Trigger Warning: This story contains mentions of child molestation. 

Mykelti Brown is opening up about an incident from her childhood that she says “traumatized” her, due to how her parents, Christine and Kody Brown and her other moms handled the situation.

During an interview with the Cults to Conciousness podcast published on Monday, the “Sister Wives” star revealed publicly for the first time that she was molested by a neighbor kid. She also stated that she was punished when she told her parents what had happened, due to the Brown Family’s strict “no tattle-telling” policy, something she credits her dad’s fourth wife Robyn for dismantling when she came into the family.

While Mykelti stated that she wasn’t quite ready emotionally to tell the full story about what her neighbor allegedly did to her, she did talk about how her parents’ reaction— or lack thereof—made her feel uncomfortable telling them things after.

“Tattle-telling, that was one of the biggest traumatizing things. I know it sounds weird but that was one of the biggest things I remember growing up is we were not allowed to tattle-tell– anything,” Mykelti said, clarifying that the rule even applied if a sibling was “in a life and death situation.” 

“Every single parent had this exact same stance,” Mykelti said, adding that the kid who told got in more trouble than the kid who had committed the bad deed. “…That was like the big thing I remember being disciplined about and traumatizing me.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Christine Brown Woolley (@christine_brownsw)

Mykelti said that the no-tattling policy made her and her siblings refrain from speaking up, even about important things.

“…I think it created a lot of issues with us kids not telling our parents the truth, and not wanting to come to them when things actually needed to be told,” Mykelti said. “Like, ‘hey, this neighbor kid touched me on my private parts.’ What kid is going to go tell their parents if they’re worried that they’re going to get in more trouble? That was a big thing growing up and that, like, traumatized me, was tattle-telling.”

When the podcast’s host, Shelise Ann Sola, asked Mykelti if the story about the neighbor kid inappropriately touching her was something that actually happened, Mykelti confirmed that it did.

“There is an experience that happened to me. I’m not quite emotionally healed enough and ready to talk about it, but there is an experience where I went and I told my parents and I got in trouble,” she said. “So, that is speaking from— this actually happened.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Mykelti Padron (@mykeltip)

“…I stopped telling my mom things, to such a degree that I could have been saved a lot of hurt, a lot of emotional damage and pain, if I had that trust with my mom, with my dad, with my other moms,” Mykelti added.

(As ‘Sister Wives’ fans are aware, Mykelti’s dad Kody was married to Christine, as well as Meri and Janelle. He later married Robyn when Mykelti was a teenager. Robyn is the only one of Kody’s wives who is still married to him.) 

Later in the interview, Mykelti stated that the sexual assault she suffered made her feel like she was “dirty.” However, she went on to credit Robyn for making her feel like she could open up.

“She had a way of breaking down my walls, and helping me when I was emotionally vulnerable to speak my truth,” Mykelti said. “And a lot of people don’t like Robyn and that’s totally fine. But one of the reasons I did like her so much and why I was so attached to her and why I got along with her so much is I talked to her about things that happened to me and I didn’t get in trouble.”

Robyn even stuck up for Mykelti to Kody about how poorly the situation with the neighbor kid touching Mykelti was dealt with.

“She went to my dad and she was like, ‘This is not OK. You guys handled this wrong. She needs help. She needs to be saved and rescued!'” Mykelti said of Robyn. “So, it was like a big thing for me like, ‘OK so there’s this person who came into my family that’s here to protect me. They like it when I tattle-tell. I’m allowed to talk to them about things. So that’s when my life started to change and got a lot more better and I did get help that I needed.

“That’s when a lot of things began to change in our family, too,” Mykelti added. “Tattle-telling became OK and disciplined changed a lot.”

You can listen to the full episode of Cults to Consciousness by clicking here. 

RELATED STORY: Mykelti Brown Claims She & Her Siblings Would “Cower” Around Meri Brown as Kids; Says Dad Kody & Other Moms Brushed Off Meri’s Alleged Abuse

(Photos: YouTube; TLC; Instagram)