‘Sister Wives’ Recap: Kody Brown Claims Janelle Is Making ‘Single Woman Decisions’ While She Questions Whether Their Marriage Is Still ‘Viable’

Credit: Justin Stephens/Discovery (2)

‘Sister Wives’ Recap: Kody Brown Claims Janelle Is Making ‘Single Woman Decisions’ While She Questions Whether Their Marriage Is Still ‘Viable’

Divorce round two? Kody Brown accused wife Janelle Brown of making “single woman decisions” amid their marital woes. “You and I have been acting like we weren’t a married couple for most of our marriage,” Kody, 53, told his spouse, also 53, during the Sunday, December 4, episode of Sister Wives. “I don’t know why it’s been OK for so many years. And it’s not now. You actually live like a single woman.” Janelle, who spiritually wed the Wyoming native in 1993, defended her lifestyle as being just one of the many things that is different in plural relationships. “I always felt like I had to make my own decisions for me. I thought that was what plural marriage was about,” she told her husband. “Being independent.” Kody is also spiritually married to first wife Meri Brown and legally married to fourth wife Robyn Brown. He was in a spiritual union with second wife Christine Brown for more than 25 years before they announced their split in November 2021. “A long time ago, I was encouraged to be independent. That’s what you did as a plural wife,” Janelle said during a confessional. “I’ll ask him, and my needs get ignored. I decided to be my own hero and I rescued myself and I started doing things for myself.” She added: “Things are remembered differently by each partner in a long-term relationship. I’m trying to determine now, if we’re viable in the future.” Kody, meanwhile, confessed: “I don’t really see it as much as she’s independent. It’s that she’s aloof.” [jwplayer yq7PcnvZ-zhNYySv2] The couple, who share children Logan, 28, Madison, 27, Hunter, 25, Garrison, 24, Gabriel, 21, and Savannah, 17, continued to butt heads during their pre-holiday discussion. Kody, for his part, called out Janelle for her alleged independent actions, claiming her behavior proved she wasn’t loyal to him. “Buying an RV and moving into it … single woman decision,” Kody outlined to Janelle. “Going to see your kids without your husband for holidays … single woman decisions.” The Utah native was frustrated by her partner’s comments, later telling the cameras, “OK, I’m spitting mad now.” She argued that while she was working on buying her RV — which she did to avoid having to rent another apartment while her Arizona home is being built — Kody “didn’t show up and say, ‘Let’s help find your rental.’ He was M.I.A.” Kody revealed during his own confessional, “It feels like we’re unraveling,” referring to his relationship with Janelle. The TLC personality seemingly agreed, telling the cameras, “Maybe this doesn’t work for me anymore. I don’t know.” Sister Wives airs on TLC Sundays at 10 p.m. ET. Scroll down to see all of the bombshells from Sister Wives season 17, episode 13:

Credit: Justin Stephens; Puddle Monkey Prods/Kobal/Shutterstock

Inside Janelle and Kody’s ‘Rocky’ Romance

While sitting down to talk about their holiday plans, Janelle and Kody had a heart to heart about their relationship struggles. Kody seemingly pointed to Janelle’s lack of loyalty during the argument, comparing her to Robyn, 43. “I have somebody in my life who is fundamentally loyal to me. Who sees me as the head of the family,” the patriarch told his third wife. “I’m saying to you, you and me get that [type of relationship] if you’re loyal to me.”

While Kody claimed during a confessional that he was “not telling Janelle to be more like Robyn,” but rather prompting her to “just be loyal,” Janelle didn’t take the comments well.

“Here he is, blatantly saying what I’ve suspected: ‘This person is loyal and treats me like the head of the household. And if you really want to be a wife to me, this is how you need to be,’” she told the cameras. “I’m not going to be this person. I’m not going to become Robyn.”

