In a newly released full-length interview, Kody Brown of Sister Wives dished on everything from quarantining with four wives to living separate lives, romance and intimacy, the Bachelor, and more.
Kody and his four wives, Meri, Janelle, Christine, and Robyn have been in front of TV audiences for 11 years now. Christina Garibaldi of Us Weekly sat down with the Brown family patriarch to talk about how his family dynamic has changed, especially during the last year since the pandemic.
Kody dishes on what quarantine is like with his four wives
Christina began the interview by asking Kody, “What is quarantine like with four wives?”
Kody answered, “We ended up having to be separate a little bit and that was a strange experience.” He explained that he had “foolish optimism” thinking that things would normalize after six weeks with the coronavirus, admitting that in the beginning, he didn’t know how to manage it.
The good part, he said is that he’s “settled into each home” while he’s there and is connecting more with the kids.
“I’m not just picking up my bag and leaving two days later,” he said.
Christina said in this season’s early episodes it’s obvious that the five of them don’t like being together at times. She asked Kody who has made it the most difficult for him.
Kody admits ‘I really have got to calm down’
Kody opted not to call out anyone particular wife. Instead, he answered, “When I see the episodes it makes me realize that I’m not being calm when we’re together. For some reason, there’s that psychic tension with us.”
He continued, “I’ve realized I need to calm down and I need to invite all of them to calm down.”
Talking about whether he feels as though he and his wives are living four separate lives, Kody said his wives are used to being in charge and he’s in a position where he’s supposed to be in charge but told Christina, “I don’t feel like the boss.”
Kody says the Brown’s are ‘one family but four separate, independent marriages’
Kody continued, “It seems like my wives are in four different worlds. They’re all actually in a different stage of their life.” Kody recently said that the differing dynamics between each wife’s home is the bane of his existence.
Christina brought up the topic of being spread thin between household to household. She noted that there “must be times when you’re not in the mood to be romantic or intimate… how do the wives deal with that as well? And do they get upset?”
The 52-year-old husband of four hinted that separating helps — saying if he’s in a good place with one wife and they haven’t been together because he’s been at another wife’s house.
“It’s new. There’s a newness, there’s a freshness about the relationship and so it can be very romantic,” he shared. “The option, or the opportunity, for romance is there.”
“But it is very dependent on the individual relationship that I have with each and every wife,” he continued. He further elaborated that his wives can feel his energy around the other wives and admitted that it can be difficult for one wife, who may not be in a good place, watch him jive well with another wife.
“We are one family, but each of us – each of my wives – with me have their own marriage. So, we’re one family but four separate, independent marriages,” he said.
Kody also couldn’t resist bringing up that he was really pushing to get them back into one home. Asked if that’s still on the table, he replied that they pretty much “put that to bed last season.”
He brought up Christine’s former episode opener where her line was, “I didn’t want to marry a man, I wanted sister wives.”
Kody says it’s weird for him to see them “devolving away from that” and that it feels more like independent relationships and they’re less and less a family.
Christina brings up a light topic next and asks Kody if he watches The Bachelor, who dates “like 30 women at a time.”
Kody had a lot to say about that topic.
Kody made some strong statements about The Bachelor
The father of 18 said, “When I watch the Bachelor, I think, oh you poor bastard.”
He continued, “You think you’re all tough, you’re a rich guy, with your big pectoralis major and your 32-inch waist. Oh yeah, and you’re taller than all these women and I’m a short, fat dude. And, oh you wanna show me how bad you are? Marry four of ‘em.”
When asked if any of his kids question their polygamist lifestyle, Kody tiptoed around the question. He said there are “functional and beyond dysfunctional” families in polygamy just like in monogamy.
He added, “There is a challenge with many personalities in plural marriage. But it can be just as wonderful as anything else out there.”
Fans of the show are looking forward to another new episode this week. The never-ending drama within the family makes for plenty of entertainment.
Sister Wives airs on Sundays at 10/9c on TLC.