Sister Wives follows Kody Brown and his four wives as they try to make a relationship work between themselves and their children. If the difficulty of living in a plural marriage weren’t enough on its own, Kody never makes things easier.
In a recent preview shared with PEOPLE, Kody seemed to suggest he had different expectations and demands for his wives. He viewed his first and fourth wives, Meri and Robyn Brown, through a different lens than his second and third wives, Janelle and Christine Brown.
Kody put different expectations on his wives
Kody told cameras, “I courted Meri and I courted Robyn. But Christine and Janelle both asked if they could be in the family. And with that ask, I had some special requirements that I wanted them to meet in order to come into the family. And mainly, that was, there will be other wives. You’ve gotta be committed to me.”
Janelle elaborated further: “It’s improper for a man to be out chasing wives. It’s generally, a woman approaches a family and says, ‘Look, I feel like I’ve had a spiritual revelation that maybe I belong in your family.’” She went on to say that Kody implied that Robyn was invited to the family while Christine and Janelle asked to be in the family.
She continued, “Somehow because Christine and I asked, we deserve less? We should be happy with what we got? It wasn’t like we were begging to be in the family. We simply asked, there was a courtship, and then we all got married.”
Kody’s lack of sympathy and “sacred loneliness”
In the preview, the family also discussed what Kody called “sacred loneliness,” another aspect he demanded from his wives. Christine laughed at the term and asked, “Like, you’re supposed to honor the fact that you’re lonely?” She laughed again.
Janelle explained again, “The idea is, you sacrifice some of your emotional needs because you want to live plural marriage.” She called it “So dumb.” Meri said, “I’ve never heard this term, ‘sacred loneliness,’ I think it’s stupid.” She went on to say, “I hear Kody talk about how hard plural marriage is on the woman, and it’s like, really? Now you figure that out?”
Robyn said, “Yeah, plural marriage can be lonely. In my head, it’s an opportunity for you to get a relationship with God.” Kody also spoke with David Mitchell “Mitch” Thompson, and the two discussed the perceived difficulties for husbands and wives in plural marriage. But Kody said he was “tired of hearing about the struggle,” and supposed his wives were ganging up on him.
Sister Wives continues Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on TLC.
TELL US – WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THESE DYNAMICS? IS KODY JUSTIFIABLE IN ANY WAY AT THIS POINT?
