‘Sister Wives’: Kody Brown’s Relationships Serve One Purpose, to Feed His Ego

Sister Wives star Kody Brown has always had transactional relationships with his family members. Since the family’s TLC series is based around him, his wives were secondary characters, and his children were third. Throughout the series’ 19 seasons, Kody’s relationships appeared to serve one purpose, to feed his ego. When a wife or child no longer did that, they appeared to be discarded.

Kody reigning supreme over his family was an ego boost

When Kody Brown’s family grew to 13 children and three wives, he appeared to be very involved in his family’s life. While no one knows what goes on behind closed doors, viewers believed Kody was a great dad who gave each wife the individual attention they needed.

However, that appeared to change when he met and married Robyn Brown in 2011. Instantly they became an exclusive couple, causing harm to Kody’s relationships with Meri, Janelle, and Christine Brown and their shared children.

Kody’s connection to his children was stronger when they were younger. But when they began showing signs of independence, he began to take this as a personal affront. Kody’s fragile ego couldn’t handle anyone who bucked his word.

However, Robyn knew how to play the game and win with Kody, ensuring she and her children regarded him as the head of their household. That was what Kody wanted, and Robyn inflated his ego by allowing Kody to reign sovereign over their home while his other wives and children lived independently.

His older children have Kody Brown’s number

Many of Kody Brown’s older children have spoken out about the transactional relationships they have with their father. Of the 13 OG kids from Kody’s marriages to Meri, Janelle, and Christine, it appears many of them don’t speak to Kody regularly, if not at all.

During season 19’s episode titled “The Year of Release,” Gabriel Brown, Janelle’s son with Kody, spoke out about how he was “OK” with never seeing Kody again.

After a long period where he didn’t hear from his father, Gabe said Kody texted him. He told his mother Janelle, “It was like strange because he was like, ‘Hey, I miss you.’ And then, he was like, he kept, like, phrasing it like I owed him an apology.”

“Eventually, I was just like, ‘Hey, unless you’re, like, actually ready to have a relationship and fix things, then we’re not going to talk anymore,'” Gabe continued. “He came back a couple of days later and texted me. He’s like, ‘Hey, I’ve been like thinking about what you’ve been saying. I forgive you, Please forgive me.’ I was like, ‘Forgive me for what?’ Like, what’s going on here?”

He said, “I told Dad that if he doesn’t change and he can’t take accountability, then I just won’t ever see him again. And I’m perfectly OK with that.”

‘Sister Wives’ viewers have had it with Kody Brown’s inflated ego

All of Kody’s marriages appeared to be transactional. Each wife played into Kody’s ego to get more time and attention from him. In a Reddit thread devoted to the series, several fans shared their thoughts about this topic.

“The emotional maturity of the ‘kidults’ versus Kody is mind-blowing! Kody has a false opinion of his kids never growing up because of Robyn’s style of infantilizing her kids,” wrote one Redditor.

“I think where Kody went wrong was expecting to do nothing to meet the individual needs of his very different wives. Instead, he fully thought it was they who should meet him where he was because he had so much to juggle. Does he not see that Robyn being the new wife by default was going to do what she needed to fully acclimate? How can he consider that loyal?” asked a second viewer.

A third fan deduced, “It’s not soulmates or love. It’s ego-stroking, providing services on demand, and making him feel respected and superior in exchange for monetary compensation.”

Sister Wives airs Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on TLC.