Sister WivespatriarchKody Brownhas become quite a villain over the years, and there are plenty of good reasons to cancel the polygamist television star. Kody made his television debut in 2010, when the unscripted series premiered to rave reviews and an instantly obsessed audience. It’s hard to remember, but, back then, Kody was the hero of the show. He was presented as a super dad and super husband, skillfully juggling his multiple wives and many children with relative ease. Initially, the Browns were the picture-perfect image of a functional polygamous family, a stark contrast to the secretive sects that the lifestyle had come to be known for. Over time, things took a dark turn as the Brown family slowly unraveled over the course of the series.
Things started to come apart after Kody married his fourth wife, Robyn Brown, duringSister Wivesseason 1. When all was said and done,Kody had four wives and 18 children, and he simply didn’t have the time to give everyone what they needed. Some of his wives felt neglected, andseveral of his older children grew resentful of the fact that Kody wasn’t as available as they would have likedhim to be. Pandora’s proverbial box was cracked opened in 2021, when Kody’s third wife, Christine Brown, walked away from the marriage, followed by his second wife, Janelle Brown, and first wife, Meri Brown, in 2022. As the Brown family has fallen apart, Kody has become the main villain of the story, and here are 8 reasons he should be canceled.
8Kody Blames Meri For The End Of Their Marriage
He Takes It All Out On Her
WithSister Wivesseason 19recently premiering,TLCreleased a trailer for the upcoming season on YouTube. The two-minute teaser presents Kody in all his glory. He comes off as angry, bitter, and even cruel,taking no responsibility for his multiple failed marriages, blaming it all on his wives. During an on-camera interview at one point in the trailer, Kody says,“blame yourself if I don’t love you, okay?”
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As usual, Kody reserves his cruelest words for his first wife, Meri. Over the years,Kody said the most hurtful things to Meri, even telling her that he was no longer attracted to her, and that he never loved her. The trailer teased an emotional scene between Kody and his first wife, in which they fight about their failed marriage.
During the scene, Kody says, “It’s not divorce that sucks,it’s marrying the wrong person.” As if that wasn’t hurtful enough, Kody went on to say, “I wish I wouldn’t have ever married her.”
7Kody Treats Robyn Like A Child
He Even Picked Her Wedding Dress
While Kody and his first three wives are currently in their mid-50s, Robyn is 45-years-old and is, therefore, the youngest of the Brown spouses. Though Robyn is a fully grown adult woman who had a full life before ever meeting Kody and the Browns, she is often infantilized by her husband. It started early after Robyn joined the Brown family and the cast ofSister Wives.While planning Kody and Robyn’s wedding during an earlySister Wivesseason 1 episode,Robyn took her future sister wives to help her choose a wedding dress, in a beautiful bonding moment that brought the women together.
Meri, Janelle, and Christine were deeply touched by Robyn’s desire to include them.
The good vibes were later dashed when Kody later revealed hewent back to the dress shop with Robyn to pick out a dress that he liked. Meri, Janelle, and Christine were shocked by the revelation as the incident set the stage forRobyn’s relationships with her sister wives. This would set the tone for Kody to treat Robyn like a child throughout their marriage.
6Kody Has Shunned His Own Children
He Hasn’t Learned His Lesson
Throughout the years, Kody has feuded with several of his children, including25-year-old Garrison Brown, who tragically passed away in March 2024. Garrison was Kody’s son with his second wife, Janelle, andGarrison wasn’t on good terms with his father at the time of his death. Garrison, who was only 11 years old whenSister Wivespremiered in 2010, and he basically grew up on television.
Garrison and Kody seemed to be close when Garrison was growing up, but once he grew into an adult, the two men butted heads more often.
Long-simmeringtensions came to a head when the COVID-19 pandemic arrived and tore the family apart. Some of Kody’s older kids, including Garrison, weren’t able to follow Kody and Robyn’s strict COVID rules and were shunned by Kody, who didn’t want to catch COVID. The separation was painful for everyone involved, and the family wasn’t able to reunite after the pandemic ended. Despite the tragedy of losing his son, Kody is still not on speaking terms with several of his adult children, which is yet another reason he deserves to be canceled.
5Kody Has Lied Several Times
Including Lies Of Omission
DuringSister Wivesseason 18,Christine revealed a terrible secret about Kody and Robyn kissing before their wedding, which was against Brown family dating rules. Before courting Robyn, Kody was given strict rules by his wives that banned intimacy before marriage, which included kissing. Though the kiss itself was bad, Kody and Robyn kept the secret for a long time, which made the dishonesty worse. Robyn, who expressed guilt about the kiss, said, “He kissed me, and I was like ‘All right, well, it’s done.'"
