Sister Wives patriarch Kody Brown is betting the house on a new plan to repair the broken relationships with his kids.
With the exception of Dayton, 25, Aurora, 23, and Breanna, 21—his eldest with sole remaining wife Robyn Brown—the father of 18 is estranged from most of his adult children. So he's rolling out the welcome mat at the 7,884-square-foot home he and Robyn purchased last year.
Kody admittedly was eager to divide himself from the bad vibes of their $1.65 million Flagstaff home that saw him endure separations from former spouses Meri Brown, Janelle Brown and Christine Brown, battle COVID and learn of son Garrison Brown's March 2024 death.
So he viewed the $2.1 million six-bedroom Arizona spread with a guest house and a detached RV garage as "a new beginning," the 56-year-old detailed on the TLC series' Oct. 12 episode. "It's a place for my kids to come to."
Having enough space for Dayton, Aurora, Breanna and their younger siblings Solomon, 13, and Ariella, 9, plus a room for Truely Brown—his 15-year-old daughter with Christine, one of his three kids under 18—was key.
But, more important, "It's almost like a start-over," he continued. "There's a lot of strained relationships amongst me and my adult children, so this house is simply a new opportunity to invite them here and to potentially enjoy their company here, even if it's in some kind of fantasy. I just want to be able to say, 'Hey, there's space for you. You can come and visit us.'"
Whether any of them actually come calling, however, remains to be seen.
Madison Brush—his second oldest with Janelle—cried about their estrangement during the Sept. 28 opener (“You want your dad to show up. You want reconciliation"), while Christine acknowledged on the Oct. 5 episode that his ties to their daughter Mykelti Padron had begun to unravel. As she said of Kody and Robyn, "The relationship with them is just not what Mykelti hoped it would be."
Christine's only son Paedon Brown, meanwhile, revealed in a recent TikTok that he hasn't had a conversation with Kody since Garrison's funeral.
"There are things that I think he did better in his younger years than he does now," Meri acknowledged on the Sept. 13 episode of the I Do, Part 2 podcast. "Parenting is a big one."
With her child Leon Brown currently on the outs with Kody, continued Meri, "The way that he parents breaks my heart. It really does."
While Kody is hopeful a new space will be the key to repairing those bonds, Meri suggested it's going to take more effort to open that door.
“He’s got children who need him and want to have a relationship with him and he’s not putting in the effort," she surmised. "I can’t say he’s not, but I don’t see effort being put in where some of his kids really need it."
Back in the series' first season, when Kody was bragging about "his three awesome wives" and his "12 wonderful children," added Meri, "He was all about his kids—all about his kids—and they were his world." So now, she summed up, "It's really sad to see the challenges that he and his kids are going through."
And though Kody's ongoing estrangement from the majority of his grown kids continues to be an oft-repeated topic on Sister Wives, it's hardly the sole source of conflict.
Catch up on all the drama that's been discussed since season 20 premiered last month.
Janelle Brown Is Considering a Spiritual Divorce From Ex Kody Brown
Officially done with former husband Kody Brown (and his nice pecs and six-pack abs), Janelle Brown revealed in Sister Wives' season 20 opener that she's borrowing a page from Meri Brown's playbook.
Never legally entwined to Kody during their 29-year marriage, "I had sort of thought about a spiritual divorce a long time ago and didn't even realize it was an option," the patriarch's second wife detailed on the Sept. 28 premiere. "And so when Meri got one, I'm like, 'Oh, hey, Meri, who do I call?'"
And her former sister wife—who was granted a spiritual release from their former church on the grounds of abandonment—was more than happy to fill in some blanks. Said Janelle, "She has been kind of helping me get in touch with everybody."
Madison Brush Would Like to Reconcile With Dad Kody Brown
Madison Brush is still working through the sins of her father. Amid her ongoing estrangement from dad Kody, Madison—the second oldest of his and Janelle's six kids—admitted on the Sept. 28 episode that she's still struggling with the separation.
