Earlier this month, fans watched as Kody Brown had an emotional chat about his estrangement from his children during an episode of Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test. The Sister Wives star sobbed, eventually admitting that he was to blame for the poor relationships he has with most of his kids. He also broke down over his failures as a husband and father.
Now, however, Kody is recanting those statements.
(The Ashley will give you a moment to recover from the shock you’re surely feeling…)
During a live appearance Tuesday on Good Day New York, Kody— who was sporting a new ‘do of freshly sheared curls— stated he only made those statements because he thought that was what the Directing Staff (DS) agents wanted him to say.
“I felt like the only ‘military’ way to manage this is to take full responsibility. Even if you’re [only] partly culpable, [say] you’re fully culpable,” Kody said. “It’s just like, ownership. So I went into it going, ‘Yeah, I was the problem. I was the one that made a mistake. But in all reality, [the blame] is to be shared with ex-wives.
“…But mostly the real issue is we broke up as a family,” he added. “I can’t be the only one who’s culpable for that. Everybody else has to take responsibility. The ex-wives have to take partial responsibility. In this moment [on ‘Special Forces’] I was like, ‘It was all me’ because that was just the state I was in.”
As ‘Sister Wives’ fans are very aware, Kody has, over the years, pointed the finger at his kids and his three exes— Meri, Janelle and Christine— for the kids cutting him out of their lives. Many of the estrangements with his children started during COVID and have continued until present time, with the majority of Kody’s 18 kids no longer speaking to him.
Despite Kody’s actions during COVID being the start to nearly all of the estrangements, Kody decided to rewrite history and blame them on his ex-wives leaving him. (As fans know, Christine divorced Kody in late 2021, while Janelle confirmed her split from Kody in 2022. Meri and Kody “permanently terminated” their mess of a marriage in January 2023, leaving Robyn as Kody’s only remaining wife.)
Despite the timeline not matching up whatsoever, Kody blamed his kids going no-contact with him on his three divorces, leaving out the bulk majority of his actions that caused the estrangements.
“I’m only partly to blame,” Kody claimed. “All my children had a great relationship with me until the divorces.”
“When the divorces happened, the children were the victims of the divorce,” Kody continued. “And they had to pick sides. They had a closer relationship— because of polygamy— with their mothers and so it was just a natural movement. They moved away from me and that hurt me. I was doing the best that I could through the entire situation.
“But they tended to get very, very toxic because every one of our flaws and our faults is being portrayed by another person, pointing a finger…” Kody claimed.
Kody said he is unaware if his estranged kids have been watching him on ‘Special Forces,’ although he did acknowledge that his oldest son, Logan, is rooting for him.
While it doesn’t appear that much has changed between Kody and his kids in the time since he’s returned from filming ‘Special Forces,’ Kody said he has been reaching out to some of his kids, something his daughter Mykelti recently confirmed.
“When you start to heal a relationship that’s gone bad for years, it’s not pretty, so I’m going through sort of the ‘unpretty’ process,” he said. “I don’t want to say ‘ugly’ because it’s progress I guess.”
During a recent interview, Mykelti stated that Kody has reached out to her multiple times, but that she refuses to reconcile with him until he makes attempts to make up with her siblings too.
“He reached out before he left [to film Special Forces]. Every time we’ve communicated, he’s reached out and he’s the one extending the foot but it’s hard because, with me, I’m a package deal,” she told Pop Psych YouTube show. “You’ve got to treat my whole family nice; you’ve got to treat my kids nice. You’ve got to talk to all of us. You can’t just have me. You have to have all of us…I want him to be nice to Ysabel. I want him to be nice to Savanah. I want him to talk to Truly and hang out with her and go visit her.”
Kody’s ex-wives and kids have yet to respond publicly to Kody’s latest statements.
You can watch Kody’s full interview below!
(Photos: FOX; TLC)
17 Responses
One more comment… You need to invest into getting your teeth fixed to match the 4 front teeth that you already had done. … Sticks out like a sore thumb.
They had to pick sides??? I can only laugh at this… You were the one that picked sides when you were no longer with their mothers. It is so easy to deflect and place blame on someone else. You chose to have all these wives and all those kids, so now your putting blame on the kids? Let’s get real and how about you tell the truth for once in your life. At this point, everyone is laughing at you because you don’t know how to accept responsibility for your actions.
Say what you want about Mykelti, but that is a great big sister saying he has to have relationships with her siblings to have a relationship with her.
