Christine Brownknows exactly what she wants from a romantic relationship.
During Sunday’s episode ofSister Wives, all four wives and husbandKody Brownsat down for one-on-one interviews with host Sukanya Krishnan. At one point, Christine — whoannounced her separationfrom Kody, 52, last November — was asked whether the shift in Kody’s relationship withMeri Brownfueled her decision to leave the polygamous arrangement.
“My heart breaks when I think about their marriage,” said Christine, 49. “I don’t want that and I don’t want to be in a loveless ‘marriage.’ I have no intention in living like that. And if that’s what my future looks like, I’m not going to live that way.”
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Christine also said she didn’t know how Meri was okay with taking physical romance off the table. “I guess she’s more fine with it than I am,” she added.
Elsewhere in the episode, Christine candidly addressed her “internal” feelings regarding how she believed the family once perceived her.
“I just felt like before I would go to any family gatherings or anything, I just really hesitated,” she said. “I’m like, ‘Does anyone really like me?’ Because we wouldn’t reach out to each other, but I wouldn’t reach out either.”
Recalling the “rough time” she had been having with Kody, she explained how it was “really hard” to be around him and his other wives.
“It’s really hard to be in a room with everybody and watch him be incredible in other relationships and know that your own is terrible and wonder, ‘Well, what am I supposed to do?’ What am I supposed to do in a room where I feel I really don’t matter?” she added. “So I would go in there shielded too and worried about, just seeing Kody with his wives. It was really hard.”
Though Christine’s dynamic with Kody was a topic of discussion in Sunday’s episode, it was his fractured bond with Meri, 51, that took center stage.
Meri Brown, Kody Brown and Christine Brown.Ethan Miller/Getty Images
Meri is Kody’s first wife and they have been married since 1990. The longtime pair faced a major strain on their relationship in 2015 when she was catfished, which occurred after she entered into an online relationship with a female admirer she believed to be a man.
Kody said there had been a “hardness” in his marriage to Meri for years but the catfish incident “woke me up out of the daze.” He also called his pairing with Meri a “bad match.”
“There’s a point where intimacy is just damaged. It’s misleading to have intimacy in a relationship where there is no real safety. I’m not going there,” he said.
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“I will be her friend, I will do what I can to protect her,” he continued. “I will build a house for her out on Coyote pass, but I’m never going to feel safe in an intimate place.”
But Meri said she’s still emotionally invested in the marriage because of her “love” for Kody. She also has “hope” that Kody will want to resume the intimate part of the marriage down the road, though they haven’t been physical with one another in a decade.
“If he never does, then I’m going to create my own peace and happiness within the family relationships that I do have,” she said. “This is my family. Like, I don’t understand people who think, ‘Well, just because you don’t have this relationship with Kody, why don’t you just leave?’ Because I don’t want to.”
Sister Wivesairs Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on TLC.
source: people.com
