‘Sister Wives’: Kody & Janelle Wonder If Their Marriage Isn’t ‘Working’ Anymore Amidst Tension
Kody and Janelle Brown had an intense discussion about the state of their marriage on the Dec. 4 episode of ‘Sister Wives.’
Christine Brown officially left Kody Brown on last week’s Sister Wives, but on the Dec. 4 episode, he faced some issues in his marriage to Janelle Brown. Leading up to the episode, the two had been disagreeing about Janelle’s decision to rent an RV to live in on the family’s Coyote Pass property while they waited to build there. Kody wanted Janelle to rent or buy another place in the meantime, rather than live in the RV. Plus, there had been months of tension between Kody and his sons with Janelle, Gabe and Garrison, over Kody’s strict COVID-19 rules.
With the 2021 holiday season approaching, Kody and Janelle met up to discuss their plans. Janelle brought up Kody’s tension with Gabe and Garrison, and he pointed out that it was their treatment of his other wife, Robyn Brown, that actually caused the distance. “I received some texts from Gabe and Garrison, basically blaming me for what was going on with the family,” Robyn explained in a confessional. Kody told Janelle, “There’s an unwillingness for some of the family to accept other members of the family or to communicate with other members of the family. I have somebody in my life [Robyn] who is fundamentally loyal to me, who sees me as the head of the family.”
Janelle was flabbergasted by Kody’s comments and took them to mean that he just wanted her to be more like Robyn. On the other hand, he insisted that he simply wanted loyalty from Janelle. “It frustrates me beyond belief that he perceives this one wife as being so perfect as such a saint, who was so nice to us and she was treated so wrong,” Janelle said. “Kody’s been a broken record about this. Robyn’s been victimized. I don’t see it that way.”
The conversation then turned to Kody accusing Janelle of living like a “single woman” as opposed to someone who was married to him. “I enjoy the independence,” Janelle admitted. “I don’t know how it got started, but I enjoy it. I feel like somehow maybe we lost something.”
As Kody continued to try and press Janelle to be loyal, he came to a realization. “Maybe this is not a good fit,” he told her. “Maybe this doesn’t work.” Janelle explained that she felt she WAS being loyal. She said that she felt like the “rules” were changing because Kody had always encouraged her to be independent in the past. “I never thought I would ever be in a place where I’d be questioning my relationship,” Janelle added in a confessional. “But the last few years I’ve begun to wonder if we’re compatible anymore. Maybe this doesn’t work anymore for me. I don’t know if you can change the way our relationship was for 30 years all of a sudden. Maybe that’s a sign that it just doesn’t work anymore. I’m not someone who throws in the towel on a marriage, but it seems almost like there’s this gulf and I can’t give him [what he wants].”
Janelle told Kody that he was her “best friend” and the person that she tells everything to, and Kody admitted that he didn’t want to lose another wife like he lost Christine. “I feel like I have to do everything I can to make this work,” Janelle shared. “I’m not even sure it’s possible to come back from where we are.”
Kody brought up Janelle’s decision to buy the RV without consulting him, as well as other things that had been bothering him in their relationship. She was “spitting mad” over his accusations, but still told him that she wanted to stay to fix their relationship. “I think we’re at a very logical place,” Janelle told Kody. “Our kids are leaving and I’m looking at you like…maybe we should have a better relationship.” Kody agreed with that, and they seemed to end the conversation in a good place. The show continues with another episode on Dec. 11.