The effects of the Covid pandemic are still being felt around the world, even years later. In sister wivesIt's clear that the decisions made by patriarch Kody Brown during the pandemic have changed the structure of his family for the rest of his life.
Sometimes it seems like he cares. In the most recent episode of season 19, it becomes clear that this is not one of those moments.
In fact, he seems at peace with the fact that his decisions during Covid have cost him two marriages and relationships with most of his children.
Kody Brown's Covid rules: tough or necessary?
Travel briefly with us to 2020 and season 16 of sister wives.
Being in a plural family meant that more than 20 people, of different ages, from babies to adults, had to navigate new restrictions such as social distancing and wearing masks.
Under the guise of wanting everyone to feel “safe,” Kody asked the entire family to follow a strict set of guidelines. Janelle at the time called them “Kody’s 10 Billion Commandments.”
This included everything from not leaving the house to cleaning mail with alcohol wipes.
Now, while we applaud Kody for taking the situation seriously, both fans and his family argued that his restrictions were imposed more for the sake of some family members, not the family as a whole.
While Meri, Janelle, and Christine were quarantined from Kody, Robyn spent months of quality time with Kody, as did her kids.
Things finally came to a head when Kody ordered the older children he had with Janelle to move out of the family home because they couldn't follow the rules.
The breakup between Garrison and Kody
One of the children whose relationship with his father essentially ended during Covid was Garrison.
At the time, Kody expressed his anger after his and his second wife Janelle's son called him and accused him of being too extreme with his COVID protocols.
“The fact is, in this environment, I'm just trying to keep my kids, especially the little ones, from getting COVID,” Kody explained during one episode, referencing the younger children he shares with Robyn.
Kody even went so far as to accuse Garrison of passing COVID to all of Janelle's children, Janelle, and Garrison's own girlfriend.
The fight resulted in Garrison and Kody refusing to speak to each other, and it remained that way until the day Garrison died in the winter of 2024.
Kody Admits His Rules Ruined His Family, But He Sticks To Them
Kody has a hard time admitting he was wrong unless you offer him cash, in which case he owns up to his mistakes for the low price of $99.
For example, for some reason known only to them, a Kody fan paid the price in exchange for the Sister Wives star shooting a Cameo video for him.
Referencing the VERY strict rules he implemented over a year ago in the face of a deadly pandemic, Kody admitted in this video that he's been “struggling.”
“I don't even know what to say about [COVID] never again,” Kody says in the video.
“I think my cure has been worse than the disease. “That's just a personal thing… I'm doubting myself, which I probably shouldn't be doing right now.”
Oh no, you should.
Alienate your children and reassure them that they can't spend time with you? That's pretty bad.
“It's been a long two years, all of this, almost two years,” Kody continues in his latest cameo, adding as a message to the person who ordered the clip:
“Anyway, hang in there. We all have to do it. “All of us must endure.”
It's true.
You can't blame Kody too much for taking every safety precaution possible, but even Janelle told him to fuck off when he got out of hand.
He did it all for Robyn
“I know there are a lot of accusations from guys about me and they are false,” Robyn told the sister wives cameras at that time.”
Janelle and Christine's children collectively felt that Kody used Covid to choose a family to settle down with, rather than spreading himself among his four wives. They felt he chose Robyn and that she, in turn, insisted on strict Covid rules.
But Robyn insisted that wasn't true.
“I just don't have that kind of power over Kody. And if I had, I certainly wouldn't have chosen what we chose through COVID,” he said. “I would have sat down and we would have come to an agreement on how to handle COVID together as a family. “That's what I would have done if I had 'the power' they think I have.”
A fair point, and we also thought, given how hard Robyn pushes for the family, that if she had the power, she would have Kody be with her daughter Ysabel when she had to undergo necessary spinal surgery during the pandemic.
Kody flatly refused to travel with her to undergo the operation. The decision destroyed their relationship and ended his marriage to Christine.
Soon after, her inability to repair her relationship with her children forced Janelle to divorce as well.
(It doesn't really apply to this story, but as a matter of order, Meri and Kody also broke up a year after that. Now Kody is ALONE with Robyn.)
Kody admits his mistake, but he hasn't changed
Fast forward to 2024 and season 19 of sister wives shows where Kody is today.
The episodes were filmed in late 2022, long before his son Garrison's death. In the third episode, Kody admits that he regrets abandoning Ysabel and forcing the children to move.
However, he has yet to repair any of the relationships with his children that were affected.
In fact, it doesn't seem like she was able to repair her relationship with Garrison before his passing.
“We could have been talking more,” Kody said as he broke his silence on Garrison’s passing.
“I was getting text messages, things like that, and we could, in retrospect, have done a lot more. And it was almost like: I'm busy with my life, he's busy with his life, and when we connect, we'll connect.”
Too bad
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