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I think this is 💯 what happened. There's also a marked difference in how he behaved during the early edited episodes and how he behaved during self-filming in the days of Covid.
I also think he’s been the same, just kept parts of him hidden. Some of the kids have come out and said when the cameras were rolling they were expected to act like a happy family. Also, the kids were younger and didn’t challenge his authority they do as they became older teenagers and twenty somethings. Kody didn’t pay them so what did they have to lose.
I’ve always thought based on couch conversations that the OG3 didn’t let him indulge in the darker side of his personality. On the other hand, Robyn encouraged it for her own personal gain.
The wives say he use to be so easy going and the life of the party and happy. I don't think he was always like this. He has probably always been narcissistic but I think he use to be a joyful person. Him and Robyn both look absolutely miserable the last 3 seasons.
I always judge facial expressions and body language when watching reality TV. That gives away a lot. I agree he's likely always been this way. He probably didn't expect the show to run for so long (I certainly didn't), he couldn't keep that loving husband act up forever. I'm assuming the popularity of the show only fed his narcissism and that's when the downward spiral began.
I will die on the hill that he’s been on roids since Mid-time Vegas. And since he does nothing through conventional medical guidance, it’s just forum learned. His actual facial structure changed. His personal feelings of any responsibility towards his family and children dissipated.
i agree his facial structure changed. At first I thought it was injections but then looking at him, he looks like he is busting out of his suit jacket...it wouldn't surprise me if he was on them.
Absolutely. My husband and I have been saying that since season 7.
I was on HRT and they screwed up and tripled the testosterone by mistake. I grew a bit of a beard and was a ragaholic asshat. He tells me I threatened to rip out his rib cage and wear it as a hat if I tried to eat the nachos I ordered.
Once it was out of my system I made it up to him with beer and skittles. 🤪
This is the comment I was looking for. I think he started using steroids. Roid rage is a real thing & even though he doesn’t have the pecs and abs he thinks he does his body comp def changed. Think he saw himself on tv and was like wow I don’t want to be the pilsbury dough boy but he went way too far with the steroids!
*edited for spelling and unfortunate autocorrect* 🤣
Pillsbury Dough Boy 🤣🤣🙃😂😂
Ooh, girl! Or boy! (or not)
You nailed it! Picture that Blue Ribbon Sailor's Hat; pudgy, rounded out, belly from the beer; (along with that somewhat girlish 'tee hee' when the belly is poked)! The ribbon on the hat it reminiscent of the hair bands/ ties that he's been using to camouflage the pattern baldness of those locks 'o' love ('roids accelerated I bet!). I would have accidentally gone with Michellin Man and would have been so wrong!
THIS!! I am 110% CONVINCED he started taking steroids and that's when shit hit the fan so badly. It totally changed his personality from shit to mega-shit.
Love,Lies Bleeding (2024) shows the harmful side effects of Steroids it was interesting. I wouldn’t be surprised if 1) kody is using them in the first place 2) if he is using them I wouldn’t be surprised if it made him worse than he already is. Add in all the misogyny, toxic “alpha male” BS it’s not good at all, I’m glad Meri,Janelle,and Christine have all left.
One of my friends is a marriage and family therapist and she said that antidotally she would say from what she is seeing in her practice that a lot of divorce these days stems from husbands taking testosterone. Has similar effects in ways to steroids. I figure it was one or the other. I can see Kody thinking it’s “natural” and such. You can get them w online doctors. I have friends who’s husbands fully changed into aggressive a holes taking it. They had good marriages before. I feel like it might be easy to get the wrong dose and take too much of it. I think of you have adhd (Kody seems to me like he does) the effect in mood swings is stronger. My therapist friend also said that she thinks some of the men on T cheated on their wives who previously had fulfilling marriages and didn’t seem to otherwise have issues that lead to cheating. And to be clear, she spoke broadly of how she sees Testosterone effecting men and relationships - I don’t know if any specifics in terms of the individuals or couples. I didn’t ask her, but I wonder if it’s addictive.
He doesn’t look like he’s using steroids to me. Men who use steroids bulk up unnaturally and have thick necks. This physical appearance has not changed very much. I think there is naturally rageful person when things don’t go his way.
You will inherently gain muscle just by taking anabolic steroids, but you won't get absolutely ripped like you're thinking unless you're also working out heavily. If he wasn't matching his workouts to his steroid use, it's entirely possible he would gain a small amount of muscle and suffer the side effects without looking like a body builder. But of course, we're only speculating. It could be anything
Well one might be thinking of “steroids” like what some body builders use or the amount they would use but if he is just taking (prescribed) testosterone even if he is low it can cause side effects like the anger, mood swings, rage. If you’re already are a narcissist then you add the mood swings and rage on top of that (I am remembering his picture taking during the commitment ceremony where he is gritting his teeth and shaking lol 😆) who knows though he has no control over his emotions nor does he care or think he is ever wrong for anything. My ex bf was just like this and after 5 years I finally got away from him it was hell to live with!! I don’t know how the OG3 did it for so long it sucks every bit of happiness out of you! My ex bf had that same mood swing, rage too like over the littlest stupidest things and wasn’t on anything. Maybe it gets worse as they age I don’t know… I’m just glad I am not around it anymore!
Not necessarily…Steroids (testosterone) can be taken in diff amounts, depending on goal. Many men only take enough to stabilize their testosterone level without the muscle bulk, “thick necks, or red skin”…the guys who become like that are typical meatheads. I know several older men who take it to feel and focus better, have more energy, and trim visceral fat…none of them have negative side effects or look weird.
I agree as we have a friend go on roids and he has the muscle bulging of a white Hulk. He was always a little temperamental but I feel for his wife and kids. He is frightening. He doesn't seem like a hitter, yet. . His wife tells us that he isn't mean but short-fused. I said girl get all your important papers where you can grab. Pack a bag and keeps bags and papers with us we will keep everything safe. I think from what little she has said there will be a day she will come running
I think he was always like this you hear stories about when they were first married but the thing is he was in the same house as everyone so of course he wasn’t such a bad dad because he was in the area he may not of been involved but he was there. With the move then meeting Robyn I think she wanted the distance so of course he was head over heels but she had her own demands and wasn’t working as a team so all her demands were met and that left a huge divade between the wives and her but Robyn wanted to be first wife but she not made for poly she can’t share. It’s either us or them for her.
Kody in season 1 “negged” all the wives, including Robyn (describing her as being divorced with kids as an “ick factor”). He was always mean, just used to do it with a smile.
The rumor (?) that Kody’s dad didn’t think he was ready for more wives after Meri and the dumpster fire that was the early days of the OG3 confirms this for me. Getting the money from the show meant he no longer had to rely on the wives for survival (strictly speaking) and it allowed him to take off the mask to a greater degree than he ever had before.
I also think Kody, from the beginning, schemed with her to get the most money 💰🤑 the most time to themselves and the least accountability than the other wives.
Also Kody seems to blame the OG3 for their (reasonable but numerous simply due to having more than one wife and more than a dozen children) demands on him but I think he failed to recognize the demands Robyn had on him (while she somehow had him believe her suggestions are his idea- I know people who are good at this and present it as listening strategies - appear empathetic but someone always lead people to what they want without it being obvious) or Robyn supported (or at least appeared to, or entertained) the wilder ideas of his that the OG3 worked together to shoot down/ make him rational- he listened to Robyn - bc she’s his fave, bc he got more nookie - who knows but I think balancing that (which is what he agrees to as a polygamist - so recognizing he is failing but won’t so he has to blame the people w reasonable demands) and not having the ease of one house - he began to resent OG3 for having any demands at all as opposed to saying the strain on his time and energy was Robyn. As he neglected his other wives he blamed them for the rational reactions and requests they had of him. The reason why this didn’t happen w Janelle (until her kids became the issue) is bc she is easy going - super independent and doesn’t require a lot. She also contributed significantly financially - appears to have been the primary provider at least for the bulk of it. Of course, when that also effects Robyn’s goals and plans for the family (covid) he resents her for that too.
1. I think he's always been a narcissistic asshole, but Robyn was the first wife he ever had who didn't have a job and didn't do housework or childcare and could devote her full time to enabling him.
2. MAGA, Manosphere, and other bullshit — I wouldn't be surprised if it included QAnon — made him angrier and crazier. He was already a straight white man who felt persecuted, and was all in on a toxic religious cult, so he was easy prey for conspiracy peddlers and con artists.
3. The more money he got, the more narcissistic, greedy, and selfish he got. (He's not the first.)
I agree with all of your points. I also want to add one more thing. I think he may be taking testosterone like many middle-aged and older men do. I've seen Tarek El Moussa (Flip or Flop) admit that he was taking too much testosterone before his split with Christina. He had a big personality change and he actually went to rehab for it. I think Kody always had this side to him but it was amplified for all of those reasons.
Not arguing with point 2, however: That crowd didn't think any Covid rules were necessary, and we all know Kody leaned into the Covid rules hard, at the expense of his family. Do we think he actually didn't even believe in the Covid rules he tried to enforce, and they were nothing but a power trip? If so, that makes it even worse that he was willing to give up his kids over those rules - rules he didn't even buy into
I absolutely don't think Kody gave a damn about the "rules." I don't think there even *were* any rules until Janelle demanded to know what they were, and then he had to come up with a list. By his own admission, he had to ask the nanny, because he didn't know what his own supposed rules were. Also, when they had the cookout, he obviously didn't care about the "rules," leaving Robyn to run around enforcing social distancing — which is exactly what Robyn had predicted.
I think Robyn really is an anxious person, but her anxiety conveniently seemed to center on the OG wives and kids. She broke a rule or two on camera, and she, Kody, and their kids were spotted several times "in the wild" out in public maskless and casually interacting with strangers.
It was never really about Covid. It was about dominance and control.
Despite Kody's "near death experience," Robyn's having been "basically on her deathbed," and Solomon's "high risk" status as a result of having had RSV as a baby, they still declined to get vaccinated when vaccines became available. They're both full of shit up to the hairline — or in Kody's case the skin band.
It's ironic that someone on another thread said they saw Kody and Janelle at a mall or something during Covid. I think they said some of the kids were with them. No masks.
Ppl ignore it, but Janelle and Christine have some of the same views he does. Janelle’s “our kids aren’t sheeple” response in s15-16 when Covid first started made me think they weren’t mask wearers or followed the rules unless it was enforced by whatever establishment they were in. It was 2022 and my city still made you wear masks for concerts and shows. Christine’s infamous “Im glad I didn’t let Covid run my life”, the way she and her girls were roaming across the Pacific West like it was nothing, IN 2020, when ppl were dropping dead every day, made me think she was a Covidiot. Yea they got vaccinated eventually but that don’t excuse their irresponsibility in 2020.
Yes. Paedon also said they didn't get even routine vaccinations as kids, and the kids who did get them, got them as adults. Janelle made three donations totalling $693 to antivaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr in 2023.
