How Janelle Brown Addressed Kody's Accusation That He Felt Objectified By Her
Even though Kody and Janelle Brown ended their marriage for good, they continue to engage in ongoing disagreements and can't seem to find common ground. In the "Sister Wives: One on One" special for Season 18 that aired in November 2023, Kody admitted to feeling objectified by Janelle because she was, from his perspective, only interested in his body.
In January 2023, during the Season 17 tell-all special, where the former couple announced their split, Janelle shared she had no regrets about calling it quits with Kody. "I'm happy, really happy," she said, explaining that she had reached a point in their relationship where she no longer cared. On the contrary, Kody said he felt disrespected but notably didn't mention being objectified at any point. "Love doesn't matter to me. Respect matters to me," he emphasized at the time.
Interestingly, Kody's pursuit of respect seems contradictory, considering his actions shown in the TLC series. From pushing Janelle to purchase a property she couldn't afford to making her choose between him and their children, Kody appears to have forgotten that he was the one who drove Janelle away years before they officially split.
Kody said he felt like 'a piece of meat' to Janelle
After Janelle Brown openly admitted she would prefer to stay separated from Kody Brown in a September 2023 episode of "Sister Wives," the patriarch flipped the script on her and accused Janelle of objectifying him. In a candid moment with TLC's cameras following their meetup, Kody said, "Janelle's not in love with me. I think she thinks I'm hot. I've got nice pecs and great six-pack abs, but that's all she's interested in." Janelle denied being superficial in her own confessional and stressed that she wanted a deeper emotional connection in a relationship.
When revisiting the situation with the special's host Sukanya Krishnan in November 2023, Janelle couldn't keep a straight face. "Could you believe that?" she asked Krishnan after watching Kody's confessional, bursting into laughter. The former sister wife shared that while her marriage to Kody was stable, the emotional part of their union she sought was lacking.
When Kody had his turn with Krishnan, he continued his narrative. "Janelle has always seen me as a physical specimen and as a resource, and [she never] really dove into