“It’s been done.”
Robyn was quick to blame Kody for making the move on her, but she had the power to stop him, which she did not do. Kody and Robyn’s willingness to lie and break the rules about intimacy was a sign of things to come, asRobyn and Kody would continue to act as if the rules didn’t apply to them.
4Kody Manipulates The People In His Lives
He Was Behind Nanny-Gate
The Browns were quarantined in four separate homes during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Kody would go back and forth between them.The separation was a big strain on the already struggling family, so when Ariella Brown’s fifth birthday rolled around, the family decided to finally get together. They were careful to dutifully test beforehand, and carefully followed CDC guidelines.
The birthday party, which took place duringSister Wivesseason 16, went so well that, for a brief moment, it felt like the troubled family had finally found their way back to each other.
Hopes for a reunion were crushed when, days later,Robyn and Kody told the family that they had all been exposed to the virus, whichRobyn blamed on her nanny. Since Robyn and Kody didn’t want to risk another exposure, that was the last time the Brown family got together. There has been some speculation that the nanny never exposed the Browns to COVID-19 and that Kody just wanted an excuse to spend less time with the family. The incident, which came to be known as Nanny-gate, was the final nail in the family’s coffin, and they never recovered. It was yet another example of Kody using manipulation to get his way and is grounds for being canceled.
3Kody Has Feuded With Many Family Members
He Rejected Christine
Since joining the cast ofSister Wives, Kody has feuded with many members of his family, including several of his children. Of all of Kody’s many feuds, his falling out with his third wife, Christine, was the most bitter. Though jealousy is to be expected in a plural marriage,Christine struggled with feelings of jealousy more than Kody’s other wivesdid.
Christine especially struggled with living in a dysfunctional marriage with Kody, while he enjoyed a fully functional relationship with Robyn.
Things got worse for Kody and Christineafter the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic divided the family irrevocably. Though this wasn’t Kody’s most fiery feud, it was his most painful, because Christine’s heartbreak was obvious. Shefelt rejected by her husband, which she took as a complete betrayal. Though she tried to work things out with Kody, in 2021, Christine was the first of Kody’s wives to walk away from the marriage and is now married to David Woolley.
2Kody Legally Divorced Meri
So He Could Marry Robyn
Meri was Kody’s first wife, and the couple tied the knot in 1990. Meri came from a polygamous family, and she wanted a similar lifestyle for her marriage. She’d always dreamed of having lots of children, but she had fertility problems, sotheSister Wivescouple decided to open their family up to a polygamous lifestyle. While Kody’s marriage to his other wives were spiritual, his marriage to Meri was legal.
When Kody married Robyn, she already had three children of her own: Dayton, Aurora, and Breanna Brown.
Kody wanted Robyn’s kids to be official members of his family, but it’s much harder to adopt kids as an unmarried man, soKodydecided to divorce Meri so that he could then legally marry Robyn. Though Meri agreed, she was devastated by the divorce and was never able to get over it.Meri was always a loyal wifeto Kody, and his treatment of her should have gotten him canceled long ago.
1Kody Favored Robyn
And He Didn’t Even Try To Hide It
Being the patriarch of a plural family seems like it takes a lot of work because keeping multiple wives happy is no easy task. While Kody was married to his first three wives,the family found a status quo and lived in relative harmony for many years. Though he married his first three wives within a few short years of each other, a long 16 years would go by before he added Robyn to the mix. Bringing a new wife into his plural marriage changed the dynamics between Kody and his other three wives. The awkward situation was made even worse whenKody openly favored Robynand spent more time at her house.
He claimed it was because they had young children together, but he still had several children still living at home with his other wives.
It eventually became clear to the other wives, especially to Christine, thatwhat Kody had with Robyn was different from what he shared with them. His favoritism of Robyn triggered his falling out with Christine, who was soon followed out the door by Janelle and Meri. Though Kody whines about how difficult it was to keep his wives happy, it’s what he signed up for. The fact that theSister Wivespatriarch took on such a monumental task and went on to drop the ball is the main reason Kody should be canceled.
1990
2022
1
1993
6 (1 deceased)
1994
2021
6
2010
TBD
5 (3 from previous marriage)
Sister Wivesseason 19 airs on Sundays at 10 p.m. EDT on TLC.
Sister Wives
Cast
Sister Wives is a TV series created for TLC that follows Kody Brown and his four wives as they raise their eighteen children and tackle the challenges associated with their massive family dynamic and the stigma that comes with their way of life.