"You want your dad to show up," the mother of four shared in a confessional alongside husband Caleb Brush. "You want reconciliation. I know I played a part and I’m angry because I’m still trying to learn to not be disappointed.”
It's a lesson she's struggling to master. "I’m still learning how to just see him for who he is," she noted. "I’m trying to understand that maybe he didn’t know how to show up. He might be hurting."
He also might not be willing to cede too much ground.
Kody stressed his desire to have healing with Meri, Janelle, third wife Christine Brown and their children, explaining, "I think we're in an impasse here because this healing can only happen on their terms only."
Kody Brown Has This Concern About His Sex Life With Wife Robyn Brown
To hear Kody's fourth and sole remaining wife Robyn Brown tell it, she always wanted the family, not just the man. "I had marriage proposals," she revealed on the Sept. 28 episode. Not necessarily an on-bended-knee situation, she noted, just "different men at different times said, you know, 'I'd marry you in heartbeat.'"
Her response never wavered: "I was just like, 'Well, I plan to live a plural marriage.'" And had Kody been single when he pursued her, rather than a devoted family man with three wives, "I would have said the same thing to you."
But now that they find themselves as unintentional monogamists, asserted Kody, "It's you and me, baby."
Though he admittedly had one concern.
"There's something I want maybe more than you do," Kody told Robyn, alluding to their sex life. The way he saw it, Kody continued in a confessional, "A polygamist is getting more than he wants and a monogamist isn't getting enough."
Meri Brown Reveals an Ex Broke Up With Her Over Her Polygamous Past
Throwing herself into dating, Meri knows precisely what she's looking for in a man: In addition to a tall guy, "super important for me is to find somebody who wants to travel with me," the avid road-tripper explained in the Oct. 5 episode. "And also must not have cats. Must love dogs."
And she definitely needs someone who won't scare easily.
"There was a guy that I was talking to," she detailed of one of her more troubling dating adventures. Once he discovered she was a polygamist, "He was like, 'I can't continue talking to you. This is not something that I'm even interested in or open to,'" she shared. "And it was very hurtful to me. Because I was a polygamist, you're not interested in pursuing a relationship with me?"
For Meri, she continued, "It was like my first real big realization that that's going to inhibit some people from even wanting to start talking to me."
Janelle Brown Thinks No One Else Really Wanted to Live on Coyote Pass
Janelle is convinced she was the only member of her sprawling fam who truly wanted to land on Coyote Pass.
Discussing the family's standoff over the 14-acre property they purchased ahead of their 2018 move to Flagstaff, Ariz., Janelle admitted on the Oct 3 episode, "I'm not actually sure I ever had the dream of us all being out on Coyote Pass."
Because while Kody's second wife could imagine herself settling out there—"It's a beautiful piece of property, why not?"—she alleged that it was more of a passing phase for her ex and his other brides.
"Nobody really wanted to live out there," she said, adding that Christine definitely didn't and Meri would have obliged "if everybody else had done it."
As for Kody and Robyn, they "had a house that was pretty much there without being there on the property," Janelle surmised of the two-acre, five-bedroom spread they have since sold for $1.7 million.
So as much as they all howled over the land they initially split into four separate parcels, said Janelle, "I just could see very soon after we moved to Flagstaff that that was not going to be a thing."
Why Kody Brown Thinks He Has a Strained Relationship With "Most" of His Adult Kids
Kody has a theory about why his bonds with the majority of his adult kids (save for Robyn's eldest Dayton, Aurora and Breanna) are kinda garbage.
"I think most of the relationships between me and my adult children are strained," he acknowledged on the Oct. 5 episode. "It's an issue of trash talk and innuendo, and it has challenged loyalties and trust on all sides."
And these days, not many of his grown kids are on Team Kody.
Though Mykelti Padron—one of his six children with Christine—had been the most outwardly supportive of her father, months after she and husband Tony Padron made the move to North Carolina with their three children, she gave her take on the rift.
