Christine Did the Family a ‘Favor’ by Leaving

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‘Sister Wives’ Recap: Kody Brown Says Christine Is Doing the Family a ‘Favor’ by Leaving After ‘Helping’ Him Fix Their ‘Mess’

Taking his jabs. Kody Brown didn’t hold back about his true feelings toward Christine Brown after she revealed on the latest episode of Sister Wives that she was moving in one week.

“I thank you for coming into the family and helping me sort of gather up this mess that I was in,” Kody, 53, told Christine, 50, during the Sunday, November 13, episode of the TLC series, while sitting alongside the rest of his wives: Meri Brown, Janelle Brown and Robyn Brown.

Meri, however, didn’t appreciate her spouse’s comments, as she felt they were a dig at her and Janelle’s dynamic as sister wives before Christine joined the family in 1994. Meri, 51, married Kody in 1990, and he spiritually wed Janelle, 53, three years later.

Robyn joined the group in 2010. Four years later, she legally married Kody following his divorce from Meri. Kody is still spiritually married to his first wife. (The legal union made it possible for the Wyoming native to adopt Robyn’s three children from her first marriage.)

“It stings when he says that because it’s directed at me, probably,” Meri explained on the episode. “When Janelle came into the family, I was jealous. I was young. I was not yet fully mature. We just — we’re dealing with a lot of new situations. He’s like, ‘Oh, let’s get Christine to come and save the day.’ That stings.”

Kody claimed during that group’s conversation that Christine was never there for the family. “She quit loving me years ago. Now that we’re here, I’m just so upset,” he reflected later on. “It’s not the breakup of two people. It’s the breakup of a family.”

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Janelle, for her part, took offense to Kody’s allegations about Christine.

“I think that’s a low blow. I think she was about the family,” the Utah native told the cameras of how involved Christine was during her kids’ childhoods. “She’s been about the family. She’s been about the kids. She needed more of a relationship with him. There’s a point where it just doesn’t work anymore. Why be miserable? Miserable for years.”

Kody appeared to be at his wits’ end while speaking with Christine, who publicly announced their split in November 2021 after more than 25 years. She has since relocated from Arizona to Utah with her and Kody’s youngest child, Truely, now 12.

“You came into our lives. You did us a favor. You’re leaving. I almost feel like it’s a favor too,” he quipped during the TLC episode. “But I don’t know, because I’m still upset.”

Robyn, 43, later chimed in about the “awkward” family meeting, saying in a confessional interview, “They’re sort of hashing out their relationship in front of us.”

Janelle was also taken aback by the timing of the uncomfortable confrontation. “I don’t know who this patriarchal guy is,” she confessed to the cameras.

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

Scroll down to see the biggest moments from Sister Wives season 17, episode 10:

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Kody Claims Christine Wasn’t There for the Family

“This is what I remember: ‘I was interested in the family, not in the man.’ That’s been your mantra. But it became about the man and not about the family. That’s the reason that I’m struggling in this,” Kody told his former spouse after Christine claimed she chose to leave him after he changed his mind about possibly moving back to Utah. “It wasn’t about that family. This is my frustration. I’m angry that you weren’t interested in investing in the family. It breaks my heart. Now we’re at this point where it’s just over.”

Christine argued that she “did love the idea of the family.” However, she said that if they didn’t have a “good marriage,” they couldn’t continue to be a strong plural unit.

“I did so much for the family. My house was always open to everybody,” she told the cameras. “The big family is great, but when you feel like you’re a minimal person in Kody’s big picture and you really don’t even matter — it changes the perspective on everything.”

The Utah native confessed to Kody and her fellow sister wives that she’d been “heartbroken for years” before she decided to walk away from their family.

“I’m so upset about how this has gone down. I don’t know the exact reason. I have no idea what’s going on with me,” Kody said during a confessional. “If I really boil it down — it feels like, after all I have done, I’m being rejected anyway. And it’s just not rejection for me. It’s rejection for some of my kids and my other wives.”

Credit: Courtesy of Robyn Brown/Instagram

Why Is Kody’s Relationship With the Kids Strained?

“I think your relationship is off with your kids because of COVID, not because of me,” Christine told her ex after he tried to put the blame on her amid their divorce. “Bull. You’re telling them. She’s playing a game. She’s been playing games for years. I just call bulls—t,” Kody said during a confessional.

While speaking to the group, however, Kody admitted he couldn’t “figure out” why he had become “so angry” after calling it quits with Christine. His remaining wives, meanwhile, pointed to his stress with the divorce as being the catalyst for his shift in personality and overall problems with the family.

“He’s just been off. He’s gone to a more angry place quicker than he ever did,” Janelle later explained. “I finally realized [that] he’s grieving.”

The patriarch later told the cameras, that after all their ups and downs, he no longer wanted to pretend with Christine. “I just feel like, for the past 14 years, I’ve just been sucking it up with her. Just trying to be a loving husband. Now that she’s leaving, I felt like giving her a piece of my mind,” he said. “This ain’t my fault. You did this. [That’s] what I feel like. I don’t care if that’s not fair. That’s how I feel. She did this. She’s going to go around and tell my kids that I didn’t love her. I feel like she needs to realize here with this that she wasn’t loving me.”