Janelle, who called her relationship with Kody “rocky” over the summer, added: “All I’m hearing is, ‘Robyn is perfect. Robyn is great. Robyn treats me the way I’m supposed to be treated. You need to all of a sudden be this way. … Everybody’s gotta conform and then were good.’ That’s not what I signed up for.”

She noted, “It frustrates me beyond belief that he perceives this one wife, this one relationship as she’s so perfect. … ‘She was so nice to us and she was treated so wrong, so everybody better apologize for being mean to her.’ This is the subtext I’ve been hearing all damn day.”

Janelle also claimed that Robyn is not the victim as Kody would have the rest of the family believe. “I perceive that we were a plural family that was trying to figure it out and she always kind of kept herself a little separate,” she explained.

Kody concluded by telling Janelle: “Maybe this is not a good fit. Maybe this doesn’t work.” She replied, saying, “It feels like the rules have changed for me a little bit. You always acted like I was a good wife. We were great.”

Credit: Courtesy of Christine Brown/Instagram

Christine and Kody Being Cordial for Truely

“Of course things are still awkward between Kody and I. But we’ve got Truly,” Christine explained, referring to the estranged pair’s youngest daughter. “Just in front of Truely, for sure, we’re going to be respectful of each other.”

Kody, meanwhile, noted that he was “a little nervous” about Truely coming for her first visit one month after she and Christine moved to Utah.

“I think the hardest thing about divorce is the kids,” the Cooking With Just Christine star said during a confessional. “I would love it if Truely had a great relationship with Kody. Right now, she’s a little awkward around him. I would love it if she was closer to him.”

Robyn, for her part, revealed how nice it was to have Truely back in Arizona for a little bit. “There’s other tension in the family beside just the divorce. It’s making the whole thing even harder,” she said. “Being able to have Truely come over, that feels like some normalcy.”

Credit: Justin Stephens/Discovery (2)

Janelle’s Boys Have Strained Relationships With Kody

“We have a lot of details to work out. There’s a lot of stuff that’s gone under the bridge here that I’m not just going to ignore when we get together as a family,” Kody told Janelle when speaking about whether they’d do the holidays as a family. “I’m not going to just sit and have everyone over and act like everything is peachy and fine without working those things out. I’m not going to have them come to my house for Thanksgiving if they’ve got animosity toward me.”

The father of 18 revealed that he thought their son Garrison “should try and reach out” and “sort of make amends” after they argued over COVID-19 rules and how dedicated Kody was to their family unit. “Kody and my boys are very estranged,” Janelle said in a confessional. “He doesn’t even want to see their point of view.”

Kody, meanwhile, claimed he was “not asking for an apology” but “simply” wanted to clear the air. He alleged that both Garrison and Gabe had taken jabs at Robyn amid their father-son rift.

“I received some texts and some phone calls from Gabe and Garrison basically blaming me for what was going on with the family,” Robyn told the cameras, before noting, “To hear that Kody is telling Janelle that the boys need to apologize to me — I didn’t know he was doing that. I just want to clear the air with the boys. I love those boys.”

Things only got worse between Kody and Gabe after his battle with COVID. When Kody and Robyn tested positive, the patriarch called his son to ask about how he got through the illness — but the conversation quickly unraveled.

“In January, I got COVID. I didn’t even have a fever I just lost my [sense of] smell. October rolls around, specifically October 11, my birthday, and [my] dad calls me,” Gabe said during a confessional. “We have a small discussion about how bad my COVID was. I didn’t remind him that it was my birthday because I wanted to see if he remembered. And he didn’t. To him it was just a phone call.”

The young man broke down into tears before revealing: “It was a lot worse than just a phone call for me. A couple hours after that, he tried to call me back, tell me happy birthday and make up for it — and that’s the last time I ever talked to my dad.”

Credit: Courtesy of Robyn Brown/Instagram

Robyn Goes to Hospital Amid COVID-19 Fight

While Kody and Robyn had their very strict COVID-19 rules in place, they both contracted the virus in fall 2021. The ups and downs with the illness were featured in Sunday’s episode. “I’m out of my mind. I’m suffering in this weird place,” Kody said after he tested positive.

