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Sister Wives’ Kody Brown Is ‘Powerless’ When It Comes to Relationships With Older Children
Sister Wives star Kody Brown is reflecting on the relationships with his older children following his splits from Christine Brown, Janelle Brown and Meri Brown, admitting he feels “powerless” as a father figure.
“Your relationship with your 10-year-old or your five-year-old or your babies is very different than the relationship you have with a 15-year-old, a 20-year-old, and a 25 and a 30-year-old. It’s very different,” Kody, 54, explained in an interview with People on Wednesday, October 4. “I didn’t have any power in my household to say, ‘These are the rules.’”
The father of 18 admitted his connections with his older children were strained and the large brood first began to “unravel” when they were unable to negotiate past their differences.
“There were a lot of things … very difficult issues that we had to deal with. There were no good answers at the time,” he explained, adding that COVID-19 negatively impacted the family. “I don’t know what happened. All that’s left now is moving forward. Moving forward and hopefully healing these relationships. It is really a story now, moving forward. This is a story about forgiveness. Forgiveness and finding hope and joy after relationships have been severed from the way that’s the norm.”
Kody’s statements follow an explosive fight between him and Janelle about their older sons on season 18 of the series. At the time, Kody slammed Janelle for her “lack of loyalty” and for not helping him communicate with his sons and following family rules.
“It still surprises me that Kody feels like it’s my responsibility to facilitate this relationship between he and my children,” Janelle told producers during the September 3 episode. “He’s a parent as much as I am.”
Janelle also claimed that Kody was “pushing” her out of their marriage in an attempt to make her leave him, rather than him leaving her. The argument came to a head when Janelle told the Wyoming native to “shut your f–king mouth and let me talk for a minute” and Kody stormed out. The heated exchange led to their eventual split, which In Touch exclusively revealed in December 2022 after nearly 30 years of marriage.
Janelle later revealed that the argument was the moment she knew that she was going to separate from Kody. “This burden came off me, and I thought, ‘Wow. Okay, it’s over,’” she said in an August interview with People.
Janelle and Kody tied the knot in January 1993. The pair share six kids — sons Logan, Hunter, Garrison and Gabriel, as well as daughters Madison and Savanah.
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