Photo:TLC

Kody Brown, Sister Wives

TLC

Sister Wives’Brown familyhas experienced its fair share of problems over the years, making the drama that unfolded in the wake ofChristine Brown’s exit only intensify the ongoing strife — and that tension has been on everyone’s minds.

In Sunday’s season 18 premiere — which was filmed beforeKody Brownfound himselfunexpectedly monogamousaftersplitting with three of his four wives in 14 months— the TLC patriarch opened up about where things stood ahead of the 2022 holidays

“The state of the family is strained. I mean, it almost feels like the Civil War. I don’t even know how to describe it,” Kody, 54, said in a confessional interview.

Kody delved into theevolving dynamics with his four wives. After noting it had been “months” since third wife Christine, 51, divorced him, Kody said he’d had “infrequent interactions” with first wifeMeri Brown, 52. Things with second wifeJanelle Brown, 54, were also “pretty strained” and he couldn’t “figure this out” because of how “upset” he was.

“The family’s not talking,” he admitted.

Conversations about the current state of the family weren’t limited to Kody in Sunday’s premiere. Janelle addressed her ownongoing problemswith Kody, saying she believesgetting her RV homeput “even more strain” on their relationship.

“I thought we’d have this grand adventure. I didn’t anticipate it would be so hard,” she shared in a confessional. “When it wasn’t all easy and it wasn’t comfortable and it was hard, I think Kody really got disillusioned very fast. And it was really easy to blame me for this.”

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Janelle Brown, Kody Brown, Meri Brown, Robyn Brown, Christine Brown

Janelle continued the family tension chatter when Christine paid her a visit at her apartment in Flagstaff, Arizona. During their chat, Janelle said she didn’t plan to spend time with the larger family during the holidays due to Kody’s estrangement from her sons. (The former couple’s son previously disagreed overtheir differing approaches to COVID-19 safetyand Kody’soverall neglect.)

“Kody’s still feeling like the boys need to have a conversation with him or whatever. So, we’re separate,” Janelle told Christine while her youngest daughter Savanah, 18, was present. “Kody feels like they owe him a big apology and some conversation and stuff for being disrespectful.”

Janelle said she was “worried just because Kody’s in such a place where he just is like, ‘I’m tired of doing all the work to hold the family together.'” But from Janelle’s perspective, she said, “I feel like as a husband in a plural family, that’s kind of your responsibility.”

“I think people are looking back and trying to pick it apart. And if she saw that we were perfect, then we’re all really good actors or she has blinders on. I don’t know,” Meri added. “And I’m not saying that to be rude. We were not perfect, but we were good.”

“The first 20 years of our family was pretty dysfunctional,” Kody acknowledged. “And I think because we wanted to be functional, we had a very different attitude about it. We were trying so hard that we believed that we were functional — but we weren’t.”

Sister Wives: Kody Brown Compares ‘Strained’ Family Dynamic to Civil War, ‘Never’ Wants to See Ex Christine Again

“I kind of feel like in my heart, I just never want to see her again,” he told the cameras. “And I want to spend some time hating her.”

Though Kody and Christine’s conversation was relatively diplomatic at first, things took a turn for the worse when they started discussing COVID safety and Kody’s own brush with the illness, which Christine laughed about.

“Oh, I’m not laughing. I’m not laughing here. I haven’t been laughing with her leaving. I’ve never been laughing about this thing,” he said in a confessional. “She asked me to stop staying at her place, I wasn’t laughing then. She moved my stuff into the garage, I wasn’t laughing then. She left with [our daughter]Truelyand she left early, I wasn’t laughing then. I’ve never been laughing about this.”

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Sister Wivesairs Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on TLC.

source: people.com