‘Sister Wives’: Janelle Questions Her Love for Kody and Suggests a Relationship ‘Reset’

In a preview for the upcoming Sister Wives Season 17 episode, Janelle Brown and her husband, Kody Brown, sit down to discuss the reality of their marriage. With their marriage falling apart, Janelle questions if she still has “love” for Kody. She suggests to him that they “reset” their relationship.

Kody says there’s something ‘fundamentally wrong’ about his marriage to Janelle

Janelle and Kody have been spiritually married since 1993. Throughout their decades-long plural marriage, they’ve been able to talk about their problems honestly. But in a preview for the upcoming December 4 episode of Sister Wives (via US Weekly), Kody doesn’t know if they will be able to fix their marriage anymore.

“I mean, you got to know it too. There is something fundamentally wrong here. Is this just what the human condition is?” Kody asks Janelle. “I don’t know,” she replies.

Kody is questioning how well this marriage is “working” for either him or Janelle anymore. “I don’t think you and I know how to be real about things with each other,” Kody tells her.

Janelle is trying to understand him, but she feels disconnected from him. She tells the cameras, “It seems almost like there’s this gulf [between us] now. Especially where he’s like, ‘I want this.’ And I’m like, ‘I can’t give you that.'”

But Janelle isn’t willing to let her marriage go that quickly. “I just feel like I have to do everything I can to make this work. I’m not even sure it’s possible to come back from where we are,” she tells the cameras.

Kody isn’t suggesting a breakup or a divorce, as Janelle thinks, and he blames their communication issues.

Janelle questions if she still loves Kody and suggests a ‘reset’

While Kody is telling Janelle their marriage is no longer functional, Janelle disagrees. She tells him, “You’re my best friend. You’re the person I want to tell everything to.” But Kody doesn’t see their relationship that way. “To say that I’m close to Janelle would be an overstatement,” Kody told the cameras in his confessional.

While Kody’s not feeling especially close to his 2nd wife, he doesn’t want to lose her. And he’s worried that Janelle will end up divorcing him like his third wife, Christine Brown, has done. “I don’t want to have happen with Janelle what has happened with Christine,” he says.

And Janelle is in the same boat, questioning if she still loves her husband. “I still have so much affection for Kody. I don’t know if it’s love,” Janelle admits.

“Savanah is going to be 17. It’s almost like we’re on the cusp of this empty nest thing, and it feels like we need to do a reset,” Janelle suggests to Kody. And he agrees. The two go about eating their dinner, and the conversation ends there.

In the confessional, Kody admits he’s not close enough to tell Janelle how he’s really feeling. “It’s not safe enough for me to sit here and say, ‘Hey sweetheart, I’m brokenhearted because of this divorce, and I need you to help me heal, please.'”

Kody compares Janelle to Robyn

Breaking one of the most basic polygamist rules, Kody compares two of his wives. As seen in the preview at the end of the latest episode, Kody insinuates that Robyn is more “loyal” than Janelle. “I have somebody in my life who is fundamentally loyal to me,” Kody says to Janelle.

In Janelle’s confessional, she says, “Ok, I’m spittin’ mad now.” She says, “I’m not going to become Robyn.” In Kody’s confessional, he admits that his marriage to Janelle is “unraveling” because of Janelle’s need for independence. Meanwhile, Janelle is asking herself why she’s still there, trying to make things work.

With Jannelle getting increasingly frustrated with Kody’s demands and Kody feeling disrespected by Janelle’s choices, their marital problems continue to grow. Audiences will have to tune in next week to find out what happens next between Kody and Janelle.

New episodes of Sister Wives Season 17 air Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on TLC.