The last of Kody Brown‘s four marriages is on shaky grown amid heightened tensions with his only remaining wife, Robyn Brown.
During Sunday’s all-new episode of Sister Wives, Kody and Robyn had a “heated exchange” before the cameras arrived to film, prompting the father of 18 to leave the couple’s Flagstaff, Arizona home.
“Robyn is extremely upset that I’m not reaching out more to my children,” Kody explained in a confessional. “I’m not gonna sit here and fight with you, have a rift in our relationship caused by these people who have created the biggest rift in my life. I’m not doing that. So I just decided I need to take off.”
Kody did later return to the house, where the pair attempted to talk their differences out, only for Robyn to continue to insist that Kody reach out to the older children he shares with former wives Christine Brown, Janelle Brown, and Meri Brown.
“I’m not gonna do it with a rejection every single time,” Kody said. “I’m not abandoning my children. They have betrayed me.”
“But they’re kids!” Robyn retorted.
“No, they’re adults,” Kody shot back, later adding in a confessional, “Some people think that parental-child relationships don’t have to be reciprocal, but when they’re adults, yes they do.”
The blow-up comes after years of tension between Kody, Robyn, and the rest of the Brown family, including disagreements over Kody’s COVID rules and accusations that Kody favored Robyn over his other wives, prompting Christine to leave Kody in 2021, followed by Janelle in 2022, and Meri shortly after.
Robyn, who shared that her own biological father was not present for her throughout her childhood, stressed to her husband the importance of him being a present father to his big brood.
“I’m having a hard time not losing respect for you a little bit,” Robyn admitted.
“If I were him, I would be calling, emailing, texting, maybe showing up, flying out there, you know, whatever,” she added in a confessional.
Kody, meanwhile, said he had no intention of begging his children to speak to him.
“So I’ve spent a year here just lamenting the situation,” Kody added of the dissolution of the Brown family. “When I get over that, those children who are open to me will get my attention.”
That answer, however, wasn’t good enough for Robyn, who noted in a confessional that she thinks Kody needs to step up.
“I don’t want to judge Kody, but at the same time, I don’t think Kody should be accepting it. I think that Kody should be camping out on their doorsteps and saying, ‘Hey, you’re going to talk to me,” Robyn said.
“I don’t try enough, I know that. I’m too hot-headed right now, Robyn. All I’ll do is more damage,” Kody admitted.
The pair ended their conversation with Robyn pleading with Kody to promise her that he would continue to try, to which he begrudgingly agreed, “Okay, a little bit.”
Elsewhere in the episode, Kody’s estranged wife, Janelle, shared similar concerns, this time claiming that Kody not only has a strained relationship with his gaggle of kids, but his grandchildren too. Janelle pointed out that Kody has been largely absent for daughter Madison’s children — Axel, 7, Evie, 5, and Josephine, 19 months — whom she shares with husband Caleb Brush.
“The only thing the kids are upset with is the way he has treated the family, the way he has completely ditched out,” Janelle said in a confessional. “And really, Maddie doesn’t have any contact with them. She is very protective of her children.”
She continued, “Kody has not been there since Evie was born and Evie is three and a half. And she didn’t just want him to drop in and be like, ‘Oh, I’m your grandpa!’ and them be like, ‘What? Who is this guy?'”
Kody, however, doesn’t think he is to blame for his estranged relationship with his grandchildren.
“It’s an unrealistic expectation for grandparents to be in their grandchildren’s lives all the time,” he said, noting Madison and her family live in North Carolina, “especially if you move your children to an entirely different coast.”
Kody also accused Madison of creating further tension between himself and Janelle amid their separation.
“They’re purposefully leaving me out of their lives to punish me for a crime I did not commit,” he said. “I am only guilty of not falling madly in love with their mothers. Well, Madison actually called Janelle saying, ‘Dad said he didn’t love you.'”
See the family drama unfold on Sister Wives, airing Sundays at 10:00 p.m. ET on TLC.
