‘Sister Wives’: Kody Brown Calls Janelle a ‘Victim’—But Isn’t That Robyn’s Role?

Almost all of Kody Brown’s marriages have unraveled on TLC’s Sister Wives. Although he is still married to Robyn Brown, season 19 sees Kody hopeful for a reconciliation with Janelle Brown. In a sit-down, she accuses him again of favoritism toward Robyn Brown, a fact he denies. He in turn, calls her a “victim,” but looking back throughout the show’s history, isn’t that Robyn’s role?

Robyn Brown has historically been the ‘victim’ of the ‘Sister Wives’ franchise

Throughout 19 seasons of Sister Wives, more than one Brown family member has called out Robyn Brown for playing the “victim.” Therefore, it was ironic Kody told Janelle she was doing the same thing his favorite wife had been accused of for years.

During a sit-down with Kody Brown to put a period on the end of their marriage, Janelle advocated for herself and her children against Kody’s allegations of neglect. Janelle was exasperated that Kody wanted plural marriage but had “this person that you worship” over everyone.

“That’s part of being a husband in a plural marriage,” she argued. “You have to be able to hear everybody equally.”

The Sister Wives star shot back, “Janelle has a card. It says victim on it. She likes to play it.” Janelle explained she was “trying to speak up and abdicate and protect” herself and resents being “labeled as something negative.”

Throughout the series’ history, Robyn positioned herself as a victim in the Brown family. She felt disrespected by many of the older children. They were expected to welcome her and her children into their families without question.

Robyn was caught on camera multiple times playing the victim when the older kids weren’t happy she was pregnant. She appeared to resent them for seeing through her actions, so she allegedly destroyed their credibility with their dad.

Robyn cried that her children weren’t accepted by the family, but other family members have debunked that. She manipulated Kody to try to work on his relationships with his older children to publicly shift the blame off of her for his failure as a father and onto him.

Robyn once clapped back at Christine Brown’s aunt, saying: ‘Do not make me a victim sweetie’

Kody Brown’s fourth wife was caught on camera during season 6, episode 9, clapping back at Christine Brown’s aunt Kristyn Decker during an anti-polygamist debate. She said Decker twisted her words, adding, “Do not make me a victim sweetie.”

For Sister Wives viewers, that moment showed Robyn Brown’s true colors. She never was the “cap in hand” person Kody Brown historically claimed she was.

From the moment she entered the Brown family, Robyn played the victim card. She cried on camera about being blamed for Kody’s actions, not being accepted by others, having her children treated as outsiders, and, most of all, not manipulating her husband.

The biggest problem with Kody and Robyn is that they forget they have been filmed for over a decade. All fans have to do is watch past episodes to realize Robyn and Kody rewrite history to suit their needs.

Is Robyn the real victim of ‘Sister Wives’?

Kody Brown has repeatedly emphasized as the series progressed that he never loved Meri, Janelle, and Christine Brown. During seasons 18 and 19, he has said on more than one occasion that he was playing a role.

However, the series documented the family’s interactions for years, and Kody said more than once how much he loved his wives Meri, Janelle, and Christine. He complains they didn’t treat him as the head of their household, but he left them on their own while he lived full-time with Robyn Brown.

Therefore, to just live day-to-day, Kody’s wives had to become adept at figuring things out for themselves, paying their bills, and troubleshooting their problems. This gave them the tools they needed to be independent of Kody while Robyn continued to rely on him for all her needs.

The women called out this favoritism throughout the latter seasons of the series. Meri, Janelle, and Christine all called out Kody for his actions in season 18.

Perhaps a Reddit user summarized it best, “Gaslighting us. We see her as a victim of her feeling sorry for herself which she does. She doesn’t feel sorry for herself, she would have to be losing something for that, but she wants us to to feel sorry for her. Now that we criticize that, she’s mixing it up, deflecting the issues away from her, trying to gaslight the audience.”

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