‘Sister Wives’: Kody Brown admits ‘mistake’ that caused split from Christine

A year after separating from his first ex-wife, Christine, Kody Brown is willing to admit his role in their split.

Christine was Kody’s first wife to separate from their spiritual, polygamous marriage, ending their relationship in late 2021. Janelle followed suit in December 2022, and Meri joined the ex-sister wives in January 2023. In total, Kody lost three-quarters of his marriages within 14 months and had been married to the sister wives since the early 1990s.

In the new episode of Sister Wives, filmed approximately around the one-year anniversary of Christine and Kody’s separation in late 2022, Kody opened up about his feelings about the split. In particular, he seemed to take accountability for his role in the breakdown of their marriage.

“I made the mistake of not managing my family properly, and Christine has left,” Kody admitted in a confessional. Kody’s comments are a change in tone from the previous episode, where he called his ex-wife “mean” for leaving him and giggling when he told her that he didn’t want her to come to their house during the holidays over supposed concerns over COVID-19.

In the new episode, the family is still trying to get used to the changes that came from Christine’s departure and ultimately decided on a Thanksgiving where Kody would celebrate with wives Robyn and Meri. Christine would be joined by Janelle, alongside their children, whom they share with Kody.

This decision by Janelle seemed to be a wake-up call for Kody about his behavior as a husband. “Janelle has decided, because we’re not in the greatest place, that she’d rather hang out with Christine,” Kody explained in a confessional. “We’re not working like a family. We’re not a family. We’re acting like enemies.”

It seems that he was right to be concerned, as Janelle was the next wife to leave Kody, just over the one-year anniversary of his separation from Christine. In a recent joint interview with Janelle and Christine, the pair admitted that they were in constant contact in the window between Christine’s exit from the Brown family sect in Flagstaff, Arizona, and Janelle’s ultimately deciding to exit their three-decade-long marriage.

Christine explained that Janelle was kind towards her over her decision to withdraw from the polygamist family, and she still considers her a sister’s wife despite their divorces. In turn, Janelle explained that Christine was “always so supportive” during her final year of marriage to Kody, which may have started in the recent episode when the two celebrated Thanksgiving together with their children.