The first part of the Sister Wives: One on One special is all about Kody Brown and Janelle Brown’s relationship. The former couple looks back on their relationship, including their infamous pre-Christmas showdown that ultimately led to their separation. Kody, 54, admits that he “never” wanted to talk to Janelle, 54, again after that fight.
Host Sukanya “Suki” Krishnan brings up Janelle liking Kody’s “pecs,” and Janelle bursts out laughing. “It’s not what it’s about for me,” Janelle says about Kody’s physical attributes. “It’s about emotional connection for me.”
While sitting down with Suki, Kody specifically brings up what he previously said about his abs. “Abs was all about the fact that Janelle has always seen me as a physical specimen and as a resource and not ever really dove into my humanity,” Kody claims. The Brown patriarch goes on to say that Janelle made him feel like “some pool boy” and a “piece of meat.”
During the episode, Kody admits that he doesn’t know where his relationship with Janelle stands at the moment. He says that Christine Brown and Janelle have spent the last two years “trash-talking” him because he’s “guilty” of not loving them.
“I was guilty of not being in love with them. It was guilt from the beginning. It’s like, I married, and I didn’t know. I married on a premise that was very different than romantic love is.”
He adds, “I’m in a place now where I would like romantic love with Janelle. We’ve got stuff to work out. Christine was always in a place where she wanted romantic love with me.”
Kody has been vocal about how he’s only ever been romantically in love with Robyn Brown, despite having other sister wives. Despite his claim that he wasn’t in love with Meri Brown, Christine, and Janelle, Kody says that he was “trying to love” them.
In the midst of her separation from Kody, Janelle’s relationship with Christine has only gotten stronger. Janelle and Christine’s close bond hasn’t exactly made Kody happy. Christine believes Kody is finally getting a taste of his own medicine and is now seeing what it’s been like to be a sister wife.
“If you look at it from a perspective of one-on-one, institutionally, it’s an unfair lifestyle,” Kody says as he reflects on his plural marriage situation. “I never said it wasn’t. They got to choose their husband, and they chose. There’s other things that happened during that time, and I can’t tell you what they were, but Janelle and I were not getting closer. We were getting farther apart.” New episodes of Sister Wives air Sundays on TLC.