Kody Brown: “It is necessary for me to own the failure of the family”

The star of Sister Wives, admits the collapse of his compromise and expresses deep regret
Kody Brown in a Nov. 2 confessional acknowledged that he must take responsibility for the breakdown of his family, stating, “I feel like it’s my fault… I need to own the failure of the family. This is smart because I was the leader.” After years of blaming the end of his first three marriages on the ex‑wives’ choices, he finally admitted that he could have done more to lead and love them.
When describing the fall of relationships, Kody indicated that some partners “didn’t want to do this anymore,” and he recounted that he and Christine reached a point where they “just couldn’t figure it out.” He referred to the separation as “a giant regret,” saying that he wished he had risen to the occasion and been the leader when it was most important.

Kody Brown says that he himself would “mess that one up as well” – he is skeptical of the notion of adding another wife

Reflection point came when Kody and Robyn were discussing letters from women desiring to be part of their family. The idea of bringing another wife into the family made Kody stop and think: “Robyn and I are talking about plural marriage, a hypothetical new wife, and I’m going, ‘Uh, no. Because how you do anything is how you do everything. And we’ll mess that one up too.’”
Kody no longer thinks that dividing his love is the right thing to do. “Whenever there are two entities, one will naturally outshine the other,” he said, confessing that it was when he fell deeply in love with Robyn long after his initial marriages that he was not able to love all of them equally. “I wanted to. I really tried to. I even pretended to. But ultimately, it just wasn’t going to work.”

Robyn Brown: plural marriage helps to create “a community of women” and provides mutual support

According to her, the best thing would be women gathered together, taking care of each other’s needs
When Kody asked why a woman would choose polygamy, Robyn replied that it is all about creating something different – a community of women with the same goal. She portrayed her idea as being able to sit together “at the table” like in their old meetings, where the wives could openly support each other. “Hey, babe, I am with you. I will make sure that your needs are met,” Robyn said, depicting plural marriage as a circle of love and shared care.

Kody Brown admits that he couldn’t live up to his Robyn remembers that polygamy was about companionship

At first, Robyn remembered that the ideal of plural marriage was one that was simple and pure: if Kody could have told every one of the wives “I love each of you and I’ve got your backs”, then they could have created something beautiful – a table at which the women supported one another and satisfied each other’s needs.
However, to Kody that one concept made his limitation more obvious. It did not feel like a missed fantasy but rather “a confirmation of my own failures”, he told Robyn when he was admitting that he did not have the skills to handle those relationships properly. Yet he implied that he may become better in the future: it is not that he cannot change, only that he did not then.

Kody Brown: “I failed, and for the last three years I have been angry”

The Sister Wives father figure says that his errors have been his teacher and he is trying to release the remaining resentment
Kody told Robyn that he had been away with the collapse of his family and he admitted, “I failed, and for the last three years I have been angry.” While referring to their lost ideal as “a confirmation of my own failures,” he also said that the experience has a positive side: “maybe it is a good lesson at this time.” Pointing out that the rift in relationships is still there, Kody also said that he is now starting to think ways “to defuse the hostility now,” which is a sign of anger towards repair.

Regret to repair: just one of numerous confessions this season — read the full Kody Brown coverage.

 

Janelle Brown Contemplated a Spiritual Divorce with Kody Brown

After nearly three decades, she is mimicking Meri’s path of seeking a spiritual letting go instead of a legal separation
On the Sept. 28 episode of Sister Wives, Janelle Brown announced that she was contemplating a spiritual divorce from ex-husband Kody Brown. Even though the two were together for 29 years, they had never been married officially, and Janelle mentioned that she “had kind of thought about a spiritual divorce a long time ago and didn’t even realize it was an option.”
After Meri was given a spiritual release from their old church because she felt abandoned, Janelle called: “So when Meri got one, I’m like, ‘Oh, hey, Meri, who do I call?'” Janelle mentioned that Meri is supporting her in getting in touch with people and figuring out the way.”

Madison Brush would like reconciliation with father Kody Brown

Madison Brush confessed on the Sept. 28 episode that separation of her father Kody Brown was hard for her and that she would like reconciliation with him. The mother of four in a confessional with husband Caleb Brush said, “You want your dad to show up. You want reconciliation. I know I played a part and I’m angry because I’m still trying to learn not to be disappointed.”
She explained that she is working on changing her expectations: “I’m still learning to just see him for who he is. I’m trying to understand that maybe he didn’t know how to show up. He might be hurting.” Kody, however, admitted a need for reconciliation but said it could not be forced: “I think we’re at a point where we’re stuck because this reconciliation can only happen on their terms, only.”