"I think that if he took more accountability in any of his actions, his kids—maybe not all of them, but at least some of them—would reach out," she noted during an October 2024 fan Q&A shared on the Instagram account @withoutacrystalball. "Instead of blaming the children, or blaming how they feel about his relationship with his other wife or blaming the parents or blaming gossip or whatever, if he just said, 'Look, I understand I did blank wrong. I’m sorry. Can we talk about it?' I feel like that would go such a long way."
Janelle Brown Admits She Would Have Taken Half of Kody Brown's Assets
With the April 2025 sale of Coyote Pass, Janelle and Meri walked away from their marriage to Kody with a nice parting gift. (Christine had already signed over her portion of the land in exchange for keeping the proceeds from the sale of her Arizona home.)
As Janelle joked to Meri on the Oct. 5 episode, it was "a nice way to just be like, 'See you later. Hope I never see you again. Goodbye.'"
But she certainly wouldn't have waved off an even nicer present.
Had she been "legally married to Kody," she noted, she absolutely would have taken half of his assets "because it would have been half mine."
Kody Brown Agreed to Sell Coyote Pass for This Reason
Before Kody and Robyn agreed to close the door on their Coyote Pass dreams, they had to open, not a window, but the contract on their new $2.1 million manse. After months of going back and forth with his exes about unloading the massive property, "Selling Coyote Pass became a reality for us," Kody detailed in the Oct. 12 episode, "only when we, we discovered we really wanted this other house."
The dad of 18 is also eager to unload the bad memories of their previous home. "We've experienced a lot of heartache here," he posited. "And we want a new beginning, something different, something new."
Why Kody Brown Feels He Failed at Plural Marriage
Though Kody felt his love should be multiplied—committing to four different wives—his attention wasn't divided all that equally. "I felt like I was devoted to our family and to plural marriage, but then I struggled to be devoted specifically to every single wife and vice versa," he reasoned on the Oct. 19 episode. "I don't think the wives were devoted to me or to each other as a whole."
Among his missteps, he guessed, was setting up Robyn in her $1.65 million, five-bedroom Flagstaff home while other spouses were making do with less. "I don't know what went wrong," he said of ending his unions to Meri, Janelle and Christine, "but I know that I stirred up a jealousy putting her in this house. My wives, in whatever way, couldn't handle that I was willing to fight so much to make sure that Robyn was safely kept."
Christine Brown Says It Was "A Lot of Work" Being Married to Kody Brown
For Christine, it was hard to take it easy with Kody. "We were married to a guy that was a lot of work," she mused on the Oct. 26 episode. "He had a lot of things that he liked and a lot of specifics, like certain dietary restrictions, his grooming and things like that."
Bottom line, she noted, "It was a lot."
Enough that Janelle isn't exactly looking to multiply her love after their split. "I think maybe Kody was a lot of work," she told Christine and her now-husband David Woolley. "So I think that a relationship must be really hard."
Which is why she's so resistant to David's urges for her to sign up for FarmersOnly, telling cameras, "David just can't handle that I'm just not going to go date because I'm like, dude, I, no, no, no."
Christine Brown Says Kody Brown Sometimes Called Her By the Wrong Name
Kody was quite careful not to call his wives every name in the book. "Kody would rarely slip up and call us the wrong name," Christine insisted in the Nov. 2 episode. "There's certain moments you don't want to hear another woman's name. You know those moments that I'm talking about. Never happened."
Though there were some close calls.
"I would catch myself a lot," Kody admitted. "And I've certainly done it. I had a way of starting it sometimes and then pivoting."
Christine Brown Felt Betrayed By Robyn Brown
To hear Christine tell it, she felt quite stabbed in the kidney by her former sister wife.
"I feel betrayed by Robyn," she detailed to David on the Nov. 2 episode "I felt like I could never really trust her, ever." The issue, she explained to cameras, is that she "would tell her things that I thought were in confidence and then I'd get in trouble for them and Kody would get mad. I can't trust her. So I stopped confiding in her."
But Robyn insisted she was just trying to play marriage counselor.
"Christine would say to me, 'I wish Kody would know this. I wish Kody would understand this. I'm struggling with this,'" she explained. "Me being kind of a naive fool, I thought I could help, but I should have just stayed out of it completely."
