Christine Brown Drops Bombshell: Kody’s Broken Bond With Kids Far From Over

Christine Brown is hopeful about her ex-husband Kody Brown’s strained relationship with their children.

While chatting with PEOPLE ahead of the release of her book Sister Wife: A Memoir of Faith, Family, and Finding Freedom, the reality TV star, 53, candidly opened up about her hopes for the future of her children’s relationship with their dad.

Christine, who’s a mom of six, says that she thinks that “things are going to be better” between her children and Kody, 56.

“

That’s kind of an ongoing story for that. But I do believe that Kody is a good person, and I think that things are going to be better,” she says. “I hope things are going to be better.”

“Things take time,” she added. “There’s a lot of things that we say about each other that we hear, and it’s just the nature of it. So we’ve got some things to work through, I’m sure.”

During her nearly 28-year marriage to Kody, the Sister Wives star welcomed Aspyn, Mykelti, Paedon, Gwendlyn, Ysabel and Truely. Christine became Kody’s third wife, via a “spiritual marriage,” in 1994, and after nearly three decades together, they split in November 2021.

Christine admitted on a December 2022 episode of the Reality Life with Kate Casey podcast that she partly decided to divorce Kody because of his relationship with their children.

“It was like a vicious cycle all the time. Because for years, I’d say you know, your dad loves you. He loves you, he wanted to spend time with you,” she explained. “I would tell my kids that all the time — that he’s going to come over, we’re going to have a great time, blah, blah, blah. And after a while, they just stopped believing me.”

“But my children will always be my children and the door will always be open to them,” he said. “They’ve got to come through that door. I’m going to be holding a hand out for that, but I’m going to be holding this hand that’s next to me, and I won’t let go of that hand.”

“I will not cut off Robyn to have a relationship with my children,” added Kody.

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During a January episode of Sister Wives, Kody and his wife Robyn Brown got into an intense argument about Kody’s lack of presence in his kids’ lives. Minutes into the heated exchange, Kody made it clear that he would only put effort into the kids who respond openly to him, and only once he’s over how they’ve “shut him out.”

“Robyn, I’ll make the effort. I’ve spent a year here just lamenting the situation,” he explained. “When I get over that, those children who are open to me will get my attention.”

He then told cameras he’s “sitting here with a broken heart” over the family members who “shut me out” and “aren’t talking to me.”

In a confessional, Robyn opened up about the differences she’s seen from the beginning of their marriage until now. “I feel like Kody was a very present dad in a lot of ways,” she said, recalling his previous actions. “Truth be told, that was what made me fall in love with Kody — seeing him be present with his kids.”

“I think that Kody should be camping out on their doorsteps and saying, ‘Hey, you’re going to talk to me,’ ” she continued. “Because sometimes that’s just what you got to do is, you know, when you care about someone, it’s just say, ‘Hey, you need to talk to me.'”

Kody shared his opposing view in his confessional. “Some people think that parental-child relationships shouldn’t have to be reciprocal, but when they’re adults, yeah, they do,” he said, referring to his older children

“I’m not going to reach out forever. I’m willing to make the effort, but somebody else is going to have to be on the other end of that and make some effort too,” he added. “I’m not going to camp out on somebody’s doorstep.”