‘Sister Wives’: Kody Brown Caused Strategic Chaos Between His Wives But Protected Robyn Brown
Sister Wives star Kody Brown was presented as a man who loved being married. The show was an attempt to normalize polygamy, and for several seasons, the plot point worked. However, Kody appeared to strategically create chaos and family turmoil between Meri, Janelle, and Christine and protected Robyn.
Kody Brown used chaos to control his wives
During the first seasons of Sister Wives, Kody and three of his wives lived in one home, trying to balance their relationships and parent 16 children in Lehi, Utah. A fourth woman, Robyn, was presented as a fiancée with three children living four hours away in St. George.
Despite what was shown to viewers as an equal schedule between Kody and his wives, something more sinister went on behind the scenes. There always seemed to be a sense of unease between the women, and one person was at fault: Kody, who spent an extraordinary amount of time with Robyn from the beginning of their relationship and wanted his wives to accept his actions with no pushback.
Through 18 seasons of the TLC series, Kody strategically created unnecessary chaos between his wives. He purposely divided his wives, creating a level of distrust between the women and allowing them to believe the only person they could trust was Kody.
Kody was so overwhelmed with trying to balance four relationships, and the only way he could exert control was to create distrust between the women. They always appeared standoffish against each other when, in fact, they should have been trusting and supportive.
Case in point: when Janelle and Christine were married to Kody, they were not close. However, their relationship flourished when they could build a friendship outside their marriages.
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Kody led the wives out of Utah into Vegas and separated them into different rentals. Thus, the women became more independent from Kody and he became more invested in his marriage to Robyn.
Christine called Kody’s behavior out in a 2023 episode of the series, as reported by People Magazine. She said, “[When the family lived] in Vegas, we all did counseling sessions together—all the adults. In the therapy sessions, I was very direct. I said that the problem is that [Kody] prefers Robyn and prefers being in Robyn’s house more than anywhere else.
This distrust between Christine and Robyn was amplified. Robyn “Would just deny it. She’d just be like, ‘He’s not here.’ And he’d say, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m over at your house equally.’ And I was like, ‘No, you’re not. No, you’re not.'”
He wanted the women to treat one another as ‘good’ sister wives for Robyn Brown’s benefit
Once they ended their relationships with Kody Brown, Christine, Janelle, and Meri Brown became more vocal about their distrust of both him and Robyn Brown. The most expressive was Christine, who called Kody out for suggesting she was not a good sister wife to her now ex-husband’s three other wives.
“I think that what it comes down to, I think he has a favorite wife. And apparently, I’m not treating her well enough. So there’s nothing I can do. I mean, honestly, what he’s asking from me is ridiculous,” Christine claims in the above clip.
In 2022, Kody also favored Robyn in a conversation with Janelle. He told her, “I have somebody in my life who is fundamentally loyal to me and sees me as the head of the family,” Kody admits, referencing Robyn without naming her. “I’m saying to you that you and I get that if you’re loyal to me.”
“I’m not going to be this person, I’m not going to become Robyn,” Janelle admits in a confessional. “It frustrates me beyond belief that he perceives this one wife, this one relationship [as] she’s so perfect, she’s such a saint, she was so nice to us, and she was treated so wrong.”
Finally, during the Sister Wives Look Back: How It Started episode that aired in 2024, Meri called Kody out for “lying.” She asked, “Were you lying then? Or are you lying now?”
She concludes, “I think that he did love each of us. I personally think that he’s just trying to make it fit his narrative. To justify where he is now,” in a monogamous relationship with Robyn Brown.
Sister Wives is currently on hiatus. The series airs on TLC.