Robyn, for her part, had to go to the hospital for monitoring. “I didn’t want to say goodbye to my kids. I didn’t want to say goodbye because I didn’t want it to be the last time I saw them,” she confessed before spending hours with the doctors. “Slowly I started getting better. I thank God that we’re OK.”

Once Robyn returned home, Kody started to get worse and it caused him to go into a dark place. “He’s in a really bad way mentally, emotionally. He was anxious. He was emotional. I was really worried about it,” Janelle said of his diagnosis.

After three weeks, Kody was on the mend. “It kicked my ass, but I lived,” he told the cameras, adding, “When I had COVID, I’m looking at family pictures. I’m realizing how much I didn’t live. I started sobbing. Was it worth it? I’ve got a division with my family.”

While celebrating Halloween post-COVID battle, Kody reflected on the hardships that came in 2021. “One of the big things that I am aware of is that we will never be in these big family places where we have a whole bunch of us again,” he explained. “Maybe something will happen. It just seems like the family is going in different directions. It’s actually very sad.”

Credit: Courtesy of TLC

Christine Drama Is Still Plaguing Janelle and Kody

“Can you explain to me … why it’s easier to have a relationship with Christine than it is to have a relationship with Robyn?” Kody asked Janelle during their sit-down.

Janelle replied: “A lot of it is history. [We have] the kids in common. She was there when the kids were little. I really haven’t had that much opportunity to interact with Robyn on a daily basis like that.”

Kody then tried to blame Christine for getting “out of the s—t storm she created” within their family, to which Janelle fired back, “We all had a part in that.”

The reality star, however, argued that he “didn’t want to quit” when it came to his relationship with Christine. “I didn’t want a divorce on my record here,” Kody said during a confessional. “I’m going through a divorce, but my wife doesn’t even care. But she does care about my ex-wife. It’s heartbreaking.”

Later on, Janelle explained that she and Kody “were great” as his romance with Christine fell apart. “Janelle was always really secure about her relationship with Kody,” Christine confirmed. “Our relationships were vastly different from the get-go.”

Kody, for his part, told the cameras he was nervous that his relationship with Janelle was headed toward the same unsalvageable place that he and Christine ended on. “I’m evaluating my life. Are we going to be any better than me and Christine if we don’t improve something here?” he added.

Credit: Shutterstock (2)

Is There a Future for Janelle and Kody?

“For me emotionally, it’s sinking. The ship is sinking,” Kody told his spouse, to which she proposed they try a “reset” to preserve their romance. He pondered the suggestion, saying, “When you talk about resetting and stuff, it’s like, ‘Yeah, we’re resetting,’ and I can’t define my own family.” Janelle, for her part, responded, “Don’t you feel like we can redefine us too?”

After asking what she needed to do to fix their dynamic, Kody told Janelle they could be “a married couple and a life partner” to one another. “It’s so funny, I thought that’s what I was doing this whole time. I thought we had a functional relationship,” Janelle quipped.

The duo spoke about how Kody thinks Janelle makes decisions that “impact” his life without actually consulting him. “I know that I don’t really want to give up my independence, but I need to consider you more,” Janelle confessed, before asking, “Do you want the plural family still?”

Kody admitted he questions that “all the time,” to which Janelle insisted that she still feels “connected” to her spouse. “I want to stay,” she added.

The mother of six later told the cameras: “I don’t know if you can change the way our relationship was for 30 years all of a sudden. I mean, maybe that’s a sign that it just doesn’t work anymore. … Maybe we figure it out. Maybe we don’t.”

Kody, for his part, had his own revelation after making it through his COVID battle. “I really spent a lot of time evaluating my family and my situation and how I’ve messed this up,” he said. “I was basically begging her to have a deeper relationship with her. Because I feel so rejected by [Janelle].”