'Sister Wives' star Janelle Brown says she refuses to 'kowtow' after fight about their sons disrespecting another wife

• Janelle and Kody Brown continued to fight during the "Sister Wives" finale.
• The couple's fight touched on Kody's relationship with their sons.

The tension between TLC's "Sister Wives" star Kody Brown and his second wife Janelle Brown grew stronger on Sunday's season 17 finale.

Janelle and Kody were in his wife Robyn Brown's backyard along with his first wife Meri Brown discussing holiday plans when emotions escalated so much that Janelle nearly walked away from the conversation.

The couple, who viewers have seen struggle to communicate amid the COVID-19 pandemic, were discussing the growing divide between Kody and some of the children he shares with Janelle.

Janelle thought that Kody had said that some of her sons weren't welcome to share holidays with him until they apologized for blaming Robyn for the strict COVID-19 rules that Kody put in place for safety.

In past "Sister Wives" episodes, viewers have seen Robyn confess in a solo interview that Janelle's sons Garrison Brown, 24, and Gabriel Brown, 21, have called her and accused her of making the rules and dividing the family. Robyn has said that she doesn't need an apology from the boys and Kody said that all he wants to do is discuss the situation with them.

In the season finale, Kody accused his wife Janelle of "not having any respect" for him and his COVID rules when talking with her kids. Janelle said she felt caught between her husband and her adult children. Then, the pair argued about when Janelle became aware of Kody's "rules."

Kody became visibly frustrated talking about how he felt scrutiny from many family members because of his strict COVID rules, which included changing clothes every time you reentered the house and disinfecting mail.

Not even his diligence kept him, Robyn, and their kids from getting COVID, which he described as a "death-like experience."

"I've gone 18 months being persecuted by my own family for trying to protect them," Kody yelled. He blamed COVID for the fact that his third wife Christine left him.

Kody said that when he did get COVID (presumably in October 2021), it put him in a "dark place" and Janelle didn't "give a shit."

"Kody's acting like I was a COVID-denier. I was not a COVID denier. I followed all the CDC rules. I wore a mask, I washed my hands, I was careful. I'm vaccinated for crying out loud," Janelle told the cameras in a solo interview.

Reflecting on the argument she said: "I don't have to stand here and defend myself. This is the same old argument. I don't need to be beaten into submission, made to kowtow."

Janelle said that during the last 18 months of the COVID pandemic she realized, "I'm independent and I'm not going to stand here and be yelled at."

In Robyn's backyard, viewers saw Janelle get up to leave when Kody said she was "dismissing" him and lacked "empathy" for him.

She came back almost immediately at Robyn's request. Kody eventually apologized to Janelle, and she accepted.

But in the teaser for the "Sister Wives: One On One" special, viewers saw Kody and Janelle both tell host Sukanya Krishnan that they are "separated."

"Sister Wives" airs Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on TLC.