Suki Krishnan has been hosting the Sister Wives Tell-All episodes since 2022 and, over the years, has gotten into a few on-stage spats with Kody Brown. However, according to Suki, Kody is not the person in the Brown family she finds the hardest to interview.
“There have been a couple of times where [Kody’s] been like, ‘I’m not going to answer that question,'” Suki said during a recent appearance on the Sister Wives Professor podcast. “And you rephrase it and try to get back into the game…but sometimes he just doesn’t want to answer questions and sometimes the women don’t want to answer questions.”
Despite Suki’s memorable tiff with Kody during Season 19’s Tell-All (in which Kody got angry and shut down the interview when he was asked about his early “Mormon naughty” sexual experiences), she said it is not Kody who gives her the hardest time during interviews.
“I think sometimes the toughest interview for me has not been Kody but Meri, really,” she said.
“When I first met her, she was tough. She’s a tough nut to crack,” Suki said, adding that in past seasons Meri has not felt comfortable enough to fully open up, likely due to the poor relationships she had with Kody and most of the other wives back then.
“This season you really see her [open up] at the Tell-All. She’s got a support system with [her friend] Jen [sitting onstage with her],” Suki said. “And you can really see her come out and talk and share her feelings because she has a safe space. And she hasn’t really had that safe space or a person who can hold space for her, and her emotions, and validate her.”
Meri— who “permanently terminated” her mess of a marriage to Kody in January 2023— has been much more outspoken during Season 20, something Suki says she noticed immediately when filming this season’s Tell-All.
“You get much more out of Meri [now] and how she was thinking and feeling at the time,” she said. “And you also see her advocating for herself much more than you did in the past, especially the first time I sat with them. [Back then] she was still in love with [Kody], she still wanted to make it work and she was still friends with Robyn and there was this partnership. And now you see the disillusionment of their partnership together.”
Suki also discussed the changes in Meri’s relationships with her now-former sister wives. (Currently, only Robyn remains married to Kody, as his other wives Janelle and Christine left him several years ago.)
She noted that Meri and Janelle— who always struggled to get along— have come a long way in their relationship since leaving Kody.
“[There’s a] somewhat friendship between her and Janelle. I don’t think they’ll ever be friends but there will be a friendship, if you know what I mean,” she said.
Suki also discussed the changing dynamic between Meri and Robyn, who were once close friends.
“There was one thing that I didn’t know that I got out of Robyn I think last season,” Suki said. “The reason why she had such a hard time with Meri not being her friend [anymore] was because her and Meri made a covenant with each other and then they had to let each other go in order to move on.
“There’s a lot to the story that I don’t even know sometimes, until I’m in the process of the interview and then you’re ripping all these layers down,” she added.
Part 2 of the ‘Sister Wives’ Season 20 Tell-All airs Sunday on TLC.
3 Responses
Suki is a terrible interviewer. She lets go of the tougher questions without a fight, doesn’t do follow-ups. She panders to Kody, and always allows him to intimidate her and silence her, much like he did his exes. I find her questions shallow. The new format is also super-annoying, with everyone being interviewed separately. Overall, the show needs to go. What little storyline there is, could be covered in one catch-up episode. No need to stretch it out over a whole dreadful season. Certainly there is no need for a 4-part tell all.
Suki is not the best interviewer of this family. Kody in particular. She seems to treat him and his fragile ego with kid gloves. Tamron Hall hosting was great! She didn’t care whether Kody threw a fit or not. He was going to answer her questions one way or another. That’s why Kody refused to film reunions if Tamron was going to be the interviewer.
I really think Pastor Cal would do a much better job! I’d love to see Suki replaced by him.