'Sister Wives' star Kody Brown says he's never 'allowed' to be in love with wife Robyn because of the 'quasi plural marriage mess' he's in

• Kody Brown says he's never been "allowed" to be in love with Robyn Brown.
• He calls his estrangements or splits from three of his wives a "quasi-plural marriage mess."

On Sunday's episode of TLC's "Sister Wives," Kody Brown appears to admit that he's been anxious to live monogamy with his wife Robyn Brown for many years.

While reflecting on a scene in which his then-estranged wife Meri Brown tells him that she's going to downsize her home in Arizona and spend more time in Utah to run her businesses, Kody explains why he feels strange being with Robyn when other wives are around.

"It's really awkward because the only wife I have a relationship with right now is Robyn," he tells cameras. "But we've never been allowed to essentially be in love with each other or find solace in each other because of this quasi-plural marriage mess that's been going on."

The scene he's commenting on was presumably filmed in early 2022. At that time in their lives, Kody and Meri had been estranged for many years, but Meri had expressed she would've been interested in reconciling a romance if he had the desire to.

Kody was also estranged from his wife Janelle Brown (who confirmed that she was no longer married in an August 2023 interview with People). His ex Christine Brown had already publicly announced in November 2021 that she and Kody were divorced.

In Sunday's episode, Kody tells the cameras that though he perceived all of his other wives to be gone, he and Robyn "still don't feel like we can expose our place of solace, our love for each other in any way."

"This is not a safe place for us," he continues, seeming to refer to either Meri's house or the larger Brown family as a whole.

The father of 18 kids has a history of showing Robyn favoritism and affection that he didn't easily express to other wives.

On an early season of "Sister Wives," during a confessional interview with all of his wives present, Kody told cameras that he went wedding dress shopping with Robyn. His confession upset Christine because he didn't do the same with any of his other wives.

Kody also kissed Robyn on camera before they were married. Per their faith, he hadn't shown physical affection to some or all of his other wives until after they were married. Christine happened to be in labor with her youngest child, Truely Brown, when the kiss was filmed.

Although Kody seems upset about not being "allowed" to show Robyn affection in front of Meri, it's a boundary that's been in place in the family for many years, as seen on the show. By contrast, Robyn isn't anxious to live monogamy. On a previous episode of "Sister Wives" season 18, she said she prefers polygamy and feels "tricked" into being Kody's only romantic wife.