Mykelti Brown Talks About How Her Dad Kody’s Love For His Kids Changed As They Got Older: “It Was Conditional”
Mykelti Brown says her father Kody Brown made her and her siblings “earn” his love once they grew up.
During a Q&A session on Patreon with her mom Christine and stepdad David Wooley on Wednesday, the Sister Wives star spoke about the changes she and many of her brothers and sisters experienced as they aged when it came to receiving their father’s love. Mykelti— who, like most of her adult siblings, is estranged from Kody— told her mom and David that Kody made his kids “earn” his love once they got older.
“I think it was just, like, he just loved us [as kids]. But then when we got older, it started to be like, ‘My love is conditional,’” Mykelti said of her dad. “The older we got, it was conditional up to how much we respect him and were willing to fork over what we want, for him.”
Christine added that Kody allegedly wanted his kids “to perform” for him, meaning do what he wanted them to do (on- and off-camera, we can assume.)
“You have to earn love?!” David asked incredulously, to which Mykelti responded, “Right?! Interesting, huh?”
“My kids, I love them. [They] don’t have to earn [my] love. I love them,” David said, later adding that Kody should appreciate the fact that he was able to have kids at all, and not make them earn his love.
During the Q&A session, Mykelti also revealed that Kody told her when she was a teenager that she’d have to “earn” the privilege of getting a Claddagh ring from him. (As ‘Sister Wives’ fans are aware, Kody and his wives all wore Claddagh rings, and Kody would give his daughters a Claddagh ring when they became teenagers.)
Christine seemed surprised when Mykelti revealed that Kody never bought her a Claddagh ring, despite Christine saying she “fought for” him to do so. Mykelti stated that she did get a ring— but only because she purchased one for herself.
“I was told you got yours!” a shocked Christine told Mykelti. “Robyn told me that dad bought you a ring!”
Mykelti stated that never happened, and that Kody kept telling her “no, no, no, no” when she would ask if she could get her Claddagh ring.
“[Dad would tell me], ‘You have to wait, you have to behave and you have to earn it,’” she said, adding that she finally just bought herself a ring on Craigslist.
This is not the first time members of Kody’s family have publicly discussed how differently he treats his children once they’re grown. Last year, Mykelti opened up about how the fame from her family’s TLC series had “morphed” her father into a different person than the man who helped raise her.
“I think the show changed him a lot, because he wasn’t like this. He was a lot more like, ‘I understand, I did wrong. I would like to do better.’ That was my dad,” Mykelti said at the time. “The show’s morphed him.”
“It’s just hard to see that Kody Brown [now], because I don’t recognize that Kody Brown,” Mykelti said at the time. “That is not the Kody Brown I was raised with. That Kody Brown is ‘Kody Brown from Sister Wives.’ That is not Kody Brown, my dad. It’s hard to see him have those conversations and those fights and those arguments because I don’t understand…”
Last month, Kody’s ex-wife Meri stated that she feels Kody did a much-better job with his kids when they were young.
“There are things that I think he did better in his younger years than he does now…Parenting is a big one,” she said. “The way that he parents breaks my heart. It really does…He’s got children who need him and want to have a relationship with him and he’s not putting in the effort. I don’t see [it]. I can’t say he’s not, but I don’t see effort being put in where some of his kids really need it.”