Kody Brown expresses that he’s concerned about the lack of variety in his sex life with Robyn when they become “unintentional monogamists”

After Robyn had always preferred a plural marriage, Kody admits that he might want sex more than she does — thus he is afraid of a new imbalance
Robyn remembered telling how she had always wanted the community of plural marriage, but with the family being essentially monogamous now, Kody said to the cameras, “It’s you and me, baby.” However, he did admit a concern in a confessional: “There’s something I want maybe more than you,” referring to their sex life. He actually put his finger on the problem very directly: “A polygamist is getting more than he wants and a monogamist isn’t getting enough.”

Meri Brown says an ex ghosted her after learning she was a polygamist

The Sister Wives star, who is looking for a partner that is ready to travel and loves dogs, reveals that a man ended things when he found out about her past
Meri Brown informed the cameras that she absolutely knows what she wants in a partner – a tall guy, willing to travel, and a dog lover (not cats) – but dating has been difficult. She recalled a particular incident so vividly when a man she was talking to abruptly dropped the conversation after discovering she was a polygamist: “He was like, ‘I can’t continue talking to you. This is not something that I’m even interested in or open to.’” Meri shared that the rejection made her feel bad and it was a moment that she very clearly realized that her past would be the reason why some people wouldn’t even get to know her.”

Janelle Brown Confirms She Was The Only One Who Truly Wanted To Live On Coyote Pass

The Sister Wives star explains the 14-acre Flagstaff property didn’t align with the family’s vision and the move was off in no time
Janelle Brown told the camera crew that she doubted anyone else in the family wanted to settle down on Coyote Pass. Talking about the 14-acre lot they purchased prior to their move to Flagstaff in 2018, she said, “I don’t know if I even dreamt of all of us being out on Coyote Pass,” although she could picture living there.
She implied that the idea was only momentary for others: Christine undoubtedly didn’t want it, and Meri would have only pretended if everyone else was. According to Janelle, Kody and Robyn were kind of like having a house “without being there” on the two-acre, five-bedroom home which was later sold for $1.7 million, and she soon realized the communal dream was not going to happen.

Kody Brown says most of his relationships with adult children are strained

On the Oct. 5 episode, Kody Brown admitted that his relationships with his adult children have been mostly frayed. “I think most of the relationships between me and my adult children are strained,” he confessed, attributing the decay in trust and loyalties to “trash talk and innuendo” that has been going on for a long time.
Not many of his grown children are still strongly on his side. Mykelti Padron — one of Kody’s six children with Christine — during a fan Q&A in October 2024, proposed a way to fix the broken relationships: if Kody took the initiative to recognize his faults and apologize sincerely, “some of them would reach out.” She maintained that instead of blaming children, spouses or gossip, saying, “I understand I did [blank] wrong. I’m sorry. Can we talk about it?” would have a great effect in opening the way for reconciliation.

Janelle Brown: “Half of Kody’s assets I would have taken”

She referred to the money as a clean break in her joke after the sale of Coyote Pass — and mentioned that a legal marriage would have given her half
Due to the sale of Coyote Pass in April, the cash was significant for Janelle and Meri to walk away with. (Christine had already signed over her share in exchange for the proceeds from her Arizona home). Janelle joked to Meri that the sale seemed like a neat “see you later,” but she also said that if she had been legally married to Kody she “would have definitely taken half of his assets — because it would have been half mine.”

Kody Brown says selling Coyote Pass helped him start over

The couple decided to sell after finding a $2.1M home and wanting to move on from their past
Kody Brown shared with the filming crew that the moment when he and Robyn found a new $2.1 million house they really liked was the moment when the decision to sell Coyote Pass felt like it was for sure. After the drama of the last several months with his ex-wives, he said it was a change of place and thus also a change of state: “We’ve had a lot of heartache here. And we want a new beginning, something different, something new.”

Why Kody Brown says he failed at plural marriage

The patriarch of the Sister Wives admits that uneven devotion and choices like prioritizing Robyn’s housing, stirred jealousy and fractured relationships
Kody Brown confided in the cameras that he was a plural marriage believer but that he couldn’t quite manage to divide his love equally among all four wives. He recognized that he was one “committed to the family,” yet “he struggled to be devoted specifically to every single wife,” and that his decisions – like getting a $1.65 million Flagstaff home for Robyn – made people “jealousy and resentment.” Kody shared that he “stirred up a jealousy” by making a fight to protect Robyn and thus, the break of his unions with Meri, Janelle, and Christine became the most part of the dissolution of their relationships.