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Robyn and Christine’s Drama Comes to a Head

During the family meeting, Robyn revealed that she was “struggling” and was “not completely calm” as Christine explained how quickly she was leaving town. “I don’t mean to push you away. I’m just frustrated,” she told Christine.

Christine understood where Robyn was coming from, but when asked whether they could “work some stuff out” after she moved to Utah, the Cooking With Just Christine star shut down Kody’s fourth wife.

“I do see us having fun together. I think Janelle and I are super close. I’m not that close with the rest of you and for right now I kind of need it that way,” Christine said. “I’m not trying to end it that way.”

Robyn was taken aback but proceeded to ask another question, wondering what she was to Christine following the breakup.

“She’s treated you like dirt from the very beginning. That’s the relationship you have with her. That’s the reason I’m angry,” Kody chimed in before yelling at Christine. “You never tried to have really good relationship with these other people. You wanted to renegotiate a relationship with me. But you wouldn’t even have a decent one with them. It was always about the kids.”

He broke down, saying, “Man, just the knife in the kidneys over all these years. The sacrifices that I made to love you. Wasted. Accountability is what I’ve been asking for here, and you’re running away.”

While Christine argued that Kody’s allegations were “not true” and that she “never tried to treat anybody like crap,” the discussion ended with Kody storming off and Robyn crying by her car in Meri’s arms.

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Meri Weighs In on Kody and Christine’s Issues

“My immediate thought was, ‘I might as well stand up and leave,’” Meri told the cameras after hearing that Christine wasn’t interested in being friends at the moment. “She doesn’t want to work on anything.”

Kody’s first wife continued: “I have seen her non-acceptance of Robyn. I have seen her disdain for me through the years. So, as much as it hurts me, I’m glad to know where she actually stands.”

She later added that Kody’s reaction was “not just emotions.” Instead, it was a “real” response from the head of the family. “I’m glad he said it,” Meri added.

Credit: Courtesy of Christine Brown/Instagram

Janelle Has Christine’s Back

“I’m not trying to take sides, but I feel like Kody was really harsh,” she said during a confessional. “It seemed really pointed to one relationship.”

Kody, on the other hand, took issue with Janelle seemingly taking Christine’s side after the split. “Janelle has a great deal of sympathy for Christine during this divorce,” he explained. “But it’s a sadness to me because Janelle has shown me no tenderness.”

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Kody and Janelle Continue to Butt Heads Over Land

“We’ve all sort of retreated back to our little holes,” Janelle explained after the family’s tense conversation, noting that she had refocused on building her home on their Coyote Pass property. “My eggs are all in this basket and I am just moving forward. I’m trying hard to build myself something here.”

Kody, meanwhile, got real about Janelle’s building issues, noting that she can’t start construction on her house until the family pays off the property. “I have been invested in this from the very beginning,” he claimed. “She doesn’t like me being involved because I disagree with her. She just does whatever she wants.”

Janelle, for her part, confessed that she’d gotten herself into a “very stupid position” when it comes to any chance of becoming an independent woman. “If I were to leave, or want to leave right now, I would have no estate. I have nothing to leave to my kids,” she said. “My hands are completely tied because everything I have asset-wise has everybody else’s name on it too.”

The mother of six later revealed that after going along with the purchase of Christine and Robyn’s Arizona homes, she wanted the family to back her choice to build her dream house.

“I’m not asking him to do anything. I’m not asking him for any money except for the money that the family has pledged to pay off this property,” Janelle told the cameras. “After that I don’t care. I’m just trying to build something for myself here.”

Credit: Courtesy of Robyn Brown/Instagram

The Youngest Brown Child Is in Kindergarten

Toward the end of the episode, Robyn and Kody celebrated their youngest child, daughter Ariella, 6, going to her first day of kindergarten. The couple, who also share Solomon, 11, noted just how “emotional” it was for them to hit this milestone for their baby girl.

“I think it was the hardest drop-off I’ve ever done. He was getting a little bit emotional,” Robyn said during a confessional. “It was kind of like this moment we sat in it going like, ‘Woah. This is kind of difficult to do.’”

Kody, for his part, agreed that it was a big deal for Ariella to be off to school. “Ariella is my 18th child. And there is this sense that this is the last,” he said. “I sort of want to every day engage her and find out what your day is like. It is a poignant thought — sobering, if you will — to think that this is your last out of so many.”

The milestone also resonated with the rest of the sister wives, who reflected on how good of a father Kody was when their kids were young. “Kody, especially when they were little, was such a good dad,” Janelle told the cameras. “I thought Kody was stellar. He did such an amazing job relating to his kids.”

Meri agreed, saying, “When each of Kody’s kids were born, they all just brought so much joy to him. He loved hanging out with them. He was always a really, really good dad.”

Christine, meanwhile, pointed out that it was “important” to her to “keep the good memories” that her kids have with Kody “present” following their split.