‘Sister Wives’: Kody Brown’s Bad Decisions Were His Family’s Downfall

Historically, Sister Wives star Kody Brown made one wrong decision after another while heading up his polygamist clan. From adding a fourth wife to relocating twice to purchasing a property that would cost millions to build upon, Kody appeared to act first and ask questions later. This led to the downfall of his family.

Kody Brown added a fourth wife to his polygamist clan

Adding Robyn Brown to his family was the biggest mistake Kody Brown could have ever made. Robyn brought an enormous debt to the struggling Brown family, amounting to $32K. The family was still treading water financially when TLC signed them. Adding more mouths to feed, added with Robyn’s debt, strained their finances to their breaking point.

Kody spent more time with Robyn, who catered to his needs. He neglected Meri, Janelle, and Christine Brown and their shared children.

Robyn professed to want sister wives, but acted like a kid who wouldn’t share their toys. Robyn was also the reason the family moved to Flagstaff, Arizona. She couldn’t let her oldest son, Dayton, move away from home to attend college.

Robyn’s helicopter parenting forced Kody to come up with a story about the money they’d make by selling their Las Vegas homes. Soon enough, the entire family relocated to The Copper State.

Meri, Janelle, and Christine’s kids were uprooted from their schools and the life they built in Vegas to a place where they knew no one and had no support system. This massive shift was all for Robyn, who couldn’t bear to be away from her son.

Kody Brown bought property he never intended to build on

In a second lousy decision, Kody Brown took the assets the family generated from selling their Las Vegas homes and purchased Coyote Pass.  The Coyote Pass lot alone cost $820K. Kody intended to split the property into five parcels for him, his four wives, and their children.

Instead of purchasing four homes with the money, which would have been a solid investment, the Brown family was now stuck with a massive piece of land. Before they could even try adding homes to the property, the Browns likely needed to have a site plan, clear it out, install drainage, grade the site, and install utilities. That was all before homes could even be built on the property.

Kody continued to rent and buy homes with the equity from their Las Vegas properties and neglected the land. However, the one sticking point for many fans was the fact that the family was getting paid by TLC.

Therefore, they likely did have the funds to build. So why didn’t they get moving and get on the still-empty property? Was not building all storyline related?

Some viewers believe that Kody just acts and reacts when a situation doesn’t go his way. This has historically been the bedrock of all of his bad decisions.

‘Sister Wives’ fans weigh in on Kody’s bad decisions

As those most invested in the series, Sister Wives fans had a lot to say regarding Kody Brown’s historically bad choices. They shared their thoughts on Reddit about the Coyote Pass debacle.

“It bugs that they didn’t do any sort of viability test. Check zoning and the ability to get permits, then get a real cost estimate on utilities and the build [at Coyote Pass]. Making these huge financial decisions with a bare-bones plan is idiotic,” wrote one viewer.

“His plan was to entrap them. And by that, I mean financially hold them prisoner. One of them has to buy the other one out to get away,” said a second fan, responding to the fact that Kody’s name was on every piece of property once it was zoned to build.

A third fan shared, “We’ve learned since the show premiered that the things they said about their marriage, relationships, and finances were untrue. And that many of the details were added to make them more wholesome and appealing for TV.”

Finally, a fourth fan exclaimed, “There’s no justifiable reason for the entire family to relocate in the chaotic manner they did. One wife’s child isn’t more important than the others, except they are in Kody’s world.”

Sister Wives is currently on hiatus. Season 19 will air on TLC.