‘Sister Wives’: Should Kody Brown Publicly Apologize for His Negative Treatment of Children, Wives in Season 19?
Over the past several seasons, Sister Wives has focused on the discord between several of Kody Brown’s adult children, their father, and his wife, Robyn Brown. Their family strife became a much-discussed storyline with Kody at the helm, talking poorly about his children in defense of Robyn. In light of his son Garrison Brown’s death, should Kody publicly express regret for his statements in Season 19?
Should Kody Brown publicly apologize for all his past statements during Season 19?
Throughout Seasons 16 through 18, Kody Brown implemented a series of rules regarding the coronavirus (COVID-19) to protect his family members. He insisted they adhere to strict restrictions, or he would not visit.
However, while he left his wives to figure out how to navigate the pandemic independently, Kody hunkered down with Robyn and their five children. This caused his extended family to feel neglected.
Therefore, when his sons Janelle, Garrison, and Gabriel called their father and Robyn out for their behavior, Kody became defensive. He blasted them for their negativity toward his legal wife.
During one specific conflict with his second wife, Kody told Janelle, “I don’t have sons. They’re all dead to me.” Thus, a storyline that ran for two seasons unfolded. Kody called his sons “jerks” and accused Garrison of being a “narcissist.”
This estrangement continued throughout the two seasons, and by Season 18, Garrison told his siblings, Janelle and Christine Brown, that Robyn “could have” Kody and that “they didn’t need a father figure anymore.”
On March 4, Garrison died. Fans couldn’t seem to forget how much Kody and Robyn apparently had a hand in his unhappiness and called them out on social media.
Fans were further enraged when Kody and Robyn sat front and center during Garrison’s memorial service. Instead of consoling Janelle over their shared loss, he sat with his hand locked on Robyn’s thigh.
As the Brown family films Season 19, will Kody face the public and apologize? Has he already apologized to Gabriel, who was lumped with Garrison as Kody’s target? Or, sadly, will Kody continue to treat his relationships with his children as meaty Sister Wives storylines?
Why does Kody Brown spend all his time defending Robyn Brown on ‘Sister Wives’?
Kody Brown has always treated Robyn Brown differently than his other wives. From the moment they wed in 2010, he has praised her for her devotion to their family.
However, Robyn hasn’t brought much to the clan except debt (documented by Starcasm) totaling about $32,000, what appears to be a victim mentality (she calls herself the “Brown Family Scapegoat”), and a devotion to Kody that he lapped up, to the detriment of his other marriages.
Garrison and Gabriel confronted Robyn over what they believed was her hand in Kody’s extreme COVID-19 rules. However, she denied having anything to do with it.
Nonetheless, Kody believed his sons were attacking his wife, which set family drama into motion. Kody felt it necessary to defend Robyn to everyone in his family, from his children to his wives.
He told Janelle that Robyn was “fundamentally loyal” and vented at Christine she was a “s*** sister wife” to Robyn. She, in turn, always appeared to play clueless to Kody’s behavior when it came to her.
Longtime viewers believe Robyn has mastered the role of damsel in distress to keep Kody defending her. But now that there are no other wives in the picture, and with the tragedy of Garrison’s death behind the family, will their codependent dynamic continue to work?
Most of all, will anyone want to watch the continued breakdown of a family that culminated in tragedy? Should the show end once and for all? Here’s what got them to this point.
Was Robyn Brown’s arrival the tipping point for the Brown family on ‘Sister Wives’?
Upon Sister Wives‘ TLC debut in 2010, the Brown family painted themselves as a fully functioning polygamist household. Kody Brown, a father to 18 children, was also a husband to four women, with one legal marriage and three spiritual ones.
However, as the seasons evolved and familial changes continued to shift Kody’s focus, the show became more about the relationships between him and his wives rather than the big picture of the whole family. From the beginning, Kody was stretched to the limit, so taking on a fourth wife after 16 years was risky.
Robyn Brown’s manipulation became the tipping point for the Brown family. Although the clan had familial struggles before her arrival, after she joined the family, Kody began to spend more time with her and less with Meri, Janelle, and Christine Brown,
This, in turn, caused friction between family members, who blamed Robyn and Kody for shifting the focus in the family toward the needs of her and her children rather than the rest of the clan.
Thus, the Brown family became cast as a once-whole family splintered off into different homes led by women, with Kody on the fringe of their lives. No longer spiritually wed to any of his former wives, Kody Brown is now a man on an island of his choosing, but will fans want to travel there?
Sister Wives is currently on hiatus. The series airs on TLC.
