Kody Brown thinks some of the sister wives are conspiring against him.
The Brown family patriarch met up with then-remaining wives Meri Brown and Robyn Brown in Sunday’s Sister Wives episode to discuss this year’s Christmas plan. At the gathering held at Meri’s home, Kody revealed that Janelle Brown will not be spending the holiday with them since she rented out a short-term rental with his ex-wife Christine Brown.
“I think they’re trying to shut me out because they’re mad at me,” Kody, 54, said.
Kody then vented to Meri, 52, and Robyn, 44, about his recent blowout argument with Janelle, 54, about who is to blame for the demise of their polygamous family.
He claimed to have “reached out to basically everybody,” including his estranged sons with Janelle. But he believes his adult sons with Janelle are “making up stories in their mind because they’re not talking to me.”
“Everybody’s got some story about how dad’s a bad guy, but we’re just having two groups at Christmas,” he said. “Listen, I was threatening to do this last Christmas.”
“What I gather from the things Janelle was throwing at me is that everybody is sort of making up a story about me and they’re talking to each other but they’re not talking to me about it,” he continued. “And now, they’re all mad at me.”
Meri then noted how Janelle originally “wasn’t going to be the in-between” for Christine, 51, and Kody. And while Kody wished Janelle wouldn’t do that, he said of his second wife: “She’s colluding with them.”
As Meri questioned whether Kody actually believed that Janelle and Christine were “colluding” against him, the family head said he “absolutely” felt this was the case. But Meri, despite calling Janelle and Christine’s recent behaviors “weird,” didn’t exactly agree with Kody’s take.
“Kody feels pretty angry and whenever you’re angry, you’re not gonna see any other perspective. You’ve got blinders on,” she told cameras. “But playing Devil’s advocate, maybe Janelle’s not colluding. I mean, when you use a word collude and when Kody uses it, like, it means everybody is batting up against him. And maybe she’s not doing that.”
From Kody’s perspective, “Christine and Janelle are doing everything they can to make it so that I’m not the head of the family, which is fine.”
Christine, however, told the cameras that she became the head of her household “out of necessity.”
“I was the one that my kids would listen to and I was the one my kids talked to,” she continued. “And if they needed to feel love or security, acceptance, they got that from me.”
Kody, Meri and Robyn decided to spend Christmas Eve at Meri’s house and Christmas Day at Robyn’s home. Due to the tense state of the family, the trio agreed it’d be best to not invite Janelle and her children who were around.
This prompted Kody to declare he would “rather just be around people who really want to be around me,” saying he’s “not interested” in reaching out to Janelle, specifically right now, following their big fight.
The decision to leave family members out of this year’s Christmas celebrations was tough for Meri, who felt like she was being put in the “middle” by everyone.
“I feel like I’m completely stuck in the middle, let’s be real,” she explained to Kody and Robyn. “I am in this place where, not saying this to be a jerk, I’m not saying anything. I’m just saying this is just is what it is. You’ve got Christine who left, you’ve got Janelle that you’re at odds with. I’m, like, the third whale because I’m just here. I don’t know what to do.”
Acknowledging her “awkward position” further, Meri told the cameras, “I’m not in the Kody and Robyn married club. I’m not in the Janelle and Christine friend club. If I had my way, the family would all get together and be together.”
Following Kody’s separation from Christine in November 2021, Janelle and Meri also ended their marriages with him. Robyn is now the only remaining wife.
The fallout amongst the family has been a focal point in Sister Wives’ 18th season.
Sister Wives airs Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on TLC.