'Sister Wives' star Kody Brown was afraid of seeming 'unmanly' once his other wives found out Christine was leaving him

• Kody Brown said Christine deciding to leave him was an "injustice" and made him feel "unmanly."
• The pair discussed the next steps in their separation on Sunday's episode of "Sister Wives."

On Sunday's episode of TLC's "Sister Wives," Kody Brown called his then-wife Christine deciding to leave him an "injustice." He also said that he felt it made him seem "unmanly," so he wasn't looking forward to telling his three other wives, Meri, Janelle, and Robyn, about the split.

"It feels like just this major injustice that is being done to me and it galls me," Kody told cameras in a solo interview on the episode. He did apologize to Christine for being "angry" when she initially made it very clear she was leaving in their first discussion, filmed about a month earlier and shown on the "Sister Wives" season premiere.

"I need to be at a place where I can rejoice about your happiness and your freedom," Kody told Christine during the second conversation, during which they discussed the logistics of their split after over 25 years of spiritual marriage.

Kody and Christine publicly announced their split to fans in November, and it's now playing out in season 17 of the long-running reality series, which was filmed last year.

Christine told the cameras she was thankful Kody was "trying to support her" and said his statement about trying to be happy for her was "the sweetest thing he's said to me in years."

Kody admitted that he was struggling so much with the fact that one of his marriages was about to end that it was "curling" his toes.

"I need some grief counseling or something," he added. "I can't let go."

Later, Kody admitted to the cameras that part of the reason he was having such a hard time with Christine deciding to leave was that she was about to shatter the family he worked so hard to build. He also said he was afraid to announce his split with Christine to his other wives because of how it might affect their perception of him.

"I feel unmanly, so I'm not gonna sit and go, 'Hey, somebody's leaving me,'" Kody said in an interview. "I don't want my other wives to see me as weak. So, I don't want to talk about it to them."

He seemed to feel so strongly that he asked Christine if she wanted to have the conversation with her sister wives "without" him.

Christine told Kody that she didn't want to "burn bridges" with Meri, Janelle, or Robyn. "I really need you there the first time," she eventually told him. She said she wanted her sister wives to know that though she'd made the choice to leave, she talked to Kody before announcing anything.

The mom of six told cameras in an interview that she knew the three women she had raised children alongside for many years were going to feel a complicated mix of feelings.

"Am I still a sister wife?" she asked the cameras, adding that "the answer is no."

"I can't be their sister wife anymore," she continued. "I can be their friend." She noted that she was probably going to stay close to Janelle and "not very close" to Robyn and Meri.

New episodes of "Sister Wives" season 17 air Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on TLC.