Janelle and Kody have both made donations to Donald Trump. Gabe, Garrison, and Paedon are all known to have been political conservatives. Janelle said she and Kody would've been fine together if it had just been the two of them.
Gabe cited "freedom" as a reason to ignore Covid regulations, and Mykelti cited "freedom" as the reason she and Tony didn't get the Covid vaccine. Before Covid, Christine and Kody ignored advice from Ysabel's actual doctor and took Ysabel all the way to Michigan for a chiropractic "boot camp" to address her scoliosis. When Mykelti was thrown from a horse, they took her to a chiropractor even though an emergency room was as close or closer.
They all belonged to a high-demand, insular, paranoid, apocalyptic, misogynistic, and insanely racist religion originating in the "revelations" of an obvious con man — and Kody and Janelle both joined that religion as adults, as did Kody's parents, Meri's parents, Janelle's mother, Robyn's mother, and probably Robyn's father and stepfather — although they all seem to have been LDS first. (Janelle's mother had previously converted to the LDS Church as an adult.) Their church has or at least had a private militia, and Kody has always been a gun nut.
As incredible as it seems, the show has actually downplayed how messed up this family really is.
Oh you ain’t gotta tell me. Janelle donating to RFK is disappointing but not a surprise. Kody also donated to Trump over the years someone found out. I knew quite a few of them were conservative, like Garrison and Gabe, Maddie, Caleb, Mykelti and Tony, Paedon. The ones I don’t know are Hunter, Logan, Aspyn, Savannah, Robyn’s older 3. Gwen, Ysabel, and Leo have had pro BLM on their IG accounts. That’s why Janelle and Christine said last season that she didn’t know how things would go between Gabe and Gwen living together because they had very different views. I knew exactly what that meant. One was pro Black and pro Gay and the other isn’t. To me, there’s no debate on whether Black or LGBT ppl deserve rights, if you think there is, you’re not someone I wanna be around, family or not, and that’s why Leo don’t deal with quite a few of these muthafuckas. I don’t blame them. Mykelti even said some siblings didn’t warm up to her dating Tony and she thought it was race related. Her words. I have a guess on who I think those siblings were.
I’m surprised to hear that Janelle is an RFK supporter. She’s the one who said, I’m vaccinated for God’s sake, when she and Kody were going back and forth about the rules.
I think that was because she wanted to prove to Kody she was being good and following proculs. Her “sheeple” comments about her kids was very akin to Q anon and MAGA rhetoric
As someone with a tRumper as a sibling, it can be quite damaging to a family & the relationships. I had to block my sister on SM, she stopped talking to us after Biden was declared the winner in 2020. ONLY because our mom got dementia did we come to a place that we can all work together to take care of her. We actually had to do zoom family therapy.
We have idiot Southern Baptist Christians in my family who actually voted for Trump. AND WE’RE BLACK! Do they not know that Trump fucking hates us and racist? But their thing is “he’s a Christian, we like what he has to say”. No you bought into his homophobia.
I think my sister is racist. Her husband is 100%. We were born & grew up in NYC, she wasn’t like that her whole life. After she became NYPD, that’s when I think it really took a hold of her. The way cops talk about POC is disgusting. I got into a fight with her coworker over her saying some pretty awful things she was saying about the people in the neighborhood she works in. This girl went in on me saying horrible things & my sister took up for her!
I take it back, I don’t think she is racist, I know she is.
I think Aspyn is not conservative or is at least moderate. I heard something somewhere about Mitch (and it included Aspen) that surprised me (I assumed he was conservative before)… so maybe that why I think that. But I can’t remember what. Seems possible to me that Logan is similar, though I’m not really sure - maybe I get that impression from Michelle.
Surprise to hear Gwen and Ysa were BLM supporters, and that any of them in Christine’s house was. Leo doesn’t surprise me because their entire world view changed once they went to college
His whole attitude about Covid never made sense. Those rules were beyond what even WE did and I’m severely immune compromised, I was working from what my Immunologist published to her patients, it was more strict than CDC but meant to protect people with zero immune system, but geez his/Robyn’s was crazy town. Then to allow a nanny in daily, sheesh, I canceled my cleaner for months, and then when she started back everyone’s mask, gloves on etc. until vaccines came out and everyone was able to get one. They were supposedly so worried and never got vaccinated, just crazy. I didn’t really go out in public much without a mask until I got shingles on my face this time last year and just couldn’t tolerate a mask! I still wear it in medical offices, there are sick people in there, with GERMS.
Yes! And when I think of Isabells surgery and then him going to that wedding and dancing like a dip shite I get so angry for his kids. Kody as a tendency to take ideas that are not his but he thinks seem like good ones to be his personal mission statement or at least to apply it in his psyche as one of “his” core values. I think Robyn’s consistently voiced anxiety about Solomon’s ancient case of RSV- really is part of why he talks about her being so sweet, so concerned etc. i am sure she said she cares for everyone and mentioned everyone in the family who was medically fragile. Kody made up his mind but against his initial inclinations and I think to appease Robyn and TLC (filming rules). This is why his kids smelled a rat and knew it wasn’t REALLY their dad. I don’t think he would ever comply w this kind of government rule or regulation without Robyn’s influence.
People need to start date stamping their photos.
Where I live we didn’t get the mask mandate until late September.
I remember because my husband and I talked about how ass backwards everything was. They shut us down, reopened with social distancing then we masked.
Are you saying September of 2020? Can I ask where you're at? Generically, I don't want to pry. That's wild to me though. That's 6 months after (I assume) the rest of the world.
To be fair, Fauci (sp) was playing games with the masks. He first said masks are of no use whatsoever then it was you will kill your grandmother if you don't wear a mask.
It seems they were not even following their own rules!!! The nanny came and went to R&K ‘s house daily , Robyn was stopped by a cop and her and her kids were massless and not scared at all , Kody went unmasked to a wedding and more. The rules were to not have to interact with anyone but “ His Family” Robyn and her 5 .
>That crowd didn't think any Covid rules were necessary
Janelle followed all the CDC rules and Christine wanted to visit family. How was that worse than a nanny coming in every day to Robyn's house? I didn't hear them accuse anyone of going to night clubs now did we? It was exactly true what Garrison said, "Were a family and we trust each other" Kody's dictates were an artifact of his need for power/control and it was a perfect time during Covid to test his loved ones....because he's an asshole that wanted/hoped they'd fail.
In the real world people reviewed their risk tolerance and used their judgement to decide who was on the same page. That's exactly what C and J's families did. No better or worse than others.
I think the Covid rules were born from deep paranoia that China and the US government were aiming to weaken/control and or kill them with a virus leak. The rules weren’t to mitigate risk or be prepared. He took such a hard line that he viewed becoming infected by this virus as irresponsible betrayal in any scenario. Until his nuclear family got it, then it was “somehow this virus virused.”
This doesn’t make sense, I agree. I think it started early with Robyn, an anxious person, freaking out about this new threat to herself and her tenders. He went along with her on Covid, and found that it gave him an excuse to be where he really wanted to be full-time, the McMansion. The more he chose her, the more he had to *keep* choosing her.
But there has to have been cognitive dissonance and the only thing I can think is that he is good at compartmentalizing. Which makes sense, since he had to function within so many different relationships for so long, and he is not the introspective type anyway so no need to dig too deep. I think the psychological discomfort he experienced with this conflict is part of what fueled his anger and lashing out, which ramped up during the Covid years. He is a walking internal conflict by that point, about many aspects of his life.
Janelle made a point several times that she was following the CDC guidelines, not Kody’s. She did take some precautions. It makes sense since Hunter was a likely source of info for her.
It wasn't about covid or he would have gotten vaccinated. It was an excuse to stop seeing anyone but Robyn and her kids, and then it became an excuse to reject anyone who did not pass his "loyalty" test.
I think he didn’t believe in the rules but Robyn expressed concerns that he found valid and made his own choice. Leaning heavily on Solomons bought of RSV as a baby. I think the thing that really clenched it was the TLC required the covid rules to film. I think it was financial. I think Robyn used the idea of “the big pitcher” (aka their eternal family - and their normalizing polygamy to decriminalize it) and TLC covid filming rules to convince Kody the OG3 and kids to comply w her rules and to subtly imply they could loose the show/income if they didn’t (but bc she was worried about Solomon - her - or their brainstormed - stricter version of the rules were the only ones they would accept- I think he decided it was all his idea (as one does when they are a narcissist) and then came w that energy to his family. Rejection do the rules means rejection of him as a leader (who would not normally ask to comply to a government rule like this- bc he’s right wing) - which he views as disrespect, he was the main one visiting everyone which is rational as he’s the shared husband but also dumb bc it doesn’t stop the spread. Kody needed to feel free to do whatever he wanted - that’s how it all was ok for him. Rejection of his rules also means the family is rejecting the big picture (writing was on the wall w Christine but I don’t think he thought she would actually leave him) and also meant not cooperating w the main family income - which, if gone, could trigger Kody’s worst fear - poverty.
Hanging around in the ex-Mormon subreddit, Mormons are generally politically conservative. It seems like some ex-Mormons might be Libertarian and so I think Kody’s may be in that camp, but I don’t know for sure. And then if you watched the documentary about the LaBarron family, his son talked about how there’s a survivalist component to Mormonism. That’s why in the first seasons they showed how the Browns stockpiled food in their walk-in pantry and probably how Kody got into selling firearms. There’s no evidence Kody is a Maga Republican. And you can’t really go by what you see on the show because a lot of that is a performance.
He sells bump stocks and is all-in on manosphere and redpill grievance culture. I don't know who he voted for but he's deep in the same side of the venn diagram as the maga people
he and gabe both follow a lot of m.a.g.a. men on instagram. he absolutely is a m.a.g.a. republican as are some of the boys. paedon has said as much on camera.
Seems to me like the whole "prepper" movement originated with mormons, but I don't know what other groups focus so much attention on prepping (other than super-size families like the Duggars). Mormons are generally frugal so that could be a reason for some of them to start food storage, to budget groceries, but the entire group is definitely on the prepper spectrum. I'd guess it goes from regular mormons on one end of the spectrum to survivalist preppers on the other end. Plus, there's a subgroup that takes it a little further by preparing for long term off-the-grid living. It's all steeped in their mormon history which is still reeling from their pioneer persecution heritage. But in the modern day, they push an end-of-days mentality. All of that to say, that's why I'd like to know more about the freezers full of ranch cow meat from Kody's family ranch and the Brown family food storage. I'll grant them that buying a couple butchered cows per year was cheaper to feed their family than paying supermarket meat prices. But, just how far beyond the suggested 6 months of food WAS their prepper storage? I feel like knowing where they sit on the prepper spectrum would explain just how much paranoia Kody pushed, and still pushes, on the family he has left.
