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Kody Brown recalls the moment he knew Christine was ‘serious’ about leaving him

September 26, 2022

Sister Wives: Christine and Kody Brown discuss the best way to tell other wives about their separation

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When Christine Brown told her husband of 26 years, Kody Brown, that she was walking away from their plural marriage forever, he didn’t believe she would actually leave.

It wasn’t until Christine, 50, refused to post a public nod to their wedding anniversary that he started to take her seriously.

During this week’s episode of sister wivesthe TLC reality star, 53, explained when he realized his wife wasn’t going to change her mind.

On the couple’s wedding anniversary in March 2021, “I asked him if we wanted to post anything on social media,” he told the cameras. “In a way it was a test, but to protect our children. And she goes, ‘No’. And that was the first time I could say, ‘Oh, okay, she’s serious about it .””

SISTERS WIVES, Kody Brown (center), with wives and children, (Season 1), 2010-. photo: Joe Pugliese / © TLC / Courtesy: Everett Collection

Joe Pugliese/TLC/Everett Kody Brown with his wives and children

Brown continued, “I think I want to keep testing it. You never know when she’s going to realize that the life she seeks to create somewhere else won’t be better than what she had or is having.”

Last November, Christine announced on Instagram that her spiritual marriage to Kody was over. Prior to their separation, she shared a life with her husband and three wives Meri, Janelle and Robyn in Flagstaff, Arizona. They are parents to son Paedon, 24, and daughters Aspyn, 27; Mykelti, 26; Gwendlyn, 20; Ysabel, 19, and Truely, 12. (Kody has a total of 18 children between the wives.)

For Christine, the day when they exchanged “I do” no longer has any meaning. “For our anniversary, I’m not going to pretend,” she began.

“I don’t consider myself married to him at all anymore. Six weeks ago we had a conversation. I just said, ‘I need you to let me go. It’s over. I don’t want to. no longer be married to you and I’m also going to move to Utah,” she continued. “I don’t know when to have a conversation with my sister wives. I don’t know when to say Truely. nobody really kNow that’s the end of it all, I think.”

One of the many factors that led to the breakdown of their marriage was Kody’s decision to deny intimacy.

WIFE SISTERS, Kody Brown (center), flanked by their wives Meri, Janelle, Christine and future wife Robyn Sullivan, (Season 1), 2010-. photo: Bryant Livingston / © TLC / Courtesy: Everett Collection

Bryant Livingston/TLC/Everett Kody Brown (center), flanked by Meri, Janelle, Christine and Robyn Brown

“Intimacy needs trust. Attraction, in my world, needs trust,” he said. “I thought she was mean. I was mad, it’s like God, man, you’re untying plural marriage for me. You’re untying my whole life, my whole purpose. No. We won’t have any intimacy until ‘to what you would have liked to say, ‘We have to work on something.'”

Later in the episode, Kody and the wives have a Facetime call to catch up on family matters since self-isolating due to COVID 10 protocols.

“We have this meeting, but it looks like she’s actually trying to run our meeting,” he said. “Like, she’s trying to deal with it. She’s becoming kind of an ‘independent woman’ now. There’s literally an attitude of I don’t need you guys anymore and I don’t really have to submit to what the band wants.”

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sister wives airs Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on TLC.