How Kody Brown's Daughter Truely Gets Along With Mom Christine's New Husband David
Kody Brown, the "Sister Wives" star who once boasted four wives and is now down to just one, faced a nightmare scenario when his third wife, Christine Brown Woolley, left him in 2021, taking their underage daughter with her. Truely Brown, who was approximately 11 years old when her parents ultimately split for good, eventually relocated to Utah with her mother and Christine's now-husband, David Woolley.
While Christine was moving and moving on, Kody was concerned about how the distance might affect his relationship with Truely. "I'm disgusted by this idea that [Christine's] moving, and she's gonna take Truely and move to Utah," he told the cameras during a solo confessional in Season 17 (via Business Insider). However, Christine had a different perspective, arguing, "I can take [Truely] to a better support system where she's surrounded by love."
And that's exactly what she did. In a 2023 interview with People, Christine revealed that Truely and David had developed an even stronger bond than she could have ever hoped for. "He's a phenomenal person, to the core. He's just outstanding," she gushed of her new husband. Across the country, Kody continues to boil over the new family dynamics, seemingly forgetting that his actions were what tipped Christine over.
Kody is not happy about Truely living with Christine and her new beau
While speaking to People, Christine Brown Woolley also revealed that it was her daughter's approval of David Woolley that made her certain about him. "He came over one time and he started talking with Truely [Brown], and he just sat down with her and got her. He understood her," the "Sister Wives" star recalled, adding, "And I think that was the final clinch for me." As the trio grew closer over time, Truely's biological dad, Kody Brown, struggled with the presence of another father figure in her life.
When The U.S. Sun spotted Christine, David, and Truely enjoying themselves at a Costco parking lot in April 2023, a source close to Kody detailed the patriarch's disapproval of the new family setup. "The whole thing makes him sick," the insider shared. Notably, Christine and David weren't married at the time but were already living together in Utah with Truely. The anonymous source also confirmed that David and Truely had a great relationship, apparently leaving Kody out.
When Christine and Kody were initially breaking up, he specifically requested shared custody of Truely and was understandably upset that Christine planned to relocate with her. "I find it ironic that now he wants to be involved in my kids' lives, now that I'm leaving," Christine remarked of Kody's request in a Season 17 confessional (via Business Insider), implying that he had been an absent father to their six children. Interestingly, another insider within the family substantiated Christine's sentiment.
Kody and Truely's bond was likely on the rocks prior to the divorce
While some of the "Sister Wives" conflicts were seemingly dramatized for TLC, the conflict that unfolded after Kody Brown and Christine Brown Woolley divorced was undeniably real. An anonymous source close to the Brown family claimed in an interview with In Touch Weekly that Kody was not present in Truely Brown's life amid the separation, asserting, "He's still paranoid about COVID and everything else." The insider also acknowledged that for Truely to spend quality time with her dad, Christine would have to bring her to Arizona, where Kody currently lives.
Amidst the patriarch's self-centered approach, Truely admitted to feeling betrayed by her parents' secret split, revealing in a Season 17 episode that learning the news was heartbreaking, but that she "just had to realize for a day that not everything was going to change," (via People). While it is unclear whether Kody has ever visited Truely in Utah or if the family has an alternative agreement in place, the patriarch is no stranger to not being there for her.
In 2014, Truely was hospitalized with kidney failure, and, according to Christine, Kody was to blame. "She thought that I had been negligent," he explained in a Season 16 episode (via Newsweek), confessing, "I think Christine hates me partly because Truely almost died." Truely was discharged from the hospital after 10 days. As she continues to get along well with Christine's new husband, Kody may start to regret his past behavior.