Kody Brown seems to no longer be actively participating in the polygamous lifestyle when it comes to love and romance. Though he still may consider himself to be spiritually married to three women at this point, he has expressed that he has no desire for romantic love or any sort of intimate bond with Meri. When he told Christine he no longer wanted intimacy from her, she ultimately decided to leave him. For a while, viewers didn’t know where Kody stood with his second wife Janelle, but he is now making it clear that he is not in love, or “in sync” with her. He has previously revealed that he took “romance” off the table for Janelle, and now she’s saying that they are “good friends” in a committed relationship.
In a preview clip for Sunday’s episode, Janelle says that Kody is her best friend, but Kody only refers to her as a “good friend.” We’ve witnessed their friendship deteriorate on camera over the last season as Kody angrily asked her to choose between him or her children.
In the interview for Part 2 of the “One-on-One” end-of-season special with Sukanya Krishnan, Kody says, “We’re not in sync. We don’t partner really well but we actually just are able to have a marriage that’s, if you will, lower in attachment. I don’t even know. We’re good friends, we get along well. It’s more of a, like, just a committed relationship.”
Kody says that he loves Janelle but starts to shake his head when Sukanya asks if he’s “in love” with her. He goes on to say that Janelle “wouldn’t tell you she was in that place with me either if she’s being honest.”
When Sukanya asks Janelle about Kody, she says they have a long, 30-year relationship and that Kody is her “best friend.” Sukanya presses Janelle about emotional and physical intimacy, but all Janelle will say is “we’re fine.” She continues to say “we’re fine” no matter what Sukanya says, and basically says she’s not going there.
Kody did go there, however, and his answers about Jenelle illuminate that everything is not as “fine” as Janelle wants us to think.
Christine tells Sukanya that Janelle told her when they went on vacation together that she was not planning on leaving Kody because she thought he was a “great dad,” but admitted that they have a lot of things to work on.
Janelle’s son Gabriel must have felt for his mom after hearing his dad’s words, because he sent her some flowers and a sweet note. It’s unclear exactly why he sent his mom flowers this week, but the timing lines up to the preview clip coming out online.
Janelle wrote in her caption that the flowers were a surprise for her after she came home from a “long day.” Janelle has no known job outside of the home besides filming for Sister Wives, so the “hard day” may have had something to do with filming for the show with Kody and/or her sister wives, or possibly another task related to the family.
Gabe’s note read: “Love you Mama! Just wanted to show you how much : ).”
