All is fair in love and plural families! Kody Brown has captivated audiences for years on Sister Wives as the network explores his relationship with his four wives — but do all of the women get along?
The Wyoming native married Meri Brown in 1990. Three years later, Janelle Brown joined the family and Christine Brown followed in 1994. It wasn’t until 2010, that fourth wife, Robyn Brown, came into the fold.
Four years later, the Brown family faced another change when Kody divorced Meri to legally wed Robyn and adopt her three children from her first marriage.
“I did not sign up to be in this family to only have Kody in my life,” Robyn told Meri during a January 2022 episode of the TLC series before getting choked up. “As much as I love Kody and it is great to have him around, it is stressing me out. I’m worried about the kids that aren’t seeing their dad, and I’m worried about the wives that aren’t seeing Kody.”
Robyn, who spent a lot of time with Kody during the COVID-19 shutdowns in 2020, has been accused of stealing Kody’s attention for years.
That strain became even more evident after Christine announced in November 2021 that she and Kody had separated after more than 25 years.
“I think that at the beginning it was really hard. Blending families together is really difficult,” Christine explained during the Sister Wives: One on One tell-all special, which aired in January 2022. “There were a lot of frustrations and hurt feelings on both sides of it. We all came out of [it] scarred. I never had any intention to alienate Robyn and her kids.”
Robyn, for her part, cried over how broken the Brown family has become in recent years. “It makes me angry. I just don’t know why they’re not figuring this stuff out and talking. Finding their compromise and finding the things that they love about each other,” she said. “I can’t fix it for them. I can try and persuade. I can beg. It’s my family.”
Christine’s ups and downs with Kody continued to play out during season 17 of the TLC series, which aired in fall 2022 and was filmed in summer 2021. In addition to their split, it became clear that Kody’s COVID rules were keeping all of the wives separate — causing even more tension in the group.
When Christine did tell Meri, Janelle and Robyn about her move to Utah, which fans saw during an October 2022 episode, she confessed she was unsure about how it would affect all of the women’s relationships moving forward.
“I don’t want to burn bridges at the end of this,” Christine told the cameras at the time. “I can’t be their sister wife anymore. I can be their friend.”
The drama between Kody and Janelle also began to affect the plural family during season 17. In December 2022, Janelle revealed that she and Kody has been “separated for several months.”
That same month, Meri confirmed during the tell-all special that after Kody “made the decision” that he didn’t “consider” them married, they were living even more separate lives. She noted that while she “would” consider a reconciliation, her spouse “already made the decision” that they’re done. He even allegedly told her on their anniversary, “‘We’re not married,’” but didn’t want to go public with that information.
Scroll down to see where Kody’s wives stand with each other now: