Sister Wives

[CdnCarrie]

I think Janelle is a quieter personality and not saying as much. She did make those comments about no more Christmases which seemed to me like she was mourning the end of an era.

 

[bapcap]

Kody is a huge ‘narcissist’…”I want everything my way”. Loved it when Christine said,”he needs to man the f*** up”! He feels betrayed…what a crock!!
She doesn’t want to stay in a relationship with no love/intimacy and he says “lots of marriages are okay with that” and so she should be content to stay!
So hard to listen to his “poor me” attitude…

 

[Allison Joy]

Commenting on a few episodes all at once here, and trying to summarize.

So... I thought it was interesting at Ysabel's graduation/birthday party that everyone was like, "Why can't everyone see that this works?" when that's ONE event, and, since COVID, they've had what, maybe three or four events where everyone is together like that?

And then there's Kody. Kody, Kody, Kody. You just... don't get it, do you?

Sorry for the yelling, but... THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!

Oh my gosh, he annoys me so much now.

Kody to Meri: Why don't you just live in your family's bed and breakfast?

Kody to Janelle: Sure you, can buy a trailer! Great idea!
Kody to Janelle : You think YOU'RE going to be able to haul this thing?
Kody to Janelle: Yeah, I can't live in this.

Kody to Christine: What do you mean I haven't spent time with you?
Kody to Christine: Absolutely, Ysabel should go back to in person school if that's what she wants!
Christine to Kody: But... does that mean you won't be able to hang out with Ysabel because she's going back to school?
Another wife (can't remember who) to Kody: Well, I mean, you could at least hang around outside with her, right?
Kody: But it's cold!
Kody to Christine: I don't know why YOU won't work on this relationship! (Not an exact quote, but the gist of a bunch of stuff he's said)
Kody to Christine: You can't move. And if you do, Truly needs to be with me 50% of the time.
Me: Oh. Yes. Because you've made SUCH an effort to spend even 10% of your time with Christine and her kids.)

So.... Let's see Janelle is in an RV that Kody won't live in, yet he encouraged it, he tells Mari to go live somehwere else, and he's driven Chrstine out of his llife because he has riddiculoulsy strict COVID rules that mean his own kids can't see him.

Also Kody: I don't see why my family is falling apart! It's all THEIR (i.e. anyone but him) fault!

I'm sure there's more I could say, but... yeah.

 

[Dakota731]

I thought it was telling when he didn’t even know how old Ysabel was!
And sad when he said the split with Christine has affected his other wives and mentioned Robyn and Janelle but not Meri. I hope she doesn’t settle for this kind of a “marriage”.

 

[mom2rtk]

I have seen it reported online that Kody doesn't have a custody agreement for Truely. Not much surprises me that comes out of his mouth, but when he said he needed 50-50 custody of Truely, my jaw dropped. He doesn't have it in him to have any child half of the time. I need to go back and watch Robyn's reaction when he says that.

Not sure if it's true, but I've also heard he's not listed on the birth certificate for at least some of those kids, supposedly to make it easier to get assistance if needed. If that were the case, then I can see why he would have a hard time going to court to push for a custody agreement.

Now time to get back to our regularly scheduled patriarchy.

 

[mom2rtk]

That stuff this week with everyone pining about how lovely the event was and why can't Christine stay so they can keep having lovely events.

They clearly see her as a set completer. The obscure piece of china you take out once a year to put on the table then put back on the shelf until next year. They want to put her in a corner and take her out for special occasions. I'm so glad she stood up and said that's not enough for her. It's apparently enough for Meri, but that's on her at this point.

And the fact that Kody swooped in at the last minute before the event NOT to ask if Christine needed help, but to FINALLY spend some time with his daughter and coincidentally take away the little bit of help that Christine actually had, was just maddening.

Of course one of the reasons family events won't be the same is that the set completer won't be there. But also because she's the one who did most of the planning and cooking.

 

[Allison Joy]

So.... I've been thinking about this some more (usually a bit dangerous... ha!) and realized that the Sisterwives have turn into a nuclear family and extended family. Kody is wife to Robyn and dad to her kids, but is basically the brother-in-law to his other wives and he's trying to be the "cool uncle" to the rest of the kids, but most of the kids see right through him.

 

[disneychick0412]

I might have said this already, but I hate how he acts like the kids are "Jenelle's kids" or "Christine's kids" as if he had nothing to do with it! I understand it's easy to phrase it that way (especially for the TV show), but when the five of them were on the zoom call and he asked Jenelle about Maddie's kids, he sounded to me like a non family member asking "So how are the grandkids?" As if they are not his grandkids too. If you have that many adult children and are not close to ANY of them, you are the problem! Especially when you are making it so obvious that you have favorites! Covid gave Kody a perfect excuse to separate himself from those that he wanted to separate from. (I know things were bad before that). I wonder how things would have played out had Covid not been a factor. Maybe the path they were already on, just slower?

