The Major Life Change That Kickstarted Kody Brown's Sister Wives Splits, According To Robyn
Kody Brown is currently left with just one wife, and if you ask her, there was a specific moment when their family started falling apart. Even though Robyn Brown is widely considered to be Kody's favorite wife, she consistently ignores her role in the demise of Kody's other three marriages and keeps finding fault in everything, and everyone, else instead. According to Robyn, the major life change that kicked off Kody's splits was when the family's older children started moving away while the rest of the Browns were living in Las Vegas, Nevada.
"[The wives'] focus started to shift to kids that have left home to go live their lives instead of focusing on their relationship with Kody," Robyn informed People. Subsequently, the family decided to relocate to Flagstaff, Arizona, seeking a more suitable environment for the younger kids still residing at home. Unexpectedly, the change created more trouble for the Browns and, according to Robyn, ultimately led to Kody's three breakups coming in quick succession.
Christine Brown officially left Kody in November 2021, followed by Janelle Brown about a year later. Meri Brown was the only sister wife who didn't leave of her own accord, as Kody was the one to break things off with her. They announced their split in January 2023, despite Meri's continuing willingness to work on their marriage.
Robyn was the one who pushed for the Arizona move
According to the last wife standing, Robyn Brown, the move to Flagstaff had a detrimental impact on the Brown family dynamic. Once they were settled, Robyn and her then-sister wives, Meri, Janelle, and Christine Brown, started living in separate houses that were located quite far away from each other, with Kody Brown bouncing between them. In her interview with People, Robyn argued that she felt that was the moment the group had lost its closeness, noting, "It was easier just to not spend time together."
Additionally, she mentioned the infamous Coyote Pass property in Flagstaff, where Kody initially wanted to build one huge house that everyone could live in together, including the remaining children. However, the four wives didn't like this idea, so the new plan was to build each of them a place of their own alongside another they'd all share. "We weren't as united, and everybody [was] disagreeing about how to handle it," Robyn explained, adding, "And it became this fight, and people were so independent by that point."
Notably, what Robyn failed to mention was the reason Kody moved the sister wives to Arizona. Paedon Brown, Christine's son, revealed in an interview with John Yates that Robyn had played a pivotal role in pushing for the move because her son, Dayton Brown, got accepted to Northern Arizona University, which is located in Flagstaff. "We didn't get uprooted for Dayton, we got uprooted for Dad's favorite wife," Paedon clarified (via YouTube).
Christine and Janelle's issues had nothing to do with the move
While Robyn Brown tries to pinpoint where the downfall of her plural family started, certain former sister wives have been openly discussing it for years. During Season 15 of "Sister Wives," both Christine and Janelle Brown clearly expressed that they felt that the family's move to, not from, Las Vegas was when things changed for them. In one episode, Christine said, "I think we all started feeling like we were single moms in Vegas. It was the first time I felt like a single mom," to which Janelle agreed (via YouTube).
Since leaving Kody, Christine and Janelle have both cited his mistreatment of their children as the breaking point in their respective marriages. "It just wasn't the relationship that I was looking for for my kids, and it wasn't a relationship I was looking for myself," Christine admitted in a joint interview with E! News. Janelle felt similarly, even acknowledging, "I would have stayed and stayed and stayed if the kids were okay."
While moving to a different state undoubtedly affected the former polygamous clan, it appears that, apart from Robyn, no one else, including Kody himself, views it as the catalyst for the family's fallout. In an interview with People, Kody confessed that he could've been a better partner to his ex-wives and added, "The unraveling of our family was just me in that leadership position [who] stopped seeing the optimistic future."