Meri Brown Had to Draw "Hard Boundaries" With Ex Kody Brown
Once somewhat charmed by her stance as Kody's favorite ex-wife, Meri wasn't interested in indulging any of her former husband's attempts at small talk when he scheduled a video chat to discuss the potential sale of their Arizona property.
"I don't know what happened with Meri because I remember helping her move to her place in Parowan, Utah, and it was all fun and games and cordial," he mused of their shared chat with Janelle on the Nov. 2 episode. "And since then to now, it's got weird."
But Meri insisted she was just focused on business, not pleasure after taking in what Kody had said to cameras in previous seasons.
"I just had to draw some really hard boundaries," she explained. "And when we get on this video call and he's being all friendly and trying to act like things are normal after some of the things that he has said to and about me and my friends, that's not going to fly."
Kody Brown Felt He Should Have Been Able to Vet Christine Brown's Husband David Woolley
Though Christine answered now-husband David's 2023 proposal with a very enthusiastic yes, her former spouse feels he should have had a say.
"My daughter lives in David's house," Kody explained of his and Christine's youngest, Truely. "I should know David."
In fact, he mused, he "should have had the right, even, to discriminate David."
Janelle Brown Doesn't Think She'll Get Back the Money She Loaned Kody Brown and Robyn Brown
Excited about recouping her share of Coyote Pass, Janelle wasn't about to howl over losing the money she'd given Robyn and Kody for their five-bedroom Arizona home.
While her kids "feel like I should pursue the money that I put into Robyn's house," she shared in the Nov. 2 episode, "it's going to be a fight."
Should she try to get the money out of Kody, she continued, "There's always a billion reasons why he doesn't owe it."
Exhibit A: His feeling that he'd already repaid that particular favor. "Janelle helped Robyn and I buy our house and I settled that debt with Janelle back in January," he insisted. "And she just stated to me after that was done in January or February, she said, 'Our debt is settled, you're good with me. It was more than fair.'"
Kody Brown Still Has Women Asking to Join His Family
Should Kody still be interested in having his love multiplied, there's no shortage of options.
As he revealed to Robyn on the Nov. 2 episode, "I got another one of those emails from some woman talking about plural marriage."
The unnamed person was "kind of chastising me for deciding to quit plural marriage," he explained to his sole remaining bride. And then she offered up her services. "She's calling me out," Kody explained to Robyn, "and then asking sort of like to get to know us for the purpose of joining the family."
Truthfully, it wasn't an immediate no from Robyn, who admitted in a confessional, "For a split second, I think, 'Oh, wouldn't this be great? This is what I've always wanted for my life.' And, 'Hmm, would they fit.'"
Ultimately, though, it was a no.
"I find it very inappropriate that they would send it to Kody," she explained of her issue with the outreach. "It's not usually proper to go hitting on a guy. You have to go through the sister wives."
Madison Brush Hasn't Spoken to Dad Kody Brown in Years
Though Kody is now acknowledging the estrangement he's labeled "the failure of the family," he has a lot of work ahead of him if he'd like a passing grade.
Discussing Maddie's fourth pregnancy on the series' Nov. 9 episode, Janelle admitted that her eldest daughter didn't even tell her dad she was expecting. "He'll find out," Kody's second wife added, noting there was no reason to keep him in the loop beforehand. "They haven't spoken for a long time. It's probably been two or three years."
Meri Brown Says Janelle Brown Made Her Feel "Special" When She Joined the Family
Seems Janelle didn't just want the man, she truly wanted the family. When she wed Kody three years into his union with Meri—after briefly being married to Meri's brother—"There's so many emotions surrounding that," Meri recounted during the Nov. 9 episode. "I always felt like when Janelle got married, she was being really cool in the way that she was like including me and she didn't want to hurt my feelings."
At the time, Meri was filled with jealousy and other emotions as they tried "to figure out, like, how to do this plural marriage thing," she acknowledged. "And that always made me feel very special that she did that."