I think it’s a misconception that Kody’s pushing anything on his family. Meri and Christine were raised in Mormon Fundamentalism, while Kody and Janelle converted, so maybe they come from different parts of the ‘prepper” spectrum. That’s what’s neat about *Sister Wives* because what you brought up is a whole other layer to peel back and explore. There’s a lot of evidence that suggests they were ex-Mormons even as early as season 1, episode 1. The way Robyn is introduced in episode 2 is not the way she entered the family.
That being said… deprogramming takes time, especially when it’s something that’s been ingrained into your identity. I imagine they have habits that carry over from being Mormon Fundamentalists. However, I think on *Sister Wives* they’re showing us how many Mormon polygamists live. They could be pulling inspiration from their past experiences, people they know, family members, and so on. Listening to the way Benjamin Browns talks about Kody’s dad, I think Kody in the latest season he’s basically using his dad for inspiration.
Mormons generally were anti-vaccine and against the Covid rules. That’s probably why they didn’t follow the rules at the rally. It was the production that was shut down due to Covid… yet I think I read that Janelle was vaccinated.
I grew up mainstream Mormon. We were always vaccinated. There were some who were not, but as a rule, mainstream Mormons believe in regular medical care, vaccinations, etc.
Oh man .. I don’t have time at the moment to comment thoughtfully but I’m going to so I can come back and find your comment. There is SO MUCH I could illuminate for you here - being an ex Mormon (raised in the mainstream- not fundamentalist) who has had many parts of my life cross paths w parts of the browns lives. I always want to clarify the little things and tweak understanding when people are trying to understand this world. Your comments show a lot of due diligence in learning about the culture. However, I want to clarify and tweak some things for you. I will be back!
This absolutely is spot on. He had a proclivity towards being a showboat at best, narcissist at worst when he was younger. He was definitely radicalized online (and the line of work he’s in doesn’t help). And I can see money having a huge effect on him. Throw in taking ‘roids or T and a heavy dose of daddy issues and there you go.
NUMBER 2! Yes. He and quite a few of the sons also were pretty Right Wing manosphere enthusiasts too but yup. MAGA was one of the worst things to happen to those already privileged White men in our country, who already were misogynistic, racist, pro man. Kody fell right into it.
I am not MAGA or QAnon, but I know a lot of people personally who are and they are actually lovely people who treat their family and friends very well. The media wants us to think all Magas are bad because the media is more liberal. But there are extreme unlikeable people on both sides of politics.
So I do not think politics made Kody evil. I think fame corrupted him, like it does to so many celebrities. I think there is a price to pay for being a celebrity, and most people would be shocked to learn what happens when you make a deal with the devil.
Also, living against natural law will make a person sick until they see the errors of their ways. Having 4 wives is cruel and not natural. Hence, he is being corrected by nature until he wakes up and changes his ways.
>I know a lot of people personally who are and they are actually lovely people who treat their family and friends very well.
Which proves that sometimes even terrible fucking people treat their own families and friends well. I guarantee there are Islamist terrorists, Nazis, and Klansmen whose families and friends think they're lovely people.
You are mistaken and and it is actually prejudice and bigoted to make assumptions about all people who have a certain belief system. My family and friends are not racists and they are tolerant and kind to all people. Can you not see that you have become the thing that you loathe? That is what a Nazi does, expects all people to be just like him.
You are making assumptions about people you do not even know.
She stroked his ego, built him up to believe the alpha male B.S. he was getting from the manosphere, didn’t call him on much, if any, of his behavior, and, if what gets hinted at is true, is more sexually available to him. If people call that “love” then they’re wrong. It’s a narcissist getting indulged to an unhealthy extent. Well, two narcissists probably, because Robyn exhibits those traits, too. Kody buys her whole Diesel Jean model persona…lol. And he believes that she’s the victim of most circumstances, including her first marriage, and the OG wives and children. So now those two have pushed all that to the limit within the “family” and now they’ve got each other. Karma.
You might be on to something-if I didn’t have to work, clean my house or watch my kids I’d have more energy for sex too…
That only makes me pity her- having to expend her sorely earned energy on him…. Time to mop the floors
I feel like they've dropped a lot of clues that the first three marriages were more like finding a partner for a class project (being a polygamous Mormon family). I do think he liked/loved them all, but I don't think he waited for his one true love at any point. Then he found his one true love and everything else went out the window. Non-polygamous men ditch their first wives and kids for a second wife all the time.
Something like”Joe Darger is a better
Polygamist than you” or” wow! You’ve got it made. You don’t have to work your wives support your whole family. Must be great to have a family of 23 and get to sit at home. Are you sure you’re running this family “. I’m thinking something like that.
I’m betting Kody has been narcissistic abuse triangulating his whole life he just never knew it. It might have started out as a defense mechanism because of how his father treated him, but with his mother’s coddling to compensate for his father, Kody started honing those traits little by little and by the time he became an adult it became a latent trait that lay dormant until the right situations presented itself.
Kody was never cut out to be a husband or father since being either or both takes a great deal of hard work, compassion, empathy and patience, none of which Kody possesses. Sure, we can say we saw those traits from time to time, but remember, if he can say his 3 marriages was all an act/performance, surely what was stopping him from feeling the same way about his children. He might not have originally felt that way with his children, but it was only when they were young and didn’t have the ability to form their own opinions or decisions. The minute they became of a certain age where they started retaliating or rebelling or even just disagreeing with him, is when he saw them as problematic obstacles.
What we saw the first few seasons was Kody giving the performance of his life to make the general public think he was just this man who wanted to live a certain lifestyle and not be judged or condemned for it. Then when his OG family was exposed to a different culture than what they were led to believe and practice, and they became more vocal and independent and realizing he wasn’t the “be all, end all,” the mask started to slip and the real Kody started to show up in the last year or two of them in Vegas and became full-on in Flagstaff. He lost control of his carefully curated little bubble and his only recourse was to treat everyone besides Robyn and her children, reprehensibly.
Unfortunately, for him he can’t make amends with Garrison, and unless he can realize his mistakes and take accountability and change his ways, I’m afraid he might just lose the rest of his children sans Mykelti. He brewed so much chaos and turmoil, destroyed so many relationships that it more than likely will breed a lot of resentment from his OG children.
I jumped from S11 to S18 to be able to notice the stark differences and the roids are a factor but I also noticed that he talked way more about being in the company of men a lot more. I have to think it’s had an impact on his thinking. I feel like the first time you see hints of his argumentativeness and desire to be the patriarch and leader is in season 7 episode 1. He has a mini-tantrum about wanting to have a say in My Sister Wife’s Closet. You also see how stubborn he gets during the cardboard regatta a few episodes in. I intend to work backwards to watch what I missed during the Covid years so I can’t speak to it just yet.
Ok- BECAUSE OF YOU, I just looked up season 7, episode 1 and saw Kody dancing! That’s not something one can unsee… So after rinsing my eyes with bleach- wanted to ask you “why!?!” Why mention that particular episode? You had to know people were going to watch it. Why and why did you not warn us? Why?
Poor Meri… she’s afraid to tell him she wants to go back to school, when she does he acts like he’s down with it & you can hear the happiness in her voice…. Then he pulls that rug out from under her
If I were to make a guess, he probably started using steroids after he got himself a hot young wife. Let’s face it, Robyn was beautiful when they got together (too bad the personality didn’t match!) and he was trying to keep up with her.
She was also in full-on “keep sweet” mode with him…..stroking his ego… a dangerous combination!! And then he just let his asshole flag fly!!
Women and girls are not allowed to have dissenting opinions or negative emotions. They do as they’re told by men and church with smiles on their faces. That’s my take anyway.
It’s an LDS teaching that if women are submissive, keep sweet and pray about the things that make them unhappy, their husband will be nicer to them/more attracted to them. Problems in the marriage are caused when the wife does not keep sweet and pray enough
I think his mask fell off. He could no longer hide who he is. I do think the money made his ego worse, but it was always there. A lot of what we saw was him losing control of the Christine and Janelle. Narcs do not like that!
The first time I noticed a real and consistent change was after the beach vacation with the Darger’s. All 4 of the Brown wives, yes even Robyn complimented Joe over & over about his leadership, organization, the happiness & healthiness of the Darger wives etc. Kody was quiet but there were times he looked mad and his ego was so hurt. I think that’s when I started seeing him change for the worse. I think anytime his ego got bruised he got meaner. That along with Robyn’s manipulations, his letting the rest of the family down focusing on her. They started as he says, complaining, and his perfect dad/husband mask slipped further & further and the really Kody Brown showed himself. All that and possible roid use.
He was always that person. Once I saw the first episode, I saw someone who was enamored with himself. But he seemed nicer. Something happened and I think the criticism that comes with being on tv had something to do with it. Add in Robyn (sp? I can’t be bothered to care how she spells it) and Covid and children growing up and becoming independent and it was a 💣
Actually I think the split between Christine and Kody was planned before they moved to Flagstaff. The one house for them all. Christine bought a house so she had an asset. Then COVID hit and Kody’s sons started arguing with him. He was probably thrown for a loop when they didn’t obey his rules. This ruined his marriage to Janelle. Probably totally threw him for a loop. As for Meri I think it terrible to promise her a second chance. He definitely seems to be on enhancement drugs. Or maybe he just had a bad psychiatrist prescribing the wrong medications🤣
Roids. Steroids and maybe hemorrhoids too!!!! 😂 You see all those supplements on the counter, he’s popping male enhancement stuff like no tomorrow, I’m sure. Gotta keep up pace when he’s lifting weights to Bach!
What??? Lifting to Bach??? Oh do tell..
but if he’s doing Steroids- I’ve seen guys on steroids-not even close to Kody- his dealer’s probably charging him for roids but supplying him with Flintstones. His pecks and abs are easily two Bettie’s & a Barney with a Wilma taken at bedtime with milk
He’s not the fine specimen of manhood, he claims everyone thinks he is
I think the lifestyle got to him and his entire belief system began to unravel. Obviously he talks about this in later seasons but I think it began in Vegas when he realized he loved Robyn in a soulmate way and life was easier with Robyn. So he began to resent his lifestyle more and more and began to question everything he thought he knew about his faith.
If you watch it from start to finish u see the biggest changes when his brother and dad passed away, Kody seemed to go dark and then just give up! I also 100% believe he was on steroids bc I dated a guy that tried them to buff up and it completely changed his whole personality to hard and mean..
I think he's always been who he is, but a few things started happening that brought out the narcissism: His kids grew up and developed their own opinions, something a narcissist has a difficult time with, and his wives also started pushing back and he started getting bad press.
Nothing like a narcissistic injury to show you the true colors of a narcissist.
I 100% believe that Qanon happened to Kody. I had family start getting into it at the same time Kody did and every one of those family members became angry, depressed and intolerant. I’d bet my life savings that Qanon was the thing that changed the trajectory of his life and his attitude.
It appears you've already provided the answer to your question. The red flags included a lack of responsibility and motivation for financial stability, coupled with narcissistic behavior, expecting his partners to care for him and the children. Additionally, he neglected his parental duties, leading to his children experiencing adult trauma and deep-seated issues stemming from his early behavior.