Christine Brown: ‘It was a lot of work’ being married to Kody Brown

Ex-Sister Wives star tells that Kody’s routines and his very exacting nature made the marriage very tiring – and Janelle also agrees it wasn’t a piece of cake
Christine Brown looked back at the episode of Oct. 26 when she said that being married to Kody “was a lot of work.” She commented that he was a very specific person in many ways – “certain dietary restrictions, his grooming and things like that” – and thus life became more demanding.
Janelle, who is cautious about getting into the dating world again, told Christine and her husband David Woolley that she thinks Kody “was a lot of work” and that such relationships must be extremely difficult. David encouraged Janelle to go out and meet someone (even on FarmersOnly), but she was not having it: “David just can’t handle that I’m just not going to go date… no, no, no.”

Christine Brown recalls Kody mixing up names on occasions

One of her memories was that he “rarely” called the wrong name — he acknowledges there were times when he was close and had to quick change
In the episode aired on Nov. 2, Christine Brown confided to the cameras that Kody “would rarely slip up and call us the wrong name,” and she was quite sure that he didn’t utter the name of another wife in those moments which were intimate and sensitive. However, Kody admitted that there were times when he was very close: “I would catch myself a lot,” he said, sharing that he sometimes was starting to say a name and then quickly changed.

Christine Brown wanted to express how her ex-sister wife Robyn didn’t hesitate to hurt her

Christine Brown confided to the cameras that she had been “betrayed by Robyn” and after Robyn had repeated comments that Christine made in private and that had provoked Kody’s anger, she stopped sharing with her. “I felt like I could never really trust her, ever,” Christine recalled, saying that she ceased sharing because she would get scolded and Kody would get mad.
Robyn disagreed with that and said she was only trying to be like a marriage counselor: Christine would tell her, “I wish Kody would know this… I’m struggling with this,” and Robyn – “being kind of a naive fool” – thought she could help. She admitted now that she should have “just stayed out of it completely.”

Meri Brown reveals that she needed to establish “hard boundaries” with her ex-husband Kody Brown

After years of difficult interactions and comments, she declined to engage in polite small talk during a video call about their Arizona property — it was strictly business
Meri Brown informed the cameras that after hearing what Kody had said about her in past seasons, she was no longer willing to entertain friendly banter from him. When he arranged a video call to discuss the potential sale of their Arizona property, Meri decided to keep it professional: “I just had to draw some really hard boundaries,” she said.
Kody reminisced about the earlier, more friendly times — when he was helping Meri move to Parowan, Utah — and wondered how they had drifted apart. However, Meri responded that she would not permit him to pretend that everything is normal after he has spoken ill of her and her friends: “That’s not going to fly.”

Kody Brown thinks he ought to have checked out David Woolley, Christine’s husband, more carefully

The father of the Sister Wives family says he wishes he could have had a say in Christine’s marriage because his daughter is the one who now lives in David Woolley’s home
Kody told cameras that he feels he “should know David,” as his youngest child Truely is living in Woolley’s house. He was looking back at the 2023 proposal and saying that he “should have even had the right to discriminate against David.” He said that he regrets not being more involved in the process of meeting the man who would become part of the family.

Janelle Brown is not counting on a loan repayment from Kody and Robyn

While Kody maintains that the debt was already taken care of, she says that asking for the money back would be a “fight”.
Janelle Brown confided to the filming crew that she doubted the money she invested in the home of Kody and Robyn in Flagstaff would be returned to her, even though her children think she should make the effort. “You’re gonna have to fight for it,” she said, pointing out that “there are always a billion reasons why he doesn’t owe it.” In response, Kody asserted that he had repaid the favor earlier this year: “Janelle helped Robyn and me to buy our house and I settled that debt with Janelle back in January,” he said, further explaining that Janelle then referred to the issue as “more than fair” when she spoke to him.

Kody Brown is still receiving emails from women who want to become his wives

After moving away from plural marriage, Kody still says women keep contacting him – Robyn refers to the messages as inappropriate
On the episode that aired on Nov. 2, Kody informed Robyn that he had yet another email from a woman who was upset about Kody “quitting” plural marriage and she was offering herself as a new wife without a doubt. Robyn confessed that she had a short moment where she saw the old ideal – “would they fit?” – but considered the outreach as an improper thing, since people should “go through the sister wives” if they want to, rather than hitting on Kody directly. Ultimately, the notion was discarded.