Kody Brown has spoken extensively about his estrangement from two of his sons, but he reveals that one of his daughters has also stopped talking to him in the latest episode of "Sister Wives."
One of the TLC show's producers asks the the father of 18 if he's recently heard from Maddie Brown Brush, one of his six children with Janelle Brown.
“I do not know what happened. But during the breakup with Christine, Maddie stopped reaching out to me," Kody Brown says in response. Kody and his third wife Christine Brown announced their split in 2021.
The reality star presents his theory about why his daughter stopped talking to him.
"(It) might have been COVID. Or I have no idea what was going on, but she quit reaching out to me," he says.
The scene shifts to a confessional with Janelle Brown, who seems to have some clarity on the situation.
"Maddie doesn’t call him because of his behavior lately. She’s like, 'I don’t know what to do with him. I don’t know who this guy is,'" the mother of six says. "She has to consider her children. She has to consider the stability of what they see or perceive as a grandfather. There’s a lot of things at play here. It’s not just Maddie not calling him."
Throughout Season 18 of “Sister Wives,” Kody Brown’s strained relationship with his children has been chronicled. In the latest episode, Janelle Brown discusses her sons Gabe and Garrison Brown and their estrangement from their father.
“My kids have not talked to their dad. They generally ignore him because they’re like, ‘What’s the point of having a conversation with him?’” she says.
Elsewhere during the episode, Kody Brown also discusses his awkward relationship with Ysabel Brown, his daughter with Christine Brown.
“Ysabel seems to be uncomfortable a lot of the time,” he says.
The teen then reiterates her father's statement in her own confessional.
“My relationship with my dad, it’s never been like 100% solid. And so with a divorce right now, everything’s rocky because nobody knows what to do in a divorce. And then in a divorce with a polygamist family, even more so, nobody knows what to do.”
While reflecting on his tense relationships with his children, Kody Brown admits that there's "a lot of pain from divorce and the separation of family."
“For the goals that I had in my life, this situation is very, very disappointing. My goal from the beginning was that my family would be under one roof," he says. "I wonder if some of the failures in plural marriage were my part in expecting too much from the family with this one family idea. We might have been more successful had we been in different homes with the kids kind of growing up like they were cousins."
Earlier this season, Kody Brown expressed his appreciation for his and Christine Brown's daughter, Mykelti Padron, who he said has maintained a relationship with him despite the family's continued tension.
“Amidst all the struggles we’re having as a family, I love that Mykelti is still warm to us. She wants a relationship with Robyn. She wants us to have a relationship with Avalon,” he said in a confessional. “I think a lot of that has to do with (her husband) Tony. Tony loves Robyn and they’ve always had a connection.”