Sister Wives’ Christine and Janelle Hope Ex Kody Mends His Relationships with Their Kids: ‘There’s Such a Burnt Bridge’

Janelle Brown and Christine Brown Woolley may be done with ex Kody Brown, but they don’t want their kids to be.

In a new interview with Extra ahead of Sister Wives’ 19th season, the stars admitted they wish Kody — who is father to a combined 18 children with Janelle, Christine, ex-wife Meri Brown and his current wife Robyn Brown — would remedy the “burnt bridge” that stand between him and his kids.

Despite their marriages with Kody being long over, both women “wish him well,” they said in the interview published Friday, Oct. 11. Kody and Christine announced their split in 2021 while he and Janelle confirmed their separation in 2022.

Christine, who is now married to David Woolley, told the outlet, “I wish he had a relationship with his kids.” She continued, “I’m heartbroken for him because his kids are some of the best people that I know. His children are phenomenal people, and I love having them in my life.”

The children, Janelle added, are “the glue” of the family. “I feel like we’re sort of in orbit around these kids,” she said.

Pushing back, Christine — who was “spiritually married” to Kody for 25 years — said she and Janelle are the true “glue” of the group. “I think it’s us. You and I are the glue because we decided to still be ‘Sister Wives’ afterwards,” she said, referring to their respective breakups with Kody.

Janelle, meanwhile, remained convinced it’s the children.

“Maybe,” she told Christine. “Come on, the kids, they have this secret text message thread that Christine and I are not part of. It’s the ride-or-die text … They all talk, we don’t know what’s always going on.”

No matter who the true “glue” of the Sister Wives cast is, Christine told Extra she wished Kody would speak with his children more often, revealing that she told her children, “ ’Look, when your dad calls, you need to pick it up and you need to talk to him because he’s a person and he is your dad. You’ve got to respect that.’ ”

But the responsibility to make the call falls mainly on Kody, Janelle added. “There’s such a burnt bridge,” she told the outlet. “I think it could be reconciled but it would take a lot of work, and I really feel like the burden of that work sits with Kody.”

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Christine and Kody share six children: daughters Aspyn, 28, Mykelti, 27, Gwendlyn, 22, Ysabel, 20, Truely, 13, and son Paedon, 25.

Janelle also welcomed six kids with Kody: daughters Madison, 27, Savanah, 19, and sons Logan, 29, Hunter, 27, Gabriel, 22, and Garrison, who died by an apparent suicide in March 2024 at age 25.

The last time she saw Kody, Janelle told Extra, was following Garrison’s death, adding that given the circumstances, “Of course I was interacting with Kody more.”

As for how the family is doing following Garrison’s death, Janelle said that “everybody is in a pretty good space.”

“I feel like it actually brought us closer. We’re really checking in on each other like for real now,” she said. “We ask about mental health now and we wait for the real answer. We don’t necessarily brush it off.”