Kody Brown is hopeful that he can learn to forgive ex-wife Christine Brown for shaking up their family — but moving on will take some effort.
In Us Weekly‘s exclusive sneak peek of the Sunday, August 27, episode of Sister Wives, the former couple sit down to discuss what’s next after their split. When Kody, 54, brings up the idea of pursuing therapy with Christine, 51, she can’t help but laugh.
“Post-breakup counseling?” Christine asks in disbelief. “What for?”
Kody quips that he might actually need “grief counseling” before explaining his perspective. “Well, listen. I’ve gotta get to a place where I don’t hate you so I never speak bad about you to my children,” he tells his former third wife. “That’s my worry.”
Christine tells Kody it “would be great” for him to find peace after their breakup. “If you need to have some sort of, like, post-breakup counseling with me, that’s fine,” she adds. “The whole thing is very heartbreaking.”
In a confessional, Kody addresses Christine’s comments about their divorce. “She’s trying to say it’s heartbreaking?” he says. “She’s acting like, in every way possible, that her life is better than it has ever been.”
He adds: “I feel like, yeah, I need to figure out how to forgive [Christine]. That’d be a good idea. But am I ever going to trust her? Probably not.”
The exes announced their split in November 2021 after more than 25 years together. Kody — who has 18 kids in total — shares son Paedon with Christine, as well as daughters Aspyn, Mykelti, Gwendlyn, Ysabel and Truely.
By the end of Sister Wives‘ 17th season, which concluded in January, Janelle Brown and Meri Brown also ended their spiritual marriages to Kody. He remains in a legal union with Robyn Brown, whom he wed in 2014.
“I think counseling would be good for Kody, in one way or another,” Robyn says in Us‘ preview, acknowledging that her husband is “dealing with a lot right now.”
Robyn, 44, later declares that she would be open to doing counseling “with anybody in the family that wanted to do it” — even Christine.
While Christine tells Kody in person that she’s supportive of his idea, she gives the cameras a different story. “Kody’s been bringing up going to counseling and therapy for years,” she claims. “We’re not going to do it, I’m just going to flat out tell you. We’re just not going to.”
Christine, who got engaged to David Woolley in April, goes on to reflect on how her opinion of plural marriage changed over time. “For years, I cared. Whatever he needed, whatever he wanted — I wanted to be the best wife ever,” she says in a confessional filmed in her Utah home. “Even when it didn’t matter to him, I would have done anything he needed me to do. But I’m done.”
Sister Wives season 18 airs on TLC Sundays at 10 p.m. ET.