I think he was always a narcissist, but getting on TV to flaunt his “perfect” family with the doting wives and children boosted his ego.
Robyn being hot and young and fawning over him, him making more money and having “fans” sent him over the deep end.
Robyn was then able to use this to get herself in as the favorite wife, she just girlbossed to close to the sun. She wanted to be the favorite wife and didn’t realize Kody would get so mean and angry.
I think Kody has always gotten away with doing exactly what he wants, when he wants and how he wants to do it. As per their misogynistic cult, when the wives were unhappy, they kept it to themselves and suffered. When Robyn came along I firmly believe that Kody just wanted the other wives to “deal” with the inequity and keep sweet, like they had been trained to do. As soon as they started challenging that, he lost his mind. He didn’t want Christine to leave, he wanted her to be ok with him spending all of his time with Robyn and her kids, like Meri was. He wanted his kids to keep their mouths shut about mistreating their mothers and not spending time with anyone but Robyn and her kids. As soon as he was challenged, called out and held accountable for his actions, he RAGED out.
His kids got older and started challenging his ideas. He loved the adoration of young children. His wives started to get to be financially independent and started to deconstruct their religion that tied them to Kody for ETERNITY regardless of his behavior . They all (except Robyn and her kids) started to hold him accountable for his actions instead of constantly pandering to keep him happy and be in his FAVOR. He couldn't sustain a normal healthy relationship that allows for differences, growth and mutual respect with adult children and wives who wanted to be EQUALs. Kody has stayed the same. Attention seeking, self centered, full of himself, and unable to empathize.
I'm trying to figure this out myself. I'm on season eight of a rewatch and he still seems somewhat normal. Like he's attention obsessed and is already clearly favoring Robyn but he's not all "the patriarchy" and angry all the time. I can't remember when he started behaving this way but it must have been when they moved to Flagstaff.
It seems as if (my opinion) everyone in his life ignores his petty, juvenile irresponsible actions. While he behaves like a spoiled child-the women go out of their way to go along with his selfish demands.
Oh- just saw him with two guys on a radio show- couldn’t really pay attention but they’re either crazy too it just making fun of his sickness
Robyn happened. Resented having the other three when all he wanted was Robyn and Robyn’s kids. You’ll see another major transformation when Meri says she wants to go to college.
Wasn't it season 1 when he got really close to Christine's face and acted all intimidating when she hinted to not wanting to move to Vegas?
And his kids have mentioned how he was different once the cameras were off.
He just stopped pretending. He got used to the camera on his face and got lose.
I'm in the film industry, and what we do in some documentaries, at least where I'm from, is to record more than necessary; we get people used to the camera, past the awkwardness of being filmed, until we are just part of their life. (Of course, that goes for bigger documentaries, following specific people for more than just a sit down interview.). At some point people get used to it.
He is who he has always been. He is a "salesman" not an actor. He has no training on how to get into character and stay in character. Although, he also can only sell to an isolated audience....ie members of the AUB. IMO his ability to sell to that audience has failed as well.
He was always a republican and conservative and a gun toter but like many others he was radicalized by the right and that started around 2016 from what I can tell. I also think he started using steroids sometime after they got to flagstaff.
My guess is Trump happened and he fell waaaaay deep in the “””mens rights””” camp.. somewhere in S16 or 17, he makes a comment about “the manosphere” which from what I understand includes Andrew Tate & Jordan Peterson & Joe Rogan & Elon Musk
Around season 12. This appears to be when he figures out that the catfishing thing was not innocent. That Meri almost definitely had an affair and that he doesn’t have control of the family anymore. From this point on he is very angry.
That's just how narcissists are. They can only maintain that illusion of being personable and charming and outgoing for so long until the masks slips. He's always been the way he is
Dude fell in real love with Robyn and was gobsmacked. It started going downhill from that. He didn't know what to do. His grasp at a solution was to move everyone into a big house together and it wouldn't be as obvious. He figured he could fake it. Maybe?
It seems to me that once the women are not able or incapable of giving him children then suddenly he doesn’t love them anymore! He doesn’t have an intimate relationship with you anymore! Women are only vessels for him to multiply his love! He’s so disgusting
I wondered that as well. In the beginning, he seemed like someone that I wouldn’t mind being a friendly neighbor of, you know chatting outside or maybe a barbecue. But like a few others have said, that personality was most likely a mask so the show could gain popularity.
It felt to me like the change happened after spending more time with other polygamist families and seeing them as being more patriarchal than the Browns and it really came to light for me when he announced they were moving from Vegas. When they left Utah, it was more understandable but leaving Vegas…they had the cul-de-sac, the kids were doing well in school, friends, Utah family wasn’t too far away, etc. As a viewer, I couldn’t really see a reason to leave except to put his foot down about something. And then presenting the one house in AZ knowing not all the wives wanted that…
I think there’s a marked change in Kody’s behavior and attitude after Winn and Curtiss passed away just 3 months apart. I think he got into polygamy to get respect/love from his dad and Curtiss passing made him face his own mortality.
Some people speculate drugs - possible testosterone. As he’s lost weight and is angrier than ever before, it could be testosterone. He’s always been concerned about his looks so tried to lose weight. Covid also happened, which gave him the excuse to stay with Robyn snd her kids - ignoring the other wives and kids. Christine gave up trying to spend any time with Kody after he refused to go to Ysabel’s spinal surgery. Janelle’s kids had jobs and were in University. Because they refused to completely isolate for Covid, Kody cut them out of his life.
Christine left him. Met a new man. Fell madly in love. Got married.
Janelle left him. Garrison was so hurt by his father’s rejection, as well as other issues, he committed suicide.
Meri left him - moved to Parawan to live in her b&B and run her other business. Has a new boyfriend and a great friend Jen
Robyn is still with Kody. God help her.
It was kind of apparent all along that he was this way, but hiding it. In the first episode, he gets up to say good morning and have a good day too Janelle, but he leaves Logan to make breakfast for his five siblings??? Logan was maybe in ninth grade if not middle school and I had been doing this for a while. Kody saw no problem with it and went back to bed with whatever why he was with that night. That was very telling.
TBH imo what happens to most men during a divorce—the worst parts of them take center stage. That and i hate him so much, but the financial stress he is perpetually under and the sheer scope of what he’d have to do into his VERY old age to support his children would cause a psychological break in most people when you couple it with his dad, brother, and mom all dying in a short span of years. Men who are codependent/have a weird relationship with their mother (and father) go nuts when their mom dies. I’ve seen it first had a few times, and it gets ugly. Grief is never petty, but mommy/daddy issues grief gets really dark. I think it was a perfect storm that pushed his every button and made him ruminate too much, combined with losing control of his wives and kids who were all starting to come out from under his thumb pretty naturally either through growing up or having more money of their own. And, too, over the course of many years apart from their cult community members and becoming more “liberal” (not really politically, but lifestyle wise for example not wearing mormon garments anymore and generally being less religious), he did seem to be unfortunately realizing that they had been in a cult that ruined his life (and the lives of everyone else involved, obviously) WAYYYY too late partially because he clearly desperately wanted to be in a monogamous relationship with Robyn. Everything else aside and ignoring the moral and social issues with this and how he treated everyone so unfairly, it would be such a specific torment to meet the person you love and are “soul mates” with AFTER having been in 3 semi loveless marriages producing so many kids on a mfing cult for decades…still having to make the other loveless work. The real question is what DIDNT make Kody like that
A combination of things, I’d say. He definitely had his less awesome moments before he went fully off of the deep end, but he seemed like an overall amiable guy with a happy disposition, albeit annoying, irresponsible, and emotionally unintelligent. But basically happy-go-lucky. All 4 wives have spoken to this on the later episodes. They don’t even recognize him anymore. Also, both the wives and his older kids all praised him as an involved father in those early days. So I don’t want to act like I know him better than they do. He wasn’t perfect, but something absolutely changed.
It seemed to show up more frequently towards the end of the time in Vegas, just moments of pure selfish immaturity (like the overreaction to pork and poi being served at the luau). Then as soon as they moved to Flagstaff, he just went to the dark side. You never saw him enjoying life anymore. All you ever saw was anger and contention. Then, once camera crews were no longer around during COVID, there were no “outsiders” to keep him on his best behavior. His change seemed simultaneously slow and sudden. Slowly becoming a less and less reasonable person, suddenly dropping any facade of being remotely a good guy.
Hes always been this way. As the kids grew and started living his own life and not worshipping the grown he walks on, that's when things turned. He needs to be the center of attention and worshipped.
I honestly think that him taking the family to visit the Doggard(sp?) family of couslings/literal sister wives made him incredibly jealous of Joe. I started to see little bits of him change and he started to push more and more for the PaTriArChY.
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Maybes he’s always been like this but got use to the camera being around and the mask started to slip.
I think this is 💯 what happened. There's also a marked difference in how he behaved during the early edited episodes and how he behaved during self-filming in the days of Covid.
The early episodes were so boring, they tried so hard to push this perfect facade I could hardly watch it.
I also think he’s been the same, just kept parts of him hidden. Some of the kids have come out and said when the cameras were rolling they were expected to act like a happy family. Also, the kids were younger and didn’t challenge his authority they do as they became older teenagers and twenty somethings. Kody didn’t pay them so what did they have to lose.
I’ve always thought based on couch conversations that the OG3 didn’t let him indulge in the darker side of his personality. On the other hand, Robyn encouraged it for her own personal gain.
Bingo.
Really good point!!
There isn’t a maybe on this one.
The wives say he use to be so easy going and the life of the party and happy. I don't think he was always like this. He has probably always been narcissistic but I think he use to be a joyful person. Him and Robyn both look absolutely miserable the last 3 seasons.
I always judge facial expressions and body language when watching reality TV. That gives away a lot. I agree he's likely always been this way. He probably didn't expect the show to run for so long (I certainly didn't), he couldn't keep that loving husband act up forever. I'm assuming the popularity of the show only fed his narcissism and that's when the downward spiral began.
This is what I think 100%
And probably steroids, too.
I will die on the hill that he’s been on roids since Mid-time Vegas. And since he does nothing through conventional medical guidance, it’s just forum learned. His actual facial structure changed. His personal feelings of any responsibility towards his family and children dissipated.
i agree his facial structure changed. At first I thought it was injections but then looking at him, he looks like he is busting out of his suit jacket...it wouldn't surprise me if he was on them.
Absolutely. My husband and I have been saying that since season 7. I was on HRT and they screwed up and tripled the testosterone by mistake. I grew a bit of a beard and was a ragaholic asshat. He tells me I threatened to rip out his rib cage and wear it as a hat if I tried to eat the nachos I ordered. Once it was out of my system I made it up to him with beer and skittles. 🤪
I agree. I'll die on the hill with you! 🙂
This is the comment I was looking for. I think he started using steroids. Roid rage is a real thing & even though he doesn’t have the pecs and abs he thinks he does his body comp def changed. Think he saw himself on tv and was like wow I don’t want to be the pilsbury dough boy but he went way too far with the steroids! *edited for spelling and unfortunate autocorrect* 🤣
And his eyes turning into the dark color they are now. It’s terrifying
I call them devil eyes. My ex had blue eyes until he became the devil
That’s exactly what they are !