 

[Turn the Page]

I might have said this already, but I hate how he acts like the kids are "Jenelle's kids" or "Christine's kids" as if he had nothing to do with it! I understand it's easy to phrase it that way (especially for the TV show), but when the five of them were on the zoom call and he asked Jenelle about Maddie's kids, he sounded to me like a non family member asking "So how are the grandkids?" As if they are not his grandkids too. If you have that many adult children and are not close to ANY of them, you are the problem! Especially when you are making it so obvious that you have favorites! Covid gave Kody a perfect excuse to separate himself from those that he wanted to separate from. (I know things were bad before that). I wonder how things would have played out had Covid not been a factor. Maybe the path they were already on, just slower?

Speaking for my own family, my parents god divorced this past year (after 40 years of marriage) and they tend to blame Covid and all the forced time together. I don't think it wa Covid causing the breakdown of their marriage so much as speeding it up. But the trainwreck that is the Browns may be totally different.

 

[lisaviolet]

That stuff this week with everyone pining about how lovely the event was and why can't Christine stay so they can keep having lovely events.

They clearly see her as a set completer. The obscure piece of china you take out once a year to put on the table then put back on the shelf until next year. They want to put her in a corner and take her out for special occasions. I'm so glad she stood up and said that's not enough for her. It's apparently enough for Meri, but that's on her at this point.

And the fact that Kody swooped in at the last minute before the event NOT to ask if Christine needed help, but to FINALLY spend some time with his daughter and coincidentally take away the little bit of help that Christine actually had, was just maddening.

Of course one of the reasons family events won't be the same is that the set completer won't be there. But also because she's the one who did most of the planning and cooking.

She has always been the energy. Her absence must be crazy clear for all of them.

 

[mom2rtk]

She has always been the energy. Her absence must be crazy clear for all of them.

A number of them sure took her for granted.

 

[barkley]

Speaking for my own family, my parents god divorced this past year (after 40 years of marriage) and they tend to blame Covid and all the forced time together. I don't think it wa Covid causing the breakdown of their marriage so much as speeding it up. But the trainwreck that is the Browns may be totally different.

i know of a similar divorce scenario. i suspect it was sped up b/c of the lock down but likely would have occurred w/in a couple of years of both partners retiring b/c i don't think that with the exception of a vacation together the couple had ever spent extended time together b/c of the nature of their jobs-being together 24/7 put a spotlight on their differences


on the subject of the browns..........i know many dislike robyn but i feel so bad for her, she bought into the concept of being wife #4 and having kody 25% of the time. a little bit of kody goes a loooooooooooooooooooooooooong way so i can't imagine what her life has been like with him being almost exclusively with her for the duration of the pandemic (and with christine leaving/him not wanting to spend time with meri or in janelle's rv there's no end in sight ). i thought it was interesting when she made some comments in her portion of the confessionals about how kody could perhaps be doing something/more to make christine feel more inclined to stay with the marriage.

 

[Turn the Page]

i know of a similar divorce scenario. i suspect it was sped up b/c of the lock down but likely would have occurred w/in a couple of years of both partners retiring b/c i don't think that with the exception of a vacation together the couple had ever spent extended time together b/c of the nature of their jobs-being together 24/7 put a spotlight on their differences


on the subject of the browns..........i know many dislike robyn but i feel so bad for her, she bought into the concept of being wife #4 and having kody 25% of the time. a little bit of kody goes a loooooooooooooooooooooooooong way so i can't imagine what her life has been like with him being almost exclusively with her for the duration of the pandemic (and with christine leaving/him not wanting to spend time with meri or in janelle's rv there's no end in sight ). i thought it was interesting when she made some comments in her portion of the confessionals about how kody could perhaps be doing something/more to make christine feel more inclined to stay with the marriage.

i say this having absolutely zero experience with anything but a strictly mongamous relationship.

But, I imagine that it is one thing to join an established, plural family, and quite another to be one of the current wives being asked to share their husband with the hot new piece of....well you know. For years, Christine was the "new" wife. Then she was suddenly usurped by Robyn. Now, Robyn has been the "new" wife for years. If he were to suddenly decide to go for a new wife I wonder if Robyn would devolve the same way Christine has.

 

[barkley]

i say this having absolutely zero experience with anything but a strictly mongamous relationship.

But, I imagine that it is one thing to join an established, plural family, and quite another to be one of the current wives being asked to share their husband with the hot new piece of....well you know. For years, Christine was the "new" wife. Then she was suddenly usurped by Robyn. Now, Robyn has been the "new" wife for years. If he were to suddenly decide to go for a new wife I wonder if Robyn would devolve the same way Christine has.

i think it had to have been surprising to all of the original 3 wives that kody was even considering courting a 4th-it's almost entirely unheard of in non flds polygamist households. that said-christine has said she felt treated as 'less than' for years prior to robyn entering the dynamic, her adult children seem to be saying that they've not felt their parents had a loving relationship for years. i don't think it was robyn that created the issues in this relationship-all 3 original wives have struggled with kody for years (janelle took the kids and left him for 2 years back in the day). robyn has always struck me as the most dedicated to 'the principle' of polygamy from a deep enduring spiritual basis. i think with the others there was the original spiritual belief but then it evolved into an 'us vs. them, you can't tell us what we can/can't do' stubborn mindset. i honestly believe that if kody chose to add more wives robyn would be entirely supportive of it (but i think at this point he's a closet monogomyst).

