Amid last week’s emotional episode of Sister Wives in which the Brown family gathered in Wyoming for a memorial honoring Kody and Janelle Brown’s late son Garrison Brown, Garrison’s sibling Maddie Brush and Leon Brown opened up about the strained relationships within the family, and discussed how they’d be open to trying to make amends with Kody and Robyn‘s adult children, whom they’ve been estranged from.

Many ‘Sister Wives’ fans were surprised to see Leon on-camera, as Sunday’s episode marked the first time that Leon– who is transgender and uses they/them pronouns– has appeared on the show in years. (Their mother, Meri Brown, has stated that, although she and Leon have a good relationship, Leon had decided in recent years they don’t want to be “super-public,” and Meri respects that wish and does not talk about Leon online much because of that.) 

“With Kody, it’s like, I’m angry at the way things happened, but I can control how I react and reciprocate and I’m still deciding how I do that,” Maddie told Leon.

Maddie also admitted to Leon that the ongoing estrangement has made her “sad” for their father, but that she feels even more sympathy for Kody and Robyn’s children.

“I’m really sad for Robyn’s kids,” Maddie said, referring to 25-year-old Dayton, 23-year-old Aurora and 21-year-old Breanna Brown– the three children from Robyn’s first marriage, whom Kody legally adopted years ago. (Kody and Robyn are also parents to 13-year-old Solomon and nine-year-old Ariella.) 

“I would love to have a conversation with them,” Leon said.

“If I had a conversation with any of them, I’d be like, ‘I have nothing against you and if I’ve ever done anything to hurt you, I’m sorry,’” Maddie added.

“I’m not sure what to say other than that,” Maddie told Leon. “Like, ‘If I ever caused you pain, I’m sorry.’”

Maddie and Leon’s conversation took place after Garrison’s memorial service, where most of the Brown family went on to gather at a rental house, sans Kody, Robyn and their children. Kody & Co.’s absence from the get together was all but expected due to the fact that Kody is estranged from many of his adult children, including both Maddie and Leon. (Kody was also still estranged from Garrison at the time of his death.) 

While Maddie and Leon seemed more than willing to repair things with their other siblings, both Aurora and Breanna have claimed in past episodes of ‘Sister Wives’ that they were “not accepted” into the family after their mom and Kody tied the knot in 2010. 

“I have been told directly, multiple circumstances by multiple different people, that I was not accepted,” Aurora said in an episode that aired last year. “ … That I was not their sister, that they didn’t consider or see me that way.” 

Meanwhile, Breanna stated on that same episode that she believed all the parents could have made a better effort to connect the kids as a family, claiming that “it never really happened.” 

Robyn also addressed her children’s alleged feelings towards the rest of the family during an episode in Season 18 when she tearfully told viewers that her kids felt “rejected” after the rest of the family opted not to spend the holidays at her and Kody’s home. This was the same season that it was revealed on the show that Robyn had interfered with a sibling gift exchange that Kody and Janelle’s son Logan Brown had attempted to organize in 2021, which ended with Robyn ultimately deciding that the gift exchange was “emotionally unsafe” for her five kids to participate in. 

Towards the end of Sunday’s episode, Janelle told viewers that while Garrison’s death has been “so tragic and really hard,” she recognized that the grieving process had also “brought the family together in a lot of ways.” While she noted that there had yet to be any “reconciliation with Kody or anybody like that,” Janelle said that many of the fractured relationships among the siblings “have been mended” in the wake of her son’s death. 

“ … [It] just puts everything into perspective, right? And so here we are. Yes, we’re here for a very sad thing, but we’re also creating this new memory where everybody’s here,” she said.

New episodes of ‘Sister Wives’ air Sundays on TLC. 

RELATED STORY: ‘Sister Wives’ Star Kody Brown Opens Up About His Decision to Dig Late Son Garrison’s Grave Himself: “It Means Something to Me” 

(Photos: TLC)