroken. It wasn’t heartbreaking for me, like it was for Christine. It was just kind of like I just mourned that life was gone.”

She adds that Kody blew off their prior year’s anniversary — he did not call or speak to her during the holidays because they had a huge fight right before Christmas (in 2021). Janelle explains that her religion dictates that she’s married eternally but she’s in a happy place and doesn’t want anything to disturb her peace.

Kody’s Done With Polygamy

The host wants to know if Robyn is Kody’s soulmate, and how does that fit into his polygamous lifestyle. Kody says he’s “right on the verge of  not even being a polygamist, and that’s been part of my identity for 30 years. What’s funny to me now is I was always a forward thinking guy. I was always thinking about the future and how great it’s gonna be and how good it is right now. But it’s great. These days I’m thinking about well, it’s good today, but I really miss the past too. For the first time in my life, I’m really looking back a lot, and missing some of the past and regretting a bunch of it.”

Sister Wives

As for Meri, she believes Kody is pretty much done with her but she’s not 100% ready to walk away from him, despite the fact that their marriage is completely over.

Christine feels Kody and Robyn will not look for another wife to join their family. She feels there’s no room for anyone else.

Sister Wives

Robyn pretty much agrees with Kody about brining on another sister wife, she’s scared because of “how badly this has gone. I really struggle with it, because it feels like you know … oh well … those didn’t work, so on to new, you know. That’s hard for me. It feels disrespectful.” Robyn says.

Robyn goes onto to say that she wrestles with the idea of a monogamous lifestyle because it messes with her identity and not the future she wanted for herself. 

In his parting words, Kody hopes Christine finds a soulmate, desires a reconciliation with Janelle, and his kids. But has no final words for Meri.

Well, that’s a wrap for Sister Wives Season 17, thank you for taking this wild ride with me! What are your predications for Season 18, now that it’s the Kody and Robyn show? 

 

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