Fairy-tale romances? Kody Brown got candid about whether any of his relationships actually started off on a good note — and why he really married Christine Brown — in part 2 of Sister Wives: One-on-One special.
“We’re establishing a family that I really don’t know how to establish,” Kody, 53, said of his early days as a husband to three wives during the Sunday, January 1, episode of the TLC series. (It wasn’t until 2010 that his fourth wife, Robyn Brown, came into the picture.)
The Wyoming native confessed that his marriage to first wife Meri Brown, whom he legally wed in 1990, was “hard” from the start. When Janelle Brown spiritually married him in 1993, he called the union a “blessing of dilution.”
Kody explained that Janelle, 53, coming into the fold “diluted this relationship I had with Meri.” He confessed that “when Janelle and I got married I thought, ‘Wow, this is something special,’” but looking back he was just “bringing more people into a problem.”
Janelle — who revealed in December that she and Kody had been “separated for several months” after nearly 30 years — agreed with her estranged spouse’s assessment of their early family life.
“We really struggled. It was everything,” the Strive With Janelle founder said of her dynamic with Meri, 51, at the beginning. “I’m someone who just stuff, stuff, stuffs [things down and then] blow[s]. Meri is really direct. It was almost offensive to me.”
Christine, who spiritually married Kody in 1994, echoed Janelle’s sentiments, saying that Meri was “more aggressive with her conversations.” She joked that she would “have an ulcer” when trying to speak with the California native.
“She’s just really confrontational. The kitchen was an issue when we all shared a kitchen. Everything had to be perfect,” Christine, 50, said. “It was very, very stressful. That was the biggest thing. I never knew if she was mad or not mad.”
When it came to his union with the Cooking With Just Christine star, Kody confessed that it wasn’t exactly built on love. (The couple announced in November 2021 that they had called it quits after more than 25 years of marriage.)
“Christine basically asked to be in our family. I felt a lot of pressure,” the patriarch claimed on Sunday’s episode. “Christine … she was basically royalty in our church. I look back and it wasn’t fair for me to go, ‘Oh, this will make me cool in our church.’”
When host Sukanya Krishnan asked whether the marriage was tied to his ego, Kody confessed, “I was a polygamist, it’s all ego, baby!”
As Kody’s relationships with Christine and Janelle fell apart — and they grew closer as friends — Meri held onto anything that her spouse would throw her way. During part one of the Sister Wives: One-on-One special, which aired in December, Meri revealed that her relationship with Kody was over, but not because she left him.
“I think Kody’s already decided [our fate],” the Bed and Breakfast owner said on Sunday. “We have a lot of history and I love him. And he has chosen not to love me and not to want a relationship with me. So far as to consider himself not married to me. So, I think that’s what we’re sitting with.”
Robyn, who legally wed Kody in 2014 after he divorced Meri, has seemingly stuck by her partner’s side through all the drama. (Meri remained spiritually married to Kody from 2014 to 2022.)
Kody hinted at his strong bond with Robyn during Sunday’s episode when he was asked who he trusts now. “I think that’s obvious,” he quipped.
Part 3 of the Sister Wives: One-on-One special airs on TLC Sunday, January 8, at 10 p.m. ET.
Scroll down for the biggest bombshells from part 2 of the tell-all: