Robyn Brown clapped back against claims she is “submissive” to husband Kody Brown — and took back the narrative — on the first Sister Wives: 1-on-1 reunion special.
During season 20 of the TLC series, Janelle Brown joked to Meri Brown that their ex Kody’s “type” must be “submissive” after his first three wives spoke up against him and ultimately left their marriages. (Kody’s ex Christine Brown was relatively quiet on the topic and during the first part of the reunion.)
Robyn, 47, denied that there was any truth to the accusations on the Sunday, January 11, episode. “No. … I think I work with my husband,” she told reunion host Sukanya Krishnan.
When asked whether she thought Meri, 54, and Janelle, 56, were playing “girl games” when they poked fun at her during their Zoom call this season, Robyn replied, “I don’t care.”
“I think they’re just trying to figure out why Kody loves me,” Robyn said as a possible reason for Kody’s exes taking jabs at her on the show.
She claimed, “They’re doing whatever they can to just downplay me, to put me down in any way, shape or form that they can because they’re struggling with their own feelings. I guess. I don’t really know why.”
Robyn previously said she doesn’t “endorse fakeness” following an icy meeting with Janelle and Meri over their Coyote Pass property. Kody, for his part, claimed that his spouse “hates girl games,” which raised eyebrows with fans and Kody’s exes.
“It’s the psychological warfare. The stuff that teenage girls do a lot in high school,” Robyn explained during the reunion of girl games. “It’s the backstabbing. It’s the whispering behind the back. It’s the pretending like you’re friends when you’re not.”
Janelle and Meri, however, denied that they were playing any games with Robyn or that they were teaming up against her while handling the sale of their joint property in Arizona.
Scroll down for more revelations from part 1 of the Sister Wives: 1-on-1 special:
Kody Is Team Robyn, Always
“Robyn’s not submissive. She has a spine of concrete and steel,” Kody, 56, said on Sunday’s episode after rewatching Janelle’s remarks on the show. “It’s funny that Janelle would say that Robyn’s submissive when Janelle also accused Robyn of sort of brainwashing me or controlling me.”
He quipped, “It’s like, what is it, Janelle? Am I Robyn’s puppet or is she mine?” Kody claimed he and Robyn are “a partnership” that “negotiates through things.”
Janelle Doubles Down on Her ‘Submissive’ Claims
When asked about calling Robyn “submissive” during her vent session to Meri, Janelle said, “I think you can give power to get power.”
Janelle clarified that she “did not call” Robyn Kody’s “puppet master,” like he alleged.
“I don’t think he views it that way. But from the outside, it does seem that she has a very strong influence in his life,” she explained. “Hey, they’re married. They’re this love match couple made in heaven, whatever. Maybe that’s how it works.”
Meri Doesn’t Want to Be Part of the ‘Ex-Wives Club’
While Janelle referring to her Zoom call earlier this season as an “ex-wives club” meeting, Meri told Krishnan that she didn’t have any desire to be associated with Janelle or Christine, 53, in that manner.
“I’m not going to be a member of the ex-wives club,” Meri declared. “I don’t think it’s a club that needs to be had. Janelle and Christine have their friendship and their thing. I’m not part of that, nor do I want to be.”
She pointed to “different value systems” as the main reason she was distancing herself from her former sister wives.
“I’m recognizing that more and more,” Meri continued. “And I think as adults, it’s really cool to be in a place where we get to choose who we want to interact with.”
Janelle Calls BS on Robyn’s Reason for Not Selling Coyote Pass
Robyn detailed why she felt like she was “betraying” the family by selling Coyote Pass — even though the family had already split apart.
“When we bought Coyote Pass, it was the dream for the family to be out there and I was very much like this is our family and was very invested and wanted so much for us to be out there,” she shared. “When I married Kody, I was 1,000 percent in. It was all about us being together as a family and I saw us out there. And so it was really hard for me to give up on it, even though everybody else was.”
Janelle, however, claimed Robyn’s hesitation to sell was only about perception. “That’s bulls***,” Janelle claimed. “I think that’s what she thinks [is] the role she has to play.”
She alleged, “I sometimes think she says what she thinks she should say because I don’t think she really feels like that. I just feel like there’s a lot of like, ‘Well, I’m supposed to be all about the family and I’m so sad that it broke up. So I have to play this role.’”
Kody and Janelle Point the Finger, Blame
Throughout part one of the reunion, Kody and Janelle pointed the finger at each other for their alleged “backdoor deal” to sell Coyote Pass with or without Meri’s consent. While the group, which also included Robyn, eventually agreed on a price and a deal together, Kody claimed Janelle wanted to cut out Meri to get the deal done.
“It wasn’t my idea,” Kody claimed. “Janelle came to me with the idea you can force the sale on this and then started pressuring me.” He alleged it was “backstabby of Janelle,” but insisted because he was “already in a war with Meri” he wasn’t a backstabber.
Janelle, meanwhile, denied the allegations. She claimed her lawyers told her they “might want to consider just trying to get the sale to go through” and she told Kody about that advice.
“I really wanted to try to get this to work out,” she alleged.
Meri, however, wasn’t convinced by either account. “I think that Kody and Janelle were trying to kick me out somehow,” she said.
Breaking Down the Confidentiality Agreement
When it comes to why Meri was dragging her feet on the land sale, both she and Janelle said it was the surprise confidentiality agreement that Robyn allegedly thrust on them at the last minute.
Janelle alleged that when they got their first written offer, she and Kody, Meri “completed the title work signatures like within a week” and she sent in the checks right away. She claimed just as the contract was “about to expire,” Robyn chimed in saying, “Oh, I’m not going to do it unless you guys sign this confidentiality agreement.”
The alleged ultimatum sent Janelle and Meri “scrambling” with Janelle claiming it felt like a “total power play” by Robyn. She noted the deal then expired because they couldn’t agree on the confidentiality clause.
“It was all about silencing me. It was all about confidentiality. They didn’t want me to talk and I could not figure out why,” Meri said of the situation. “So when they say, ‘Meri was stopping it, Meri was stopping it.’ Damn right I was because I’m not going to be f***ing silenced again. I will not be silenced anymore. And I don’t think that he likes that.”
Part 2 of Sister Wives: 1-on-1 airs on TLC Sunday, January 18, at 10 p.m. ET.
