- Kody Brown defended his choice to go to a friend's wedding but not his daughter's surgery.
- In a sneak peek at Sunday's "Sister Wives," Christine said her daughters were "mad" and "heartbroken."
TLC's "Sister Wives" star Kody Brown went to a friend's wedding during the COVID-19 pandemic in a sneak peek of Sunday's episode shared by People — and his ex-wife Christine Brown has some very strong feelings about his decision because of how it affected her daughters.
In a solo interview, Christine told cameras that two of her kids who still lived at home with her at the time found out what Kody was doing from their half siblings, the children of Kody and his second wife, Janelle Brown.
She said it made her daughters "mad" because months earlier, he had chosen not to travel with Christine and their daughter Ysabel, 19, from Arizona to the east coast for Ysabel's scoliosis surgery.
"Ysabel's heartbroken, oh my gosh," a visibly distraught Christine told the cameras. "She goes, 'how can he justify officiating Brian's wedding when he wouldn't even come to my surgery?'"
In his own solo interview shown in People's clip, Kody had an answer. "Ysabel's surgery was at a time and a situation where it would've required that I'm six or eight weeks away from home," he said. "No man can be away from work and from home and from family that long."By contrast, he said he was only away from home for his friend's wedding for four days.
"And now I'm mad, what the hell?" Christine said to cameras. "You think you get to go officiate your friend's wedding and not take care of your own family?"
Kody's response was focused on his ex, and not his daughter. He said Christine "protesteth too much."
"She is trying to excuse herself by making me some kind of villain," he continued.
In response, Christine said she's glad she's no longer married to Kody "because I cannot respect this person anymore."
After presumably learning of Christine's comments from producers off-camera, Kody said Christine "needs a mirror up in her face."
Christine and Kody announced that they were splitting up after over 25 years of "spiritual" marriage via Instagram in November 2021. In August 2022, Christine told People that Kody's choice not to go to Ysabel's surgery was a "wake up call" that made her realize it was time to leave him. "He broke my little girl's heart," she said of Kody's choice, which viewers saw him make on season 16 of "Sister Wives."
"I really find it hard to stay with a guy who I don't respect," she explained. "I needed more communication, more trust, and I realized we didn't really have a partnership."
"Sister Wives" viewers have been following Ysabel as she tried to correct her scoliosis without surgery for many years.
"I think his priorities are a little screwed up," Ysabel said of her father's choice not to travel to be there for her surgery in 2020 in a confessional interview on the show during season 16.
"Sister Wives" airs Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on TLC.