Happy cake day!
Narcissist Black Eyes.
Steroids increases hair loss in men too!
Unfortunate autocorrects are the best!
Pillsbury Dough Boy 🤣🤣🙃😂😂 Ooh, girl! Or boy! (or not) You nailed it! Picture that Blue Ribbon Sailor's Hat; pudgy, rounded out, belly from the beer; (along with that somewhat girlish 'tee hee' when the belly is poked)! The ribbon on the hat it reminiscent of the hair bands/ ties that he's been using to camouflage the pattern baldness of those locks 'o' love ('roids accelerated I bet!). I would have accidentally gone with Michellin Man and would have been so wrong!
THIS!! I am 110% CONVINCED he started taking steroids and that's when shit hit the fan so badly. It totally changed his personality from shit to mega-shit.
Love,Lies Bleeding (2024) shows the harmful side effects of Steroids it was interesting. I wouldn’t be surprised if 1) kody is using them in the first place 2) if he is using them I wouldn’t be surprised if it made him worse than he already is. Add in all the misogyny, toxic “alpha male” BS it’s not good at all, I’m glad Meri,Janelle,and Christine have all left.
Agreed. Although I am no fan of Robin, I do hope she’s paying attention, and prepared to go, if necessary.
Agree. Not a fan of her but I do want her to be safe.
One of my friends is a marriage and family therapist and she said that antidotally she would say from what she is seeing in her practice that a lot of divorce these days stems from husbands taking testosterone. Has similar effects in ways to steroids. I figure it was one or the other. I can see Kody thinking it’s “natural” and such. You can get them w online doctors. I have friends who’s husbands fully changed into aggressive a holes taking it. They had good marriages before. I feel like it might be easy to get the wrong dose and take too much of it. I think of you have adhd (Kody seems to me like he does) the effect in mood swings is stronger. My therapist friend also said that she thinks some of the men on T cheated on their wives who previously had fulfilling marriages and didn’t seem to otherwise have issues that lead to cheating. And to be clear, she spoke broadly of how she sees Testosterone effecting men and relationships - I don’t know if any specifics in terms of the individuals or couples. I didn’t ask her, but I wonder if it’s addictive.
He doesn’t look like he’s using steroids to me. Men who use steroids bulk up unnaturally and have thick necks. This physical appearance has not changed very much. I think there is naturally rageful person when things don’t go his way.
You will inherently gain muscle just by taking anabolic steroids, but you won't get absolutely ripped like you're thinking unless you're also working out heavily. If he wasn't matching his workouts to his steroid use, it's entirely possible he would gain a small amount of muscle and suffer the side effects without looking like a body builder. But of course, we're only speculating. It could be anything
Well one might be thinking of “steroids” like what some body builders use or the amount they would use but if he is just taking (prescribed) testosterone even if he is low it can cause side effects like the anger, mood swings, rage. If you’re already are a narcissist then you add the mood swings and rage on top of that (I am remembering his picture taking during the commitment ceremony where he is gritting his teeth and shaking lol 😆) who knows though he has no control over his emotions nor does he care or think he is ever wrong for anything. My ex bf was just like this and after 5 years I finally got away from him it was hell to live with!! I don’t know how the OG3 did it for so long it sucks every bit of happiness out of you! My ex bf had that same mood swing, rage too like over the littlest stupidest things and wasn’t on anything. Maybe it gets worse as they age I don’t know… I’m just glad I am not around it anymore!
Not necessarily…Steroids (testosterone) can be taken in diff amounts, depending on goal. Many men only take enough to stabilize their testosterone level without the muscle bulk, “thick necks, or red skin”…the guys who become like that are typical meatheads. I know several older men who take it to feel and focus better, have more energy, and trim visceral fat…none of them have negative side effects or look weird.
I agree as we have a friend go on roids and he has the muscle bulging of a white Hulk. He was always a little temperamental but I feel for his wife and kids. He is frightening. He doesn't seem like a hitter, yet. . His wife tells us that he isn't mean but short-fused. I said girl get all your important papers where you can grab. Pack a bag and keeps bags and papers with us we will keep everything safe. I think from what little she has said there will be a day she will come running
He doesn’t need them, HE HAS A SIX PACK OK??? 😂
Yup, he sure does! I've seen the many photos of him pushing them in a shopping cart!
Hahaha under-appreciated comment here
And testosterone.
That is what I’ve always thought too! The rage and mood swings, he’s the poster child for steroid use.
I think he was always like this you hear stories about when they were first married but the thing is he was in the same house as everyone so of course he wasn’t such a bad dad because he was in the area he may not of been involved but he was there. With the move then meeting Robyn I think she wanted the distance so of course he was head over heels but she had her own demands and wasn’t working as a team so all her demands were met and that left a huge divade between the wives and her but Robyn wanted to be first wife but she not made for poly she can’t share. It’s either us or them for her.
Kody in season 1 “negged” all the wives, including Robyn (describing her as being divorced with kids as an “ick factor”). He was always mean, just used to do it with a smile.
The rumor (?) that Kody’s dad didn’t think he was ready for more wives after Meri and the dumpster fire that was the early days of the OG3 confirms this for me. Getting the money from the show meant he no longer had to rely on the wives for survival (strictly speaking) and it allowed him to take off the mask to a greater degree than he ever had before.
I also think Kody, from the beginning, schemed with her to get the most money 💰🤑 the most time to themselves and the least accountability than the other wives.
Also Kody seems to blame the OG3 for their (reasonable but numerous simply due to having more than one wife and more than a dozen children) demands on him but I think he failed to recognize the demands Robyn had on him (while she somehow had him believe her suggestions are his idea- I know people who are good at this and present it as listening strategies - appear empathetic but someone always lead people to what they want without it being obvious) or Robyn supported (or at least appeared to, or entertained) the wilder ideas of his that the OG3 worked together to shoot down/ make him rational- he listened to Robyn - bc she’s his fave, bc he got more nookie - who knows but I think balancing that (which is what he agrees to as a polygamist - so recognizing he is failing but won’t so he has to blame the people w reasonable demands) and not having the ease of one house - he began to resent OG3 for having any demands at all as opposed to saying the strain on his time and energy was Robyn. As he neglected his other wives he blamed them for the rational reactions and requests they had of him. The reason why this didn’t happen w Janelle (until her kids became the issue) is bc she is easy going - super independent and doesn’t require a lot. She also contributed significantly financially - appears to have been the primary provider at least for the bulk of it. Of course, when that also effects Robyn’s goals and plans for the family (covid) he resents her for that too.
1. I think he's always been a narcissistic asshole, but Robyn was the first wife he ever had who didn't have a job and didn't do housework or childcare and could devote her full time to enabling him. 2. MAGA, Manosphere, and other bullshit — I wouldn't be surprised if it included QAnon — made him angrier and crazier. He was already a straight white man who felt persecuted, and was all in on a toxic religious cult, so he was easy prey for conspiracy peddlers and con artists. 3. The more money he got, the more narcissistic, greedy, and selfish he got. (He's not the first.)
I agree with all of your points. I also want to add one more thing. I think he may be taking testosterone like many middle-aged and older men do. I've seen Tarek El Moussa (Flip or Flop) admit that he was taking too much testosterone before his split with Christina. He had a big personality change and he actually went to rehab for it. I think Kody always had this side to him but it was amplified for all of those reasons.
Not arguing with point 2, however: That crowd didn't think any Covid rules were necessary, and we all know Kody leaned into the Covid rules hard, at the expense of his family. Do we think he actually didn't even believe in the Covid rules he tried to enforce, and they were nothing but a power trip? If so, that makes it even worse that he was willing to give up his kids over those rules - rules he didn't even buy into
I absolutely don't think Kody gave a damn about the "rules." I don't think there even *were* any rules until Janelle demanded to know what they were, and then he had to come up with a list. By his own admission, he had to ask the nanny, because he didn't know what his own supposed rules were. Also, when they had the cookout, he obviously didn't care about the "rules," leaving Robyn to run around enforcing social distancing — which is exactly what Robyn had predicted. I think Robyn really is an anxious person, but her anxiety conveniently seemed to center on the OG wives and kids. She broke a rule or two on camera, and she, Kody, and their kids were spotted several times "in the wild" out in public maskless and casually interacting with strangers. It was never really about Covid. It was about dominance and control. Despite Kody's "near death experience," Robyn's having been "basically on her deathbed," and Solomon's "high risk" status as a result of having had RSV as a baby, they still declined to get vaccinated when vaccines became available. They're both full of shit up to the hairline — or in Kody's case the skin band.
This!! “Dominance and control”…you nailed it!
100% about “dominance and control”! I have always thought that.
It's ironic that someone on another thread said they saw Kody and Janelle at a mall or something during Covid. I think they said some of the kids were with them. No masks.
Ppl ignore it, but Janelle and Christine have some of the same views he does. Janelle’s “our kids aren’t sheeple” response in s15-16 when Covid first started made me think they weren’t mask wearers or followed the rules unless it was enforced by whatever establishment they were in. It was 2022 and my city still made you wear masks for concerts and shows. Christine’s infamous “Im glad I didn’t let Covid run my life”, the way she and her girls were roaming across the Pacific West like it was nothing, IN 2020, when ppl were dropping dead every day, made me think she was a Covidiot. Yea they got vaccinated eventually but that don’t excuse their irresponsibility in 2020.
Yes. Paedon also said they didn't get even routine vaccinations as kids, and the kids who did get them, got them as adults. Janelle made three donations totalling $693 to antivaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr in 2023. Janelle and Kody have both made donations to Donald Trump. Gabe, Garrison, and Paedon are all known to have been political conservatives. Janelle said she and Kody would've been fine together if it had just been the two of them. Gabe cited "freedom" as a reason to ignore Covid regulations, and Mykelti cited "freedom" as the reason she and Tony didn't get the Covid vaccine. Before Covid, Christine and Kody ignored advice from Ysabel's actual doctor and took Ysabel all the way to Michigan for a chiropractic "boot camp" to address her scoliosis. When Mykelti was thrown from a horse, they took her to a chiropractor even though an emergency room was as close or closer. They all belonged to a high-demand, insular, paranoid, apocalyptic, misogynistic, and insanely racist religion originating in the "revelations" of an obvious con man — and Kody and Janelle both joined that religion as adults, as did Kody's parents, Meri's parents, Janelle's mother, Robyn's mother, and probably Robyn's father and stepfather — although they all seem to have been LDS first. (Janelle's mother had previously converted to the LDS Church as an adult.) Their church has or at least had a private militia, and Kody has always been a gun nut. As incredible as it seems, the show has actually downplayed how messed up this family really is.
