Kody Brown Reveals How COVID-19 Has Impacted His Polygamous Family - Exclusive
The coronavirus pandemic has upended just about every walk of life. Simple trips to the grocery store are now fraught with lines, masks, and what feels like gallons of hand sanitizer. A quick trip to your neighbor's house has been completely off limits. Long weekends to visit your parents and grandparents have had to be postponed time and time again. But what has it been like for Kody Brown of TLC's Sister Wives, who has to navigate four different marriages, four different homes, and four separate families?
The constraints of the pandemic have impacted Kody, his wives, and his plural family immensely. In an exclusive sit-down with The List, Kody revealed that the coronavirus pandemic threw as big a curveball as it could have at his family and their lives — together, and apart. While so many of us had to focus on just one household staying safe, Kody had to concern himself with four.
So what have the costs of the pandemic been to the Brown family? What, if anything, has changed in Kody's life due to COVID-19? We have all the answers, because Kody Brown revealed to The List how COVID-19 has impacted his polygamous family.
Kody Brown says that it's hard for his family to get on the same page regarding COVID-19
When it comes to COVID-19, there has been a lot of mixed messaging. This, of course, has had a big impact on families and how they go about addressing the pandemic and the lockdown restrictions, and Kody Brown's family is no exception. Kody told The List that while it would be "unfair" of him to compare his family's struggles to others who have suffered greatly due to the pandemic, he did say that the past year has been more than challenging.
"It's been a struggle for us to get on the same page on how we behave regarding COVID-19," Kody told The List. "When you're trying to prevent COVID-19 from just tearing like a wildfire through your family, I can't be going to each house if each household is basically abiding by the same COVID protocols, if you will."
Due in part to each of his wives having different opinions on the pandemic, Kody said that things have been extraordinarily tough. He revealed that while on some days, his wives and separated families "dial in" and are harmonious when it comes to addressing COVID-19, other days aren't so easy.
Kody Brown relied on two physicians' opinions to help guide his family through the pandemic
Different families have approached the coronavirus pandemic in their own way, and to guide his family safely through, Kody Brown relied on the advice of two different physicians. He told The List that both doctors advised strict COVID-19 protocols for all his wives and his children to follow, but the news didn't go over well. Kody revealed that "a lot in family" didn't like the rules put in place, making his reality a bit difficult.
"A lot of the family doesn't like the rules. That's probably because we've got a lot of young people in our family and we've got mothers in the family that want to accommodate the kids," Kody said. "It's been a real struggle."
Kody reiterated that he by no means wanted to compare his family's experience with those who have lost loved ones to the coronavirus, but he did tell The List that the pandemic brought pressure points within his family to the surface.
Has COVID-19 brought weak points in Kody Brown's marriages to the surface?
The coronavirus pandemic challenged us in so many different ways, bringing new fears, stresses, and insecurities to the surface. Kody Brown's family has not been exempt from those realities. He told The List that the pandemic "has only revealed ... our weaknesses as a family." Having said that, Kody shared that at this point in his life, he is more than prepared to share just about everything with the world, weaknesses and all.
"We're at a point now where we're not holding back," Kody said. "My whole experience with being on a reality TV show has been that every single season, every single time we've worked, I feel like I'm being more and more and more and more open."
Kody Brown revealed that he feels at times, within the pandemic and without, that he's "just been spilling" his guts to the world about his life, and that's not a bad thing. "My opinion of the situation is you're getting it all. You're not getting in my bedroom, and that's it," he said. "You're getting everything else."
Sister Wives airs Sunday nights at 10 p.m. ET/PT on TLC.