The Klown has no idea of what a lousy liar he even is. That he even thought he pulled one over on the Staff was stupid. Those men are trained to see the best and the worst in recruits and I am sure they saw Kody as one of the worst. They called him as it is, an immature guy with a teenage mindset. Sadly Kody will never see the reality of his choices. He already has one son in a grave. Kody doesn’t understand that Robyn has not been disrespected by his other kids. She and Kody made the choice to cut every one of them out of his life. It was not a matter of picking sides. Kody needed to look Robyn in the eye and said “I have 13 other kids who need me as much as your kids do”. Instead he kept harping on protecting Robyn. My god. If any 2 idiots deserve each other it is the Klown and Sobyn.
They also wondered if he was on meth, they want to know what exactly is wrong with him. They aren’t alone my question is where is
Dr. Drew when you need him?
I knew he was lying his ass off. He acted like an eager little school boy in front of the DS and a misogynistic asshole with everyone else when they couldn’t see him. No one liked him. He was responsible for the best line the DS ever said in any season. They were discussing the recruits and when it came to Kody one of the DS’ Billy said “I would have Kody be lead scout….in a minefield”🤣😂🤣
Prior to his divorces he had iced out his kids and his wives because they weren’t “respecting Robyn”. Out of his own mouth he said he wouldn’t tolerate anyone disrespecting Robyn.🤢
Then there were the Covid rules which had nothing to do with Covid and became a convenient excuse for Kody to have no relationships except within his & Robyn’s house. But what I will never forget as long as I live is Gabe and Garrison crying on the show and telling Kody that they missed him. They missed the relationship with him and they weren’t disrespectful to Queen Robyn. He yelled at them, blamed them, blamed their mothers then stomped to his truck and left them at stupid Coyote Pass. Still crying. I will never forget but he sure did. He makes me sick.
Spot on.
WE ARE IN a teen mom news drought……………..ashley help us!
@Sam– I got you! -The Ashley
“They’re closer with their moms because of polygamy.” I bet there’s plenty of plig kids who are closer to their dads than their moms. You know, the dads who show their kids love and affection, dads who don’t use an epidemic as an excuse to not have to see them. Dads that go to their children’s surgeries or call 911 when they’re half comatose on a sofa. Good dads are favorited in many homes Chody. You just suck.
So the kids are toxic and he did the best he could?? Sounds on brand for Kody. Things went south way before the divorce. He had already torpedoed his relationship with Jenelle’s boys years before she left him. He was already ignoring Savannah who was a minor and Truly who still is a minor. He was “married” to Jenelle when he didn’t even call Savannah on her birthday. He’s the problem. And he’s always been the problem.
The kids saw what the other wives saw – that all he cared about was the household he was in and the people there and no one else. It was so blatant that none of them could even bullshit themselves anymore about the whole polygamy thing. All prior narratives crumbled to the ground and they had to face the fact that it was time to move on. That’s what the kids saw and they also saw that they didn’t matter to him anymore either.
Kody got honest about the fact that he only loved Robyn at one point, which should have been a turning point, but then he continues to double down on his prior bullshit narratives. If he had stayed honest then, he could have apologized to the kids and said he handled it wrong and they would have forgiven him. Then he could have began to make a real effort with them.
I just don’t think he cares. He’s still happy to be with just the people in his own household. So the other kids, just like the other wives, are better off cutting their losses! He shouldn’t do anything unless it’s genuine and I don’t think it would be. He would end up letting them down because he doesn’t care. Not enough, at least. And the kids know it.
The last thing in the world those kids deserve is for Kody to make a fake effort to improve the public’s opinion of him. That’s what it sounded like he was about to do from what he said on SF. So recanting is better than for him to use them for his own selfish purposes and then let them down. They’re hurt enough! As is any kid who gets abandoned by their father.
I knew he would never really change. Narcissists only care about themselves, and everyone else around them is expected to bow down and worship them. The OG wives and kids said Eff that BS, he’s not worth it. Once the show is gone, Sobbyn will split, as well. Sucks to be you, Kootie.
Oh for pitys sake, just shut the heck up, your narcissistic piece of dog excrement. You were a crappy husband and once your children stopped worshipping at your altar your relationships with them went to heck!
Let’s not talk about Truely, the coolest kid alive! Truely is cool. You didn’t give a good darn when she was suffering from a life-threatening medical emergency as a baby because of the new Missus. That, my dear, is a crap parent with screwed up and disordered priorities. The only relationships you now have are with the “Flowers in the Attic”. Reflect on the that you self centered ridiculous donkey hat!