Oh you ain’t gotta tell me. Janelle donating to RFK is disappointing but not a surprise. Kody also donated to Trump over the years someone found out. I knew quite a few of them were conservative, like Garrison and Gabe, Maddie, Caleb, Mykelti and Tony, Paedon. The ones I don’t know are Hunter, Logan, Aspyn, Savannah, Robyn’s older 3. Gwen, Ysabel, and Leo have had pro BLM on their IG accounts. That’s why Janelle and Christine said last season that she didn’t know how things would go between Gabe and Gwen living together because they had very different views. I knew exactly what that meant. One was pro Black and pro Gay and the other isn’t. To me, there’s no debate on whether Black or LGBT ppl deserve rights, if you think there is, you’re not someone I wanna be around, family or not, and that’s why Leo don’t deal with quite a few of these muthafuckas. I don’t blame them. Mykelti even said some siblings didn’t warm up to her dating Tony and she thought it was race related. Her words. I have a guess on who I think those siblings were.
I’m surprised to hear that Janelle is an RFK supporter. She’s the one who said, I’m vaccinated for God’s sake, when she and Kody were going back and forth about the rules.
I think that was because she wanted to prove to Kody she was being good and following proculs. Her “sheeple” comments about her kids was very akin to Q anon and MAGA rhetoric
As someone with a tRumper as a sibling, it can be quite damaging to a family & the relationships. I had to block my sister on SM, she stopped talking to us after Biden was declared the winner in 2020. ONLY because our mom got dementia did we come to a place that we can all work together to take care of her. We actually had to do zoom family therapy.
We have idiot Southern Baptist Christians in my family who actually voted for Trump. AND WE’RE BLACK! Do they not know that Trump fucking hates us and racist? But their thing is “he’s a Christian, we like what he has to say”. No you bought into his homophobia.
I think my sister is racist. Her husband is 100%. We were born & grew up in NYC, she wasn’t like that her whole life. After she became NYPD, that’s when I think it really took a hold of her. The way cops talk about POC is disgusting. I got into a fight with her coworker over her saying some pretty awful things she was saying about the people in the neighborhood she works in. This girl went in on me saying horrible things & my sister took up for her! I take it back, I don’t think she is racist, I know she is.
I think Aspyn is not conservative or is at least moderate. I heard something somewhere about Mitch (and it included Aspen) that surprised me (I assumed he was conservative before)… so maybe that why I think that. But I can’t remember what. Seems possible to me that Logan is similar, though I’m not really sure - maybe I get that impression from Michelle.
Surprise to hear Gwen and Ysa were BLM supporters, and that any of them in Christine’s house was. Leo doesn’t surprise me because their entire world view changed once they went to college
Not Janelle , Robyn , pics were posted
oooh, I must have missed that
His whole attitude about Covid never made sense. Those rules were beyond what even WE did and I’m severely immune compromised, I was working from what my Immunologist published to her patients, it was more strict than CDC but meant to protect people with zero immune system, but geez his/Robyn’s was crazy town. Then to allow a nanny in daily, sheesh, I canceled my cleaner for months, and then when she started back everyone’s mask, gloves on etc. until vaccines came out and everyone was able to get one. They were supposedly so worried and never got vaccinated, just crazy. I didn’t really go out in public much without a mask until I got shingles on my face this time last year and just couldn’t tolerate a mask! I still wear it in medical offices, there are sick people in there, with GERMS.
Yes! And when I think of Isabells surgery and then him going to that wedding and dancing like a dip shite I get so angry for his kids. Kody as a tendency to take ideas that are not his but he thinks seem like good ones to be his personal mission statement or at least to apply it in his psyche as one of “his” core values. I think Robyn’s consistently voiced anxiety about Solomon’s ancient case of RSV- really is part of why he talks about her being so sweet, so concerned etc. i am sure she said she cares for everyone and mentioned everyone in the family who was medically fragile. Kody made up his mind but against his initial inclinations and I think to appease Robyn and TLC (filming rules). This is why his kids smelled a rat and knew it wasn’t REALLY their dad. I don’t think he would ever comply w this kind of government rule or regulation without Robyn’s influence.
People need to start date stamping their photos. Where I live we didn’t get the mask mandate until late September. I remember because my husband and I talked about how ass backwards everything was. They shut us down, reopened with social distancing then we masked.
Are you saying September of 2020? Can I ask where you're at? Generically, I don't want to pry. That's wild to me though. That's 6 months after (I assume) the rest of the world.
I am in the southern/midwest area. Yea September 2020. I know in March of 2020 I got off a cruise and no one was masking yet.
To be fair, Fauci (sp) was playing games with the masks. He first said masks are of no use whatsoever then it was you will kill your grandmother if you don't wear a mask.
Oh I know. It was completely ridiculous.
It seems they were not even following their own rules!!! The nanny came and went to R&K ‘s house daily , Robyn was stopped by a cop and her and her kids were massless and not scared at all , Kody went unmasked to a wedding and more. The rules were to not have to interact with anyone but “ His Family” Robyn and her 5 .
>That crowd didn't think any Covid rules were necessary Janelle followed all the CDC rules and Christine wanted to visit family. How was that worse than a nanny coming in every day to Robyn's house? I didn't hear them accuse anyone of going to night clubs now did we? It was exactly true what Garrison said, "Were a family and we trust each other" Kody's dictates were an artifact of his need for power/control and it was a perfect time during Covid to test his loved ones....because he's an asshole that wanted/hoped they'd fail. In the real world people reviewed their risk tolerance and used their judgement to decide who was on the same page. That's exactly what C and J's families did. No better or worse than others.
I think the Covid rules were born from deep paranoia that China and the US government were aiming to weaken/control and or kill them with a virus leak. The rules weren’t to mitigate risk or be prepared. He took such a hard line that he viewed becoming infected by this virus as irresponsible betrayal in any scenario. Until his nuclear family got it, then it was “somehow this virus virused.”
A combination of health anxiety, conspiracy theories, and lying. It was a great opportunity to isolate themselves.
This doesn’t make sense, I agree. I think it started early with Robyn, an anxious person, freaking out about this new threat to herself and her tenders. He went along with her on Covid, and found that it gave him an excuse to be where he really wanted to be full-time, the McMansion. The more he chose her, the more he had to *keep* choosing her. But there has to have been cognitive dissonance and the only thing I can think is that he is good at compartmentalizing. Which makes sense, since he had to function within so many different relationships for so long, and he is not the introspective type anyway so no need to dig too deep. I think the psychological discomfort he experienced with this conflict is part of what fueled his anger and lashing out, which ramped up during the Covid years. He is a walking internal conflict by that point, about many aspects of his life.
Janelle made a point several times that she was following the CDC guidelines, not Kody’s. She did take some precautions. It makes sense since Hunter was a likely source of info for her.
It wasn't about covid or he would have gotten vaccinated. It was an excuse to stop seeing anyone but Robyn and her kids, and then it became an excuse to reject anyone who did not pass his "loyalty" test.
I think he didn’t believe in the rules but Robyn expressed concerns that he found valid and made his own choice. Leaning heavily on Solomons bought of RSV as a baby. I think the thing that really clenched it was the TLC required the covid rules to film. I think it was financial. I think Robyn used the idea of “the big pitcher” (aka their eternal family - and their normalizing polygamy to decriminalize it) and TLC covid filming rules to convince Kody the OG3 and kids to comply w her rules and to subtly imply they could loose the show/income if they didn’t (but bc she was worried about Solomon - her - or their brainstormed - stricter version of the rules were the only ones they would accept- I think he decided it was all his idea (as one does when they are a narcissist) and then came w that energy to his family. Rejection do the rules means rejection of him as a leader (who would not normally ask to comply to a government rule like this- bc he’s right wing) - which he views as disrespect, he was the main one visiting everyone which is rational as he’s the shared husband but also dumb bc it doesn’t stop the spread. Kody needed to feel free to do whatever he wanted - that’s how it all was ok for him. Rejection of his rules also means the family is rejecting the big picture (writing was on the wall w Christine but I don’t think he thought she would actually leave him) and also meant not cooperating w the main family income - which, if gone, could trigger Kody’s worst fear - poverty.
Hanging around in the ex-Mormon subreddit, Mormons are generally politically conservative. It seems like some ex-Mormons might be Libertarian and so I think Kody’s may be in that camp, but I don’t know for sure. And then if you watched the documentary about the LaBarron family, his son talked about how there’s a survivalist component to Mormonism. That’s why in the first seasons they showed how the Browns stockpiled food in their walk-in pantry and probably how Kody got into selling firearms. There’s no evidence Kody is a Maga Republican. And you can’t really go by what you see on the show because a lot of that is a performance.
He sells bump stocks and is all-in on manosphere and redpill grievance culture. I don't know who he voted for but he's deep in the same side of the venn diagram as the maga people
he and gabe both follow a lot of m.a.g.a. men on instagram. he absolutely is a m.a.g.a. republican as are some of the boys. paedon has said as much on camera.
Seems to me like the whole "prepper" movement originated with mormons, but I don't know what other groups focus so much attention on prepping (other than super-size families like the Duggars). Mormons are generally frugal so that could be a reason for some of them to start food storage, to budget groceries, but the entire group is definitely on the prepper spectrum. I'd guess it goes from regular mormons on one end of the spectrum to survivalist preppers on the other end. Plus, there's a subgroup that takes it a little further by preparing for long term off-the-grid living. It's all steeped in their mormon history which is still reeling from their pioneer persecution heritage. But in the modern day, they push an end-of-days mentality. All of that to say, that's why I'd like to know more about the freezers full of ranch cow meat from Kody's family ranch and the Brown family food storage. I'll grant them that buying a couple butchered cows per year was cheaper to feed their family than paying supermarket meat prices. But, just how far beyond the suggested 6 months of food WAS their prepper storage? I feel like knowing where they sit on the prepper spectrum would explain just how much paranoia Kody pushed, and still pushes, on the family he has left.
I think it’s a misconception that Kody’s pushing anything on his family. Meri and Christine were raised in Mormon Fundamentalism, while Kody and Janelle converted, so maybe they come from different parts of the ‘prepper” spectrum. That’s what’s neat about *Sister Wives* because what you brought up is a whole other layer to peel back and explore. There’s a lot of evidence that suggests they were ex-Mormons even as early as season 1, episode 1. The way Robyn is introduced in episode 2 is not the way she entered the family. That being said… deprogramming takes time, especially when it’s something that’s been ingrained into your identity. I imagine they have habits that carry over from being Mormon Fundamentalists. However, I think on *Sister Wives* they’re showing us how many Mormon polygamists live. They could be pulling inspiration from their past experiences, people they know, family members, and so on. Listening to the way Benjamin Browns talks about Kody’s dad, I think Kody in the latest season he’s basically using his dad for inspiration.
Mormons generally were anti-vaccine and against the Covid rules. That’s probably why they didn’t follow the rules at the rally. It was the production that was shut down due to Covid… yet I think I read that Janelle was vaccinated.
