Stuck between a rock and a hard place. Kody Brown and Janelle Brown hit a wall in their relationship on the latest episode of Sister Wives after they agreed to disagree about their children.
“It’s been a bit of a civil war. The whole family in a way,” Kody, 53, said during the Sunday, December 11, episode of the TLC series following his split from Christine Brown in 2021. “I’m looking at Janelle wondering whose side she’s on.”
Janelle, 53, meanwhile, made it clear to both Kody and her remaining fellow sister wives, Meri Brown and Robyn Brown, that her kids have felt unwelcomed recently. Janelle and Kody, who spiritually wed in 1993, share six kids: Logan, 28, Madison, 27, Hunter, 25, Garrison, 24, Gabriel, 21, and Savannah, 17.
“To be honest with you I really don’t know if I want to do the work. It feels like I’m being forced to choose between my children and this group,” the Utah native told the group. “I don’t feel like my children are welcome.”
Janelle previously butted heads with her spouse over their sons Garrison and Gabriel following the boy’s fallout with their dad during COVID-19 quarantine. Kody argued that his sons were disrespectful of his rules at the time and later claimed they were mean to Robyn, 43, which didn’t sit well with him.
“Kody [has] basically told me they can’t come for Christmas unless they do a big apology,” Janelle said during Sunday’s episode. “And they’re like, well, ‘Hell no, we’re not going to do that.’”
The Becoming Sister Wives coauthor proceeded to tell the family that “Garrison and Gabriel aren’t the only children who have problems.” She revealed that “there’s a general disgruntlement” with all of her kids.
Kody grew frustrated by the situation and as a result, started to raise his voice. Janelle, for her part, felt like she was being attacked and threatened to leave the conversation.
“At the end of the day, I think I’d rather be with my kids. [And] you’re getting upset with me,” she told her partner. Janelle then confessed to the group, “There’s a strong pull to just run away and do the easy thing.”
The mother of six doubled down on her comments during a confessional, revealing, “I don’t even recognize this family. Something has really changed for me.”
Kody, on the other hand, told the cameras he’s “exhausted” from all of the drama. “If you’re not with me, you’re against me,” he added. “F off.”
While Kody later apologized to all of his wives for getting “caught in my emotion here,” Janelle concluded during the episode that she didn’t know what would happen next for the family.
“I just think we’ve never had divides this deep. And now Christine has left and that’s obviously [a] very, very big departure from what our family has looked like for many years,” she confessed. “This is like the ultimate test of our family. Can we hold it together with all of this?”
Sister Wives airs on TLC Sundays at 10 p.m. ET.
Scroll down to see all the bombshell revelations from Sister Wives season 17, episode 14: