Sister Wives’ Kody: Christine Split Is ‘Poisoning’ My Dynamic With Janelle

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‘Sister Wives’ Recap: Kody Brown Claims Christine Divorce Is ‘Poisoning’ His Relationship With Janelle: ‘It’s the End of an Era’

Poisoning the well? Kody Brown revealed how his split from Christine Brown has negatively affected his relationships with his remaining wives: Meri Brown, Janelle Brown and Robyn Brown.

“I’m struggling so much with this divorce,” Kody, 53, revealed during the Sunday, November 27, episode of Sister Wives. “It’s probably poisoning my relationship with Janelle a little bit and definitely poisoning my relationship with Robyn.”

The patriarch added: “I think that’s because I haven’t figured out what I am when we’re not this family. I’m out of my frame and I’m out of my purpose. I’m spiritually off course. I’m a mess.”

Christine, 50, publicly announced her split from Kody in November 2021 after more than 25 years together. Following her departure from the family, the Wyoming native is still spiritually married to first wife Meri, 51, and second wife Janelle, 53. He is also legally married to fourth wife Robyn, 43, whom he officially wed in 2014.

“No one ever wants to leave a marriage,” Christine confessed during Sunday’s episode. “I’m leaving broken hearts behind and that’s what’s hard. Starting over is hard.”

Janelle, meanwhile, noted that “there’s no rules” and “no guidelines” as to how the plural family should proceed now that Christine has left the group — which is something that Kody wasn’t handling well.

“I don’t think any of us knows what goes on now,” she said.

Kody’s relationship with Janelle continued to unravel due to her allegiance to Christine and the drama surrounding her RV lifestyle. “It’s been less than a picnic,” Kody told the cameras about Janelle living on their Coyote Pass property instead of in a house. “So it’s like, ‘Oh, we’re going to ignore the problems in the relationship.’”

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Janelle — who shares Logan, 28, Madison, 27, Hunter, 25, Garrison, 24, Gabriel, 21, and Savannah, 17, with the reality star — admitted that she just wanted her “piece” of the land to start building her dream home.

“I live in a bureaucracy,” she explained, referring to the fact that her fellow sister wives had to weigh in on her plans to build before she could start. “It’s the most frustrating part of my life.”

Kody, meanwhile, told viewers that he was having other issues with Janelle as of late.

“I feel like Janelle struggles to respect me. Or show me respect. It might be an unfair statement, I don’t know,” he said. “Maybe it’s just the way that we argue. If you don’t respect me, don’t bother with the love. It just doesn’t work in my world.”

As the duo continued to butt heads about their future, Christine told the cameras that she was no longer comfortable coming to Arizona. Instead, she was ready to be done with her Utah move once and for all — and with Kody.

“I don’t like to be here. I would prefer to be anywhere else. Because anywhere else, I’m strong and independent and fun and fearless and can rise to any occasion,” the Cooking With Just Christine star admitted. “You put me back here and I’m a wife in a loveless marriage that was going nowhere, and I don’t like to be that. It’s like a farewell to that too.”

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

Scroll down to see the biggest moments from Sister Wives season 17, episode 12:

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How Meri and Robyn Are Handling Christine Fallout

“As the news about Christine leaving has been more public and has spread, more and more people know about it,” Meri explained. “It shocks me how mean people are.”

The California native — who shares Leon, 27, with Kody — noted that Christine leaving the family has put a target on her back. “These people, like, come at me. And they’re just like, ‘Why can’t you be strong like Christine? Why don’t you leave Kody?’” she continued. “It frustrates me, because you know what, Christine has her own value regardless of Kody. I have my own value regardless of Kody.”

Robyn, for her part, recalled saying goodbye to Christine and her youngest daughter, Truely, 12, as an “awkward and horrible” experience. “Christine doesn’t want a relationship with me or my kids,” she explained. “It’s really hard to be optimistic when a bomb just went off and blew up pretty much all of your hopes. The collateral damage will last for generations.”

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Christine Officially Lives in Utah

Toward the beginning of the episode, Christine moved most of her belongings to her new pad in Utah. “It’s hard to leave. Ending a chapter is really hard no matter what,” Christine revealed while holding back tears in her Arizona kitchen.

“She’s moving today. There’s a sense that I feel like I’m, in a way, coping,” Kody told the cameras. “I really want to tell her, ‘I loved you. I loved you, why did you betray me?’ I worked for this. And that’s almost just pathetic because she’s leaving. She’s done. I’ve gotta accept that, but I don’t want to. It’s breaking my heart.”

Once Christine pulled out of her driveway, however, she felt like a whole new woman. “Everything that I was feeling before about being nervous is gone all of a sudden. We had a lot of good memories in this house,” she reflected. “A lot of great times and great parties and great gatherings. But I am so excited to just move on. Today, I get to be at home.”