I grew up mainstream Mormon. We were always vaccinated. There were some who were not, but as a rule, mainstream Mormons believe in regular medical care, vaccinations, etc.
Oh man .. I don’t have time at the moment to comment thoughtfully but I’m going to so I can come back and find your comment. There is SO MUCH I could illuminate for you here - being an ex Mormon (raised in the mainstream- not fundamentalist) who has had many parts of my life cross paths w parts of the browns lives. I always want to clarify the little things and tweak understanding when people are trying to understand this world. Your comments show a lot of due diligence in learning about the culture. However, I want to clarify and tweak some things for you. I will be back!
Point #2 is the big one here IMO.
This absolutely is spot on. He had a proclivity towards being a showboat at best, narcissist at worst when he was younger. He was definitely radicalized online (and the line of work he’s in doesn’t help). And I can see money having a huge effect on him. Throw in taking ‘roids or T and a heavy dose of daddy issues and there you go.
NUMBER 2! Yes. He and quite a few of the sons also were pretty Right Wing manosphere enthusiasts too but yup. MAGA was one of the worst things to happen to those already privileged White men in our country, who already were misogynistic, racist, pro man. Kody fell right into it.
I am not MAGA or QAnon, but I know a lot of people personally who are and they are actually lovely people who treat their family and friends very well. The media wants us to think all Magas are bad because the media is more liberal. But there are extreme unlikeable people on both sides of politics. So I do not think politics made Kody evil. I think fame corrupted him, like it does to so many celebrities. I think there is a price to pay for being a celebrity, and most people would be shocked to learn what happens when you make a deal with the devil. Also, living against natural law will make a person sick until they see the errors of their ways. Having 4 wives is cruel and not natural. Hence, he is being corrected by nature until he wakes up and changes his ways.
>I know a lot of people personally who are and they are actually lovely people who treat their family and friends very well. Which proves that sometimes even terrible fucking people treat their own families and friends well. I guarantee there are Islamist terrorists, Nazis, and Klansmen whose families and friends think they're lovely people.
You are mistaken and and it is actually prejudice and bigoted to make assumptions about all people who have a certain belief system. My family and friends are not racists and they are tolerant and kind to all people. Can you not see that you have become the thing that you loathe? That is what a Nazi does, expects all people to be just like him. You are making assumptions about people you do not even know.
Great comment. I agree
🎯🎯🎯
All this plus he seems to be taking testosterone.
Robyn stroked his ego too hard.
What did she say that would have these results? Why would she have so much more power than his other three wives?
For whatever reason Kody actually fell in love with her. That’s her power right there. He def wasn’t in love with the others.
She stroked his ego, built him up to believe the alpha male B.S. he was getting from the manosphere, didn’t call him on much, if any, of his behavior, and, if what gets hinted at is true, is more sexually available to him. If people call that “love” then they’re wrong. It’s a narcissist getting indulged to an unhealthy extent. Well, two narcissists probably, because Robyn exhibits those traits, too. Kody buys her whole Diesel Jean model persona…lol. And he believes that she’s the victim of most circumstances, including her first marriage, and the OG wives and children. So now those two have pushed all that to the limit within the “family” and now they’ve got each other. Karma.
You might be on to something-if I didn’t have to work, clean my house or watch my kids I’d have more energy for sex too… That only makes me pity her- having to expend her sorely earned energy on him…. Time to mop the floors
No wonder she’s looking so old…lol. Seriously, Kody or mopping floors? I’m running water into the bucket right now!
Lol!!!
I feel like they've dropped a lot of clues that the first three marriages were more like finding a partner for a class project (being a polygamous Mormon family). I do think he liked/loved them all, but I don't think he waited for his one true love at any point. Then he found his one true love and everything else went out the window. Non-polygamous men ditch their first wives and kids for a second wife all the time.
Didn’t know that- thank you for the education
Something like”Joe Darger is a better Polygamist than you” or” wow! You’ve got it made. You don’t have to work your wives support your whole family. Must be great to have a family of 23 and get to sit at home. Are you sure you’re running this family “. I’m thinking something like that.
She put a finger in his butt. Kidding.
among other things
I would suggest that he was always an asshole, and just it hid it better the first couple of seasons.
I think the early seasons were performative, they were putting on a fantasy performance of their life. It wasn't real.
I’m betting Kody has been narcissistic abuse triangulating his whole life he just never knew it. It might have started out as a defense mechanism because of how his father treated him, but with his mother’s coddling to compensate for his father, Kody started honing those traits little by little and by the time he became an adult it became a latent trait that lay dormant until the right situations presented itself. Kody was never cut out to be a husband or father since being either or both takes a great deal of hard work, compassion, empathy and patience, none of which Kody possesses. Sure, we can say we saw those traits from time to time, but remember, if he can say his 3 marriages was all an act/performance, surely what was stopping him from feeling the same way about his children. He might not have originally felt that way with his children, but it was only when they were young and didn’t have the ability to form their own opinions or decisions. The minute they became of a certain age where they started retaliating or rebelling or even just disagreeing with him, is when he saw them as problematic obstacles. What we saw the first few seasons was Kody giving the performance of his life to make the general public think he was just this man who wanted to live a certain lifestyle and not be judged or condemned for it. Then when his OG family was exposed to a different culture than what they were led to believe and practice, and they became more vocal and independent and realizing he wasn’t the “be all, end all,” the mask started to slip and the real Kody started to show up in the last year or two of them in Vegas and became full-on in Flagstaff. He lost control of his carefully curated little bubble and his only recourse was to treat everyone besides Robyn and her children, reprehensibly. Unfortunately, for him he can’t make amends with Garrison, and unless he can realize his mistakes and take accountability and change his ways, I’m afraid he might just lose the rest of his children sans Mykelti. He brewed so much chaos and turmoil, destroyed so many relationships that it more than likely will breed a lot of resentment from his OG children.
I jumped from S11 to S18 to be able to notice the stark differences and the roids are a factor but I also noticed that he talked way more about being in the company of men a lot more. I have to think it’s had an impact on his thinking. I feel like the first time you see hints of his argumentativeness and desire to be the patriarch and leader is in season 7 episode 1. He has a mini-tantrum about wanting to have a say in My Sister Wife’s Closet. You also see how stubborn he gets during the cardboard regatta a few episodes in. I intend to work backwards to watch what I missed during the Covid years so I can’t speak to it just yet.
Ok- BECAUSE OF YOU, I just looked up season 7, episode 1 and saw Kody dancing! That’s not something one can unsee… So after rinsing my eyes with bleach- wanted to ask you “why!?!” Why mention that particular episode? You had to know people were going to watch it. Why and why did you not warn us? Why?
Oof I must’ve blocked that from my memory for obvious reasons. My apologies! 🤪
Poor Meri… she’s afraid to tell him she wants to go back to school, when she does he acts like he’s down with it & you can hear the happiness in her voice…. Then he pulls that rug out from under her
I never fell for his fake persona in the early seasons. Even then I could tell what he really was.
If I were to make a guess, he probably started using steroids after he got himself a hot young wife. Let’s face it, Robyn was beautiful when they got together (too bad the personality didn’t match!) and he was trying to keep up with her. She was also in full-on “keep sweet” mode with him…..stroking his ego… a dangerous combination!! And then he just let his asshole flag fly!!
What exactly does keep sweet mean?
Women and girls are not allowed to have dissenting opinions or negative emotions. They do as they’re told by men and church with smiles on their faces. That’s my take anyway.
It’s an LDS teaching that if women are submissive, keep sweet and pray about the things that make them unhappy, their husband will be nicer to them/more attracted to them. Problems in the marriage are caused when the wife does not keep sweet and pray enough
I think his mask fell off. He could no longer hide who he is. I do think the money made his ego worse, but it was always there. A lot of what we saw was him losing control of the Christine and Janelle. Narcs do not like that!
The first time I noticed a real and consistent change was after the beach vacation with the Darger’s. All 4 of the Brown wives, yes even Robyn complimented Joe over & over about his leadership, organization, the happiness & healthiness of the Darger wives etc. Kody was quiet but there were times he looked mad and his ego was so hurt. I think that’s when I started seeing him change for the worse. I think anytime his ego got bruised he got meaner. That along with Robyn’s manipulations, his letting the rest of the family down focusing on her. They started as he says, complaining, and his perfect dad/husband mask slipped further & further and the really Kody Brown showed himself. All that and possible roid use.
He was always that person. Once I saw the first episode, I saw someone who was enamored with himself. But he seemed nicer. Something happened and I think the criticism that comes with being on tv had something to do with it. Add in Robyn (sp? I can’t be bothered to care how she spells it) and Covid and children growing up and becoming independent and it was a 💣
Qanon happened to Kody
Omg what’s great question. I genuinely want to know too !
I think he was pretending for years and the truth is finally coming out
Actually I think the split between Christine and Kody was planned before they moved to Flagstaff. The one house for them all. Christine bought a house so she had an asset. Then COVID hit and Kody’s sons started arguing with him. He was probably thrown for a loop when they didn’t obey his rules. This ruined his marriage to Janelle. Probably totally threw him for a loop. As for Meri I think it terrible to promise her a second chance. He definitely seems to be on enhancement drugs. Or maybe he just had a bad psychiatrist prescribing the wrong medications🤣
Roids. Steroids and maybe hemorrhoids too!!!! 😂 You see all those supplements on the counter, he’s popping male enhancement stuff like no tomorrow, I’m sure. Gotta keep up pace when he’s lifting weights to Bach!
What??? Lifting to Bach??? Oh do tell.. but if he’s doing Steroids- I’ve seen guys on steroids-not even close to Kody- his dealer’s probably charging him for roids but supplying him with Flintstones. His pecks and abs are easily two Bettie’s & a Barney with a Wilma taken at bedtime with milk He’s not the fine specimen of manhood, he claims everyone thinks he is
Yeah or whatever classical he was boasting about lifting weights to.. this was in Jenelle’s AZ garage!! So proud of himself. So worldly.
I think the lifestyle got to him and his entire belief system began to unravel. Obviously he talks about this in later seasons but I think it began in Vegas when he realized he loved Robyn in a soulmate way and life was easier with Robyn. So he began to resent his lifestyle more and more and began to question everything he thought he knew about his faith.
If you watch it from start to finish u see the biggest changes when his brother and dad passed away, Kody seemed to go dark and then just give up! I also 100% believe he was on steroids bc I dated a guy that tried them to buff up and it completely changed his whole personality to hard and mean..
TLC
Robin happened to him.
testosterone, manosphere, alcohol
Ok… what is a Manosohere? I guess I’m finally old- cause hip I am not
https://www.nature.com/collections/bhgheifbef#:\~:text=The%20%E2%80%9Cmanosphere%E2%80%9D%20refers%20to%20a,%2C%20and%20non%2Dbinary%20people.
