“Sister Wives” stars Robyn and Janelle are angry with Kody!
The downfall of Kody Brown‘s polygamous family on the TLC series Sister Wives has been a slow spiral. Kody’s relationship with his first three wives, Meri Brown, Christine Brown, and Janelle Brown, became strained once he introduced the idea of adding a fourth wife, Robyn, into the mix. The series followed the Brown family as the four women put in a valiant effort to share the patriarch of the family, who stretched himself thin attempting to spend equal time with his wives, without falling into the pitfall of playing favorites.
And yet, play favorites he did, according to Meri, Christine, and Janelle, who gradually began to notice their shared husband’s preference for his most recent wife. Resentments gradually reached a boiling point, which resulted in three wives separating from their once shared husband, leaving Kody and Robyn in a monogamous relationship.
Now that Season 19 is wrapping up with the one-on-one episodes, the wives are still pointing fingers at Robyn as the source of the discord in their relationship with Kody, while Robyn has grown resentful that her name keeps coming up in the conversation. While the wives can’t agree on who is to blame among them for the relationship discord, their anger should be pointed towards the person truly responsible for the cascade of separations.
Kody Brown Gave Up On Polygamy Before the Sister Wives
According to the way Meri, Christine, and Janelle speak about the ending of their marriages to Kody, it is clear that they feel he gave up on their relationship before the women chose to leave. Meri sought a “spiritual release” from Kody, their church’s version of a divorce, which was granted on the grounds that Kody had abandoned his marriage. This supported the narrative the wives had been saying, that Kody had been solely focused on his relationship with Robyn and their children, instead of sharing his time equally among his many marriages.
Christine was the first wife to officially leave, announcing in November 2021 that she was dissolving her 26-year marriage to Kody. Roughly a year later, Janelle would follow in Christine’s footsteps, although her break was not as clean as Christine’s, since Janelle and Meri were still locked in a land dispute with Kody. Once Christine and Janelle had left, Meri followed shortly thereafter, and all three of the original wives maintained that Kody had abandoned his duties as a husband before they decided to take the step of leaving the marriage.
Janelle and Robyn Are Focused on the Wrong Thing in the One-On-Ones
As Season 19 comes to a close, the one-on-one interviews, which typically provide further insight into specific scenes from the season, have proven frustrating for the audience. Kody and Robyn have been accused by viewers of dodging questions and refusing to take any accountability for the break-down in the relationships in the family. Kody, especially, has been the center of much criticism, since he has been stubborn about refusing to mend relationships with his children from his first three marriages. In the first two one-on-one episodes of Season 19, Robyn frequently dodges questions brought forward by host Sukanya Krishnan. But her response to one supposed slight from Janelle has caught viewers’ attention.
At one point, Janelle referred to Robyn as the “sacred cow” that was getting all of Kody’s attention. When Sukanya asked how she felt about that comment, Robyn attempted to joke by sarcastically saying “moo,” before letting out a laugh and saying “I don’t know. Whatever, I don’t care.” The comment seemed to have stung, although it isn’t clear that Janelle meant it to be offensive toward Robyn, considering she was making a point about the way Kody prioritized Robyn above all else.
Although Janelle made it clear that she did not like Robyn and Kody’s company any longer, this comment is an example of a consistent problem with the sister wives, which is that the ladies get caught up pointing fingers at each other, when the real person to blame is Kody. The wives made clear in the one-on-ones that, in their religion, it is the husband’s duty to maintain the relationship with each wife, and if there is a breakdown, it is his responsibility to address it. Kody’s choice to prioritize his relationship with Robyn is the clear source of discord in the family, and Robyn and Kody’s refusal to acknowledge that fact is the reason he continues to evade responsibility as their future on the series is in doubt.
