Sister Wives Kody Brown on How Feeling ‘Powerless’ as a Patriarch Damaged His Relationship with His Older Children

Kody Brown reflects on how his relationship with his older children has changed.

In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, the 54-year-old Sister wives star talks about feeling “powerless” when it comes to seeing eye-to-eye with older children and admits their relationship has become strained.

“The relationship you have with your 10-year-old, your five-year-old, or your babies is very different than the relationship you have with a 15-year-old, a 20-year-old, a 25-year-old, and a 30-year-old. one year old. It’s very different,” he says. “I had no power in my household to say, ‘These are the rules.'”

The ‘Sister Wives’ family. Joe Pugliese/TLC/Everett ‘Sister Wives’ ‘ Gwendlyn Brown Admits She Doesn’t See Robyn’s Kids: ‘I Miss Them Totally’

Feeling “powerless” as a father figure, Kody admitted that his family had begun to “fall apart” and was unable to negotiate their differences. And when “one person” has a different “perspective,” the reality star says it could end up offending the other party.

“There were a lot of things… very difficult problems that we had to deal with. At that time, there were no good answers,” he explains.

Kody shared how the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected their relationship, noting that he “wasn’t in a good place” with Christine Brown and that he was “recovering from a lot of anger” with Meri Brown and Janelle Brown.

The cast of ‘Sister Wives’.

Puddle Monkey Prods/Kobal/Shutterstock

Daughter Christine Brown Calls Out Dad Kody’s ‘Manipulative’ Approach With Ex Meri: ‘False Hope’

“But in the end, it was almost like a stain,” he says. “I don’t know what happened. All that’s left now is to move forward. Let’s move forward and hope for the healing of these relationships. Now that’s really a story, let’s move on. This is a story about forgiveness. Forgiveness and finding hope and joy after relationships end in the way that is the norm.”

The TV personality says he’s learning to “find a new normal” with his ex-wives and “all my kids.”

Gwendlyn Brown, who Kody shares with Christine, has been vocal about her complicated relationship with the Brown family patriarch.

In a video posted on her YouTube channel in February, the 21-year-old became emotional as she reacted to the episode Sister wives where Kody took the time to greet his and wife Robyn Brown’s children after school.

Gwendlyn Brown and Kody Brown. Gwendlyn Brown/Instagram; TLC

“I know I should be happy for them, but seeing him be an active father with these kids really hurts,” Gwendlyn said as tears welled up. “It sucks not being able to see them.”

She explained how complicated it is to feel happy that her siblings are getting the parenting they need, while feeling that she didn’t get that from their father, who has a total of 18 children from multiple marriages with Robyn, as well as ex-wives Janelle, Christine and Measure.

‘Sister Wives’ Gwendlyn Brown slams ‘useless’ fathers who ‘can’t take care’ of their kids amid Kody feud

“It’s terrible that I’m doing this about myself, but it hurts me a lot to see that he’s a good father to others and I didn’t get that much. I know I should be happy for them and I am,” she said. “I’m so happy that they have a good father, or what it looks like to be a good father and an active father. But I just didn’t understand that and I don’t remember it. I don’t remember coming home from kindergarten and seeing my dad and him how happy I was ate all my lunch or that I made a friend at school.”

Gwendlyn also praised mum Christine for “always” being there for them, saying: “I’m so lucky to have her, but that was never my dad.”

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Sister wives airs Sundays at 10pm ET on TLC.

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Source: HIS Education