Kody Brown Once Said Robyn Brown Brought ‘Emotional Honesty’ to the ‘Sister Wives’ Family 

Robyn Brown changed the Sister Wives family forever when she married Kody Brown in 2010. 

In the eyes of many of the show’s fans, Robyn is partly – or even mostly – to blame for the collapse of the larger Brown family. Her arrival caused Kody to pull away from his other wives and put her needs and wants above those of Meri Brown, Janelle Brown, and Christine Brown, eventually leading to the end of those marriages. But even though Kody’s relationship with Robyn exposed and deepened cracks in his other marriages, it also brought some good to the Brown family. Both Kody and Janelle say that Robyn helped improve the way everyone in the plural family communicated with each other. 

Kody Brown said things were ‘far from ideal’ in the Brown family before he wed Robyn

Kody opened up about his decision to marry Robyn in the Brown family’s 2012 book, Becoming Sister Wives. 

When Kody and Robyn’s relationship began, things were “far from ideal” in the Brown family, he admitted. Although the family had entered a “comfortable groove” after years of strife, there were lingering unresolved issues. Kody’s marriage to Meri was at a low point, and there was ongoing tension between Meri, Christine, and Janelle. Though Kody had fallen hard for Robyn, adding a fourth wife seemed like a bad idea. 

“Some of us had become aggressive, some of us had buried our feelings, and we weren’t emotionally healthy enough to have another wife come into the family,” Kody wrote. 

Still, Kody, Meri, Janelle, and Christine all felt that Robyn was meant to be part of their family, so they eventually went forward with the wedding. 

Robyn Brown helped Kody Brown ‘start dealing with things I’d avoided’   

When Robyn wed Kody, she entered a complicated family situation. Though her sister wives had been welcoming prior to the wedding, integrating her into the family was difficult. All three admitted to being standoffish and cold to Kody’s newest spouse. 

“Where I had expected openness and acceptance, I found walls,” Robyn said of her early days in the Brown family.

Gradually, Robyn was able to break down those walls thanks to her willingness to talk about difficult issues, which Kody grew to appreciate. 

“When Robyn came into the family, she brought about an emotional honesty that required me to start dealing with things I’d avoided,” Kody recalled in Becoming Sister Wives.  

Janelle Brown says Robyn taught the ‘Sister Wives’ family how to argue 

Robyn’s sister wives also recognized that she brought a breath of fresh air to their troubled family dynamic. Christine described her as “emotionally and spiritually intelligent.” And Janelle said she helped the family stop having frustrating and circular arguments that didn’t go anywhere. 

“The most important thing Robyn has taught us is how to argue in a more effective and polite manner,” she wrote. 

“Before Robyn came into the family, our arguments would often end unresolved with raised voices and slammed doors. Frequently, we were all worse off after a family discussion than before,” Janelle added.

Eventually, Robyn started to take on a leadership role in family discussions.

“She keeps a cool head and navigates us through difficult waters … Thanks to Robyn, we are able to avoid bruised feelings and the long periods of unhappiness that used to follow our family talks,” Janelle said.  

For Robyn, being a voice of calm and reason was important, especially given her troubled first marriage. 

“I tried to suggest that there was a more constructive way of arguing – a safer, calmer way,” she said of her reaction to witnessing some of the Brown family’s brutal fights. Eventually, I showed them through example how to talk things out reasonably.” 

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