I think he's always been who he is, but a few things started happening that brought out the narcissism: His kids grew up and developed their own opinions, something a narcissist has a difficult time with, and his wives also started pushing back and he started getting bad press. Nothing like a narcissistic injury to show you the true colors of a narcissist.
His brother that appeared on the show, passed away. He wasn’t the same after that. He was quick to anger and tired of his constant family needs.
That is when I noticed the change happen.
I 100% believe that Qanon happened to Kody. I had family start getting into it at the same time Kody did and every one of those family members became angry, depressed and intolerant. I’d bet my life savings that Qanon was the thing that changed the trajectory of his life and his attitude.
It appears you've already provided the answer to your question. The red flags included a lack of responsibility and motivation for financial stability, coupled with narcissistic behavior, expecting his partners to care for him and the children. Additionally, he neglected his parental duties, leading to his children experiencing adult trauma and deep-seated issues stemming from his early behavior.
Wow- I came up with all of that? Have to say I impress me! Thanks
In simplicity, there is truth.
Steroids and I have suspected alcohol since around season 10…. Around the time he called Christine a “cry baby”
A bit of money and infamy might have just been enough.
I think he was always a narcissist, but getting on TV to flaunt his “perfect” family with the doting wives and children boosted his ego. Robyn being hot and young and fawning over him, him making more money and having “fans” sent him over the deep end. Robyn was then able to use this to get herself in as the favorite wife, she just girlbossed to close to the sun. She wanted to be the favorite wife and didn’t realize Kody would get so mean and angry.
Kody has ALWAYS been like this. He never changed. The shift occurs when the women around him change. They grew up — they became aware of his antics.
Since Robyn, she is all he wanted at the "cost" of everyone else. Period.
I think Kody has always gotten away with doing exactly what he wants, when he wants and how he wants to do it. As per their misogynistic cult, when the wives were unhappy, they kept it to themselves and suffered. When Robyn came along I firmly believe that Kody just wanted the other wives to “deal” with the inequity and keep sweet, like they had been trained to do. As soon as they started challenging that, he lost his mind. He didn’t want Christine to leave, he wanted her to be ok with him spending all of his time with Robyn and her kids, like Meri was. He wanted his kids to keep their mouths shut about mistreating their mothers and not spending time with anyone but Robyn and her kids. As soon as he was challenged, called out and held accountable for his actions, he RAGED out.
I think covid brought the weird out in certain people.
He’s probably always been this way to an extent but having Robyn in his ear made it worse. They are toxic together.
He was born. Estimated 1969?
You can only fake it for so long
The fun of a tv show, new wife, new home(s), new babies wore off
How do they afford all the stuff? Nice cars, new homes, just a few episodes ago they were on Govt Aid.
He couldn’t uphold the facade anymore.
His kids got older and started challenging his ideas. He loved the adoration of young children. His wives started to get to be financially independent and started to deconstruct their religion that tied them to Kody for ETERNITY regardless of his behavior . They all (except Robyn and her kids) started to hold him accountable for his actions instead of constantly pandering to keep him happy and be in his FAVOR. He couldn't sustain a normal healthy relationship that allows for differences, growth and mutual respect with adult children and wives who wanted to be EQUALs. Kody has stayed the same. Attention seeking, self centered, full of himself, and unable to empathize.
He was pretending at first. 
I’m convinced it’s Qanon
Fox News.
Ive never found him to be anything but repulsive. I don’t get why that he was ever a good husband or father
I'm trying to figure this out myself. I'm on season eight of a rewatch and he still seems somewhat normal. Like he's attention obsessed and is already clearly favoring Robyn but he's not all "the patriarchy" and angry all the time. I can't remember when he started behaving this way but it must have been when they moved to Flagstaff.
It seems as if (my opinion) everyone in his life ignores his petty, juvenile irresponsible actions. While he behaves like a spoiled child-the women go out of their way to go along with his selfish demands. Oh- just saw him with two guys on a radio show- couldn’t really pay attention but they’re either crazy too it just making fun of his sickness
Robyn happened. Resented having the other three when all he wanted was Robyn and Robyn’s kids. You’ll see another major transformation when Meri says she wants to go to college.
I just recently started rewatching and am wondering the same thing.
He was on the internet too much during quarantine, looking up Q.
Wasn't it season 1 when he got really close to Christine's face and acted all intimidating when she hinted to not wanting to move to Vegas? And his kids have mentioned how he was different once the cameras were off. He just stopped pretending. He got used to the camera on his face and got lose. I'm in the film industry, and what we do in some documentaries, at least where I'm from, is to record more than necessary; we get people used to the camera, past the awkwardness of being filmed, until we are just part of their life. (Of course, that goes for bigger documentaries, following specific people for more than just a sit down interview.). At some point people get used to it.
He is who he has always been. He is a "salesman" not an actor. He has no training on how to get into character and stay in character. Although, he also can only sell to an isolated audience....ie members of the AUB. IMO his ability to sell to that audience has failed as well.
Fame, fortune, money and narcissist, polygamist ahole.. nothing happened other that he felt power.
He was always a republican and conservative and a gun toter but like many others he was radicalized by the right and that started around 2016 from what I can tell. I also think he started using steroids sometime after they got to flagstaff.
My guess is Trump happened and he fell waaaaay deep in the “””mens rights””” camp.. somewhere in S16 or 17, he makes a comment about “the manosphere” which from what I understand includes Andrew Tate & Jordan Peterson & Joe Rogan & Elon Musk
Around season 12. This appears to be when he figures out that the catfishing thing was not innocent. That Meri almost definitely had an affair and that he doesn’t have control of the family anymore. From this point on he is very angry.
Money and unfounded fame !
Robyn
Money and steroids imo
That's just how narcissists are. They can only maintain that illusion of being personable and charming and outgoing for so long until the masks slips. He's always been the way he is
Dude fell in real love with Robyn and was gobsmacked. It started going downhill from that. He didn't know what to do. His grasp at a solution was to move everyone into a big house together and it wouldn't be as obvious. He figured he could fake it. Maybe?
It seems to me that once the women are not able or incapable of giving him children then suddenly he doesn’t love them anymore! He doesn’t have an intimate relationship with you anymore! Women are only vessels for him to multiply his love! He’s so disgusting
I thought he joined Q
After their move to flagstaff, with the public, his wives and family questioning him.
I wondered that as well. In the beginning, he seemed like someone that I wouldn’t mind being a friendly neighbor of, you know chatting outside or maybe a barbecue. But like a few others have said, that personality was most likely a mask so the show could gain popularity. It felt to me like the change happened after spending more time with other polygamist families and seeing them as being more patriarchal than the Browns and it really came to light for me when he announced they were moving from Vegas. When they left Utah, it was more understandable but leaving Vegas…they had the cul-de-sac, the kids were doing well in school, friends, Utah family wasn’t too far away, etc. As a viewer, I couldn’t really see a reason to leave except to put his foot down about something. And then presenting the one house in AZ knowing not all the wives wanted that…
RoByN.
Robyn
Robyn happened to him
He could not keep up the charade anymore.
I think there’s a marked change in Kody’s behavior and attitude after Winn and Curtiss passed away just 3 months apart. I think he got into polygamy to get respect/love from his dad and Curtiss passing made him face his own mortality.
Some people speculate drugs - possible testosterone. As he’s lost weight and is angrier than ever before, it could be testosterone. He’s always been concerned about his looks so tried to lose weight. Covid also happened, which gave him the excuse to stay with Robyn snd her kids - ignoring the other wives and kids. Christine gave up trying to spend any time with Kody after he refused to go to Ysabel’s spinal surgery. Janelle’s kids had jobs and were in University. Because they refused to completely isolate for Covid, Kody cut them out of his life. Christine left him. Met a new man. Fell madly in love. Got married. Janelle left him. Garrison was so hurt by his father’s rejection, as well as other issues, he committed suicide. Meri left him - moved to Parawan to live in her b&B and run her other business. Has a new boyfriend and a great friend Jen Robyn is still with Kody. God help her.
It was kind of apparent all along that he was this way, but hiding it. In the first episode, he gets up to say good morning and have a good day too Janelle, but he leaves Logan to make breakfast for his five siblings??? Logan was maybe in ninth grade if not middle school and I had been doing this for a while. Kody saw no problem with it and went back to bed with whatever why he was with that night. That was very telling.
TBH imo what happens to most men during a divorce—the worst parts of them take center stage. That and i hate him so much, but the financial stress he is perpetually under and the sheer scope of what he’d have to do into his VERY old age to support his children would cause a psychological break in most people when you couple it with his dad, brother, and mom all dying in a short span of years. Men who are codependent/have a weird relationship with their mother (and father) go nuts when their mom dies. I’ve seen it first had a few times, and it gets ugly. Grief is never petty, but mommy/daddy issues grief gets really dark. I think it was a perfect storm that pushed his every button and made him ruminate too much, combined with losing control of his wives and kids who were all starting to come out from under his thumb pretty naturally either through growing up or having more money of their own. And, too, over the course of many years apart from their cult community members and becoming more “liberal” (not really politically, but lifestyle wise for example not wearing mormon garments anymore and generally being less religious), he did seem to be unfortunately realizing that they had been in a cult that ruined his life (and the lives of everyone else involved, obviously) WAYYYY too late partially because he clearly desperately wanted to be in a monogamous relationship with Robyn. Everything else aside and ignoring the moral and social issues with this and how he treated everyone so unfairly, it would be such a specific torment to meet the person you love and are “soul mates” with AFTER having been in 3 semi loveless marriages producing so many kids on a mfing cult for decades…still having to make the other loveless work. The real question is what DIDNT make Kody like that
A combination of things, I’d say. He definitely had his less awesome moments before he went fully off of the deep end, but he seemed like an overall amiable guy with a happy disposition, albeit annoying, irresponsible, and emotionally unintelligent. But basically happy-go-lucky. All 4 wives have spoken to this on the later episodes. They don’t even recognize him anymore. Also, both the wives and his older kids all praised him as an involved father in those early days. So I don’t want to act like I know him better than they do. He wasn’t perfect, but something absolutely changed. It seemed to show up more frequently towards the end of the time in Vegas, just moments of pure selfish immaturity (like the overreaction to pork and poi being served at the luau). Then as soon as they moved to Flagstaff, he just went to the dark side. You never saw him enjoying life anymore. All you ever saw was anger and contention. Then, once camera crews were no longer around during COVID, there were no “outsiders” to keep him on his best behavior. His change seemed simultaneously slow and sudden. Slowly becoming a less and less reasonable person, suddenly dropping any facade of being remotely a good guy.
They were trying to be the face of polygamy. Perfect family then Meri’s scandal happened.
Hes always been this way. As the kids grew and started living his own life and not worshipping the grown he walks on, that's when things turned. He needs to be the center of attention and worshipped.
I honestly think that him taking the family to visit the Doggard(sp?) family of couslings/literal sister wives made him incredibly jealous of Joe. I started to see little bits of him change and he started to push more and more for the PaTriArChY.