Hours later, the Utah native arrived back in her home state and daughters Mykelti, 26, and Aspyn, 27, were ready to help her get settled with Truely. (Christine and Kody also share son Paedon, 23, and daughters Gwendlyn, 20, and Ysabel, 19.)

“I’ve been moving toward family. I made the right decision,” Christine said. “I don’t want to move anything in yet. … I want to tour. I’m just excited to have it be my space alone for a while.”

Aspyn, meanwhile, admitted her parents’ split has “definitely changed” the family dynamic. “It’s totally different now,” she added.

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Kody Wants Janelle to Buy Christine’s House

After the first buyer fell through on Christine’s Arizona house, Kody suggested that Janelle purchase the home. Janelle, however, didn’t like the idea because it meant she would have to delay building on her Coyote Pass lot once again.

“I still think you’re not being open minded,” Kody told Janelle when she tried to explain that she couldn’t afford to build and pay off Christine’s mortgage. “I can’t even get a construction loan if I buy this house,” she said.

Janelle revealed that she wanted to “go forward with this build,” noting that she wanted her “own house” not someone else’s property. “It sort of felt like he was using me and my buying power to save a house that he loves,” she told the cameras, claiming, “He’s not listening at all.”

Kody, who made it clear he doesn’t want to live in Janelle’s RV anymore, added: “If she can’t work with me to solve the problems then she gets to solve the problems on her own.”

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Is Christine Still a Sister Wife?

“I’m optimistic that everything will be fine, but I don’t know. Things are really broken,” Christine said of her relationships with her fellow sister wives. “Janelle and I are fine. Every time I’ve come into town, I’ve seen her. It’s taken off the label of sister wife and we’re just friends. But we’re closer than friends because we’ve raised kids together.”

Janelle, for her part, agreed with Christine’s assessment of their friendship. “Of all my sister wives — the ones that are all married to Kody. Christine was always the heart of that relationship with me,” she confessed. “I’ve struggled with Meri and we’ve worked for a lot of years to figure ourselves out. Robyn there’s a lot of problems. But Christine, truly is in my head, the definition of a sister wife. I think we’re still sister wives.”

Christine also pointed out that she hadn’t spoken to Robyn or Meri since their final goodbye as a group. “I think that my relationship with them is going to stay like this. Where when we see each other, we’ll be [amicable] and we’ll be kind, but we won’t seek each other out,” the TV personality added. “I mean, things could change years later. I don’t think there’s a lot of trust between all three of us at all.”

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Why Janelle Can’t Start Building on Coyote Pass

During the episode, Janelle unveiled plans for her new house, but Kody quickly shut down her building timeline. He claimed that the family had to redo the plot subdivision on Coyote Pass and pay off the lot before she could break ground.

“This is typical Kody. Things aren’t going awesome. It’s been a hard summer. And now, all of a sudden, this is all my fault,” Janelle said during a confessional. “It’s all my problem. And I’m somehow inconveniencing him. It’s astounding.”

Kody later reflected on how his family’s dynamic has changed over the past few years, noting how separate their lives have all become. “As those older children started to grow up and leave, it stopped being our children. It’s not necessarily sinister, but the family’s not working together anymore,” he explained. “It’s an evolution in the family that’s left me feeling alone in many ways and not supportive of my wives.”

The father of 18 then confessed that he wasn’t exactly willing to help Janelle move forward with her project after he received pushback from her and two of their sons during COVID-19 restrictions.

“There’s an element that I’m struggling with here. We’ve just gone through this entire COVID thing where I’ve been left feeling pretty disrespected. I’m not going to break my back to work for you when you don’t respect me,” he told the cameras. “Janelle needs somebody who will break their back to get this project done and that’s not me right now. Men don’t feel love from women who don’t respect them.”

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Kody and Christine Are Over Each Other

While Christine was back in town to load up her final things, Kody reluctantly stopped by and helped her pack up the trailer. However, the twosome didn’t make it very long before they began bickering over how to move the final items.

“All I really need his help for is the snowblower. He doesn’t need to be here micromanaging,” Christine said during a confessional after telling Kody to his face that she was “in charge” of the situation.

Kody, meanwhile, told the cameras: “She’s proving she’s the independent woman now by telling me how the best way to pack this is. It bothered me to the core.”

Christine later explained that it is “super important to be independent as a plural wife,” despite what her ex-husband might think. “We’ve had arguments like this forever, but I was actually in charge,” Kody admitted. “She’s reversed the roles.”

His ex-wife, for her part, was happy with how the interaction played out. “I think we all learned a lesson today: I can stand up for myself and be strong and make a stand and I can also not ask him for help ever again,” she concluded. “Both have been great decisions made today.”