Sister Wives: Paedon & Kody Can’t Stand Each Other (How Did It Get So Bad?)

Sister Wives star Kody Brown and his son, Paedon Brown, haven’t been on good terms in a long time, and here’s how the father-son relationship went south. 25-year-old Paedon is Kody’s son with his third wife, Christine Brown, and the two men haven’t seen eye to eye for a long time. Paedon was only 11 years old when the long-running series premiered in 2010, and he has grown up in the public eye. During the show’s first season, Kody married his fourth wife, Robyn Brown, and incorporated her three children from a previous marriage into the family.

Robyn’s addition to the family changed the family dynamic and is often pinpointed as the trigger that eventually led to the dissolution of the Brown clan. By the time Sister Wives season 18 drew to a close, three of Kody’s four wives had left him, and he found himself in an accidentally monogamous relationship with Robyn. During the multiple divorces, Kody struggled in his relationships with some of his older children, many of whom sided with their respective mothers. However, there’s more about the current status of Kody and Paedon’s long-time family feud.

Paedon Had Christine’s Back

He Sided With His Mother

Of Kody’s three wives, it was Christine who felt most threatened by the addition of Robyn into the family. The Sister Wives star has always been a romantic, and felt openly jealous of the fact that Kody seemed to favor Robyn over all his other wives. As Christine’s devoted son, it was no surprise that Paedon took Christine’s side in the conflict between Christine and Kody. Paedon had always enjoyed a close, loving relationship with his mother, while he became estranged from his father.

When the Brown family was growing, Kody and Christine’s sister wives, Meri Brown and Janelle Brown, were often working, so it was Christine who was tasked with the lion’s share of child care. Most of the Brown children grew up seeing Christine as a warm, loving mother figure, especially her own children, so it’s understandable that they’d feel protective of her.

Paedon & Kody Feuded Over Covid-19 Avoidance Rules

A House Divided

When Sister Wives premiered in 2010, the Browns all lived under the same roof. Kody had purchased the Utah home from a fellow polygamist, and the house was designed to accommodate a plural family. At the time, Kody had three wives, each of whom had her own wing of the house where she raised her biological children. Kody would go back and forth between them. During the first season of the series, the Browns left Utah in a panic, and moved into four separate homes.

Already separated physically, the family division grew deeper during the COVID-19 pandemic when Kody and Robyn’s strict viral mitigation rules separated the family even further. It was this final family friction that gave Christine the confidence to leave Kody for good. It wasn’t long before Janelle and Meri followed her out the door, taking their children with them, and leaving Kody, Robyn, and their children behind.

Paedon Had A Weird Dynamic With Robyn

He Didn’t Get Along With Her Children Either

One of the biggest issues between Kody and Paedon is the fact that Paedon doesn’t get along with Kody’s favorite wife, Robyn. And a big part of the reason for the trouble between Paedon and Robyn was Paedon’s relationship with Robyn’s children. When Robyn joined the cast of Sister Wives season 1, she was a divorced single mother of three, and she and Kody eventually had two children of their own, bringing their total to five children. Adding that many children to any family would be a major change, as that family already had 13 children.

Paedon told The Sun in a 2022 interview that he had been “rude” to Robyn’s kids growing up because he watched his father “doing things with them that he didn’t do with me.” This jealousy about Kody’s relationship with Robyn’s children wasn’t unique to Paedon, as several of Kody’s older children felt a lot of resentment towards their father for the perceived neglect. With Sister Wives season 19 on the horizon, Kody has yet to make amends with several of his adult children.

Paedon really struggled to get along with Robyn’s 20-year-old daughter, Breanna Brown. Breanna was only 11 years old when her mother married Kody, and they all joined the cast of Sister Wives. Breanna is Robyn’s daughter with her ex-husband, David Jessop, but Kody adopted her and her siblings in 2014. Since adoption is a smoother process when the child is adopted by a married couple, Kody divorced his first wife, Meri, so he could marry Robyn, adding to the family tension. During Paedon’s interview with The Sun, he discussed his current relationship with Robyn’s kids.

“My relationships with Dayton and Aurora are now great. My relationship with Breanna is not good at all, but that’s because she is several years younger than me.”

Are Paedon & Kody Still Estranged?

The Family Feud Continues

In March 2023, the Sister Wives universe was turned upside down by the tragic death of 25-year-old Garrison Brown. Garrison was Kody’s son with his second wife, Janelle, and, like Paedon, Garrison had also been feuding with his father at the time of his death. When news of the death broke, there was some speculation that Kody would have learned his lesson, and would work to make amends with his older children, but the hope was misplaced. At this point, there is no indication that Kody’s relationship with Paedon has improved.