Kody Brown reflects on the seemingly sudden death of his polygamous family.
The Sister wives star, 54, tells PEOPLE that his future is different than he expected after “a big twist here, almost a twist” when three of his four marriages ended.
“I don’t bother to see what the future holds, maybe because I just haven’t let go of the past enough,” he admits.
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Robyn Brown, Meri Brown, Kody Brown, Christine Brown and Janelle Brown arrive at the grand opening of Mike Tyson’s one-man show “Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth – Live on Stage” on April 14, 2012.
Ethan Miller/Getty
The Brown family unraveling began to gain momentum in November 2021, when Christine Brown announced that she had left Kody after nearly 26 years. A year after that, second wife Janelle Brown and first wife Meri Brown also confirmed within two months that their relationship with Kody was over. (Fourth wife Robyn Brown stayed by Kody’s side as the couple transitioned, often uncomfortably, into a monogamous marriage.)
The TLC patriarch notes that the sudden breakdown of his marriages left him with “a lot of heartbreak” because he once “loved” the life he built with his exes.
“In the end,” he says, “it seemed like everyone else was unhappy because I felt like I was doing all the complaining, that it just made me cynical. I loved [our situation]. It seemed like not everyone was left.”
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Christine Brown, Meri Brown, Robyn Brown, Janelle Brown and Kody Brown in ‘Sister Wives’.
Puddle Monkey Prods/Kobal/Shutterstock
Kody continues, “I didn’t want to be the guy who had this family that I was fighting until I died. Then everyone gets along great after I’m gone. I don’t understand why we can’t transcend this now. It broke my heart that we couldn’t overcome our differences. It’s part of life. I loved the life we have and I hope to love the life I will get.”
He called his family’s demise “a Shakespearean love story that’s a tragedy,” adding: “We just loved and we lost.”
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Despite the challenging times, Kody says his “optimism is definitely coming back.”
“I remember this great life we had and what an experience it was to be a team with these 22 people and just try to survive the rapids of life and it was great,” he shares. “That’s my optimism. It’s back. I see my past again and say, ‘It was nice.’ Now it has changed.”
He continues: “Maybe I’ll find that optimism for the future. In the end, we hope to just love each other and let each other move on.”
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Sister wives airs Sundays at 10pm ET on TLC.
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education