 

[cvjw]

on the subject of the browns..........i know many dislike robyn but i feel so bad for her, she bought into the concept of being wife #4 and having kody 25% of the time. a little bit of kody goes a loooooooooooooooooooooooooong way so i can't imagine what her life has been like with him being almost exclusively with her for the duration of the pandemic (and with christine leaving/him not wanting to spend time with meri or in janelle's rv there's no end in sight ). i thought it was interesting when she made some comments in her portion of the confessionals about how kody could perhaps be doing something/more to make christine feel more inclined to stay with the marriage.

She always says that she wishes she had Cody 25% of the time, but she sure does seem smug and very confident in her place as #1 wife. I think she relishes that role, and isn’t looking for any changes. Why should she? Her kids have a full time father. All the other kids get crumbs.

 

[Dakota731]

Interesting! I had never heard that Janelle left Kody for two years - when was that? I think she’s happy just being by herself, but Christine wanted a more traditional marriage so I hope everyone will be happy.

 

[barkley]

She always says that she wishes she had Cody 25% of the time, but she sure does seem smug and very confident in her place as #1 wife. I think she relishes that role, and isn’t looking for any changes. Why should she? Her kids have a full time father. All the other kids get crumbs.

i dunno. crumbs from a bad parent seem preferable than being exposed to one full time in lock down mode. the way kody has behaved during the pandemic with his rules and isolationist lock down mentality would have me fearful for the future implications on robyn's kids. beyond his sequestering them away from the extended family let alone anyone else potentially contributing to agoraphobia and other mental health issues i would be concerned that the older kids in that household witnessing how he has heartlessly cut off his many other children for simply failing to recognize, honor and blindly obey him as their ultimate leader on earth could end up fearful that since they've already lost one father (their birth) that they have no choice but to follow all of kody's demands and directives. they older ones are already not going off to college or attending in person schooling. what is his new (according to all the wives past and present) patriarchy mind set going to do to those kids? i would worry that due to dayton's asd it could lead him to develop inappropriate attitudes about appropriate behavior towards females, and leave the girls believing they are inferior and without a voice or free will.

seems to me to be the same recipe the flds households he's always claimed to be so different and apart from utilize to control and manipulate.

 

[cvjw]

i dunno. crumbs from a bad parent seem preferable than being exposed to one full time in lock down mode. the way kody has behaved during the pandemic with his rules and isolationist lock down mentality would have me fearful for the future implications on robyn's kids. beyond his sequestering them away from the extended family let alone anyone else potentially contributing to agoraphobia and other mental health issues i would be concerned that the older kids in that household witnessing how he has heartlessly cut off his many other children for simply failing to recognize, honor and blindly obey him as their ultimate leader on earth could end up fearful that since they've already lost one father (their birth) that they have no choice but to follow all of kody's demands and directives. they older ones are already not going off to college or attending in person schooling. what is his new (according to all the wives past and present) patriarchy mind set going to do to those kids? i would worry that due to dayton's asd it could lead him to develop inappropriate attitudes about appropriate behavior towards females, and leave the girls believing they are inferior and without a voice or free will.

seems to me to be the same recipe the flds households he's always claimed to be so different and apart from utilize to control and manipulate.

I don’t disagree with you. Cody is a terrible father. It seems he is even worse of a father during and after the pandemic - he has grown apart from all but Robyn’s kids.

 

[lovin'fl]

Speaking for my own family, my parents god divorced this past year (after 40 years of marriage) and they tend to blame Covid and all the forced time together. I don't think it wa Covid causing the breakdown of their marriage so much as speeding it up. But the trainwreck that is the Browns may be totally different.

Interesting. I think if a 'strained' marriage could survive the covid times then it could survive anything. My own 'strained' marriage had some big struggles during the covid times yet we did make it through to the other side so there is that, at least. But there were a couple moments I was a hair close to throwing in the towel (only time I seriously contimplated ending it in 26 years of marriage...also struggled with the bottemless pit of despair depression which I hadn't had since my youth....freakin covid). So, Christine was likely headed down that road but covid expedited it.

 

[Turn the Page]

Interesting! I had never heard that Janelle left Kody for two years - when was that? I think she’s happy just being by herself, but Christine wanted a more traditional marriage so I hope everyone will be happy.

It was early on. I'm actually not sure he had even married Christine yet. Apparently, it wasn't due to problems with Kody so much as Meri and Janelle couldn't get along. She didn't really leave Kody just moved her kids away due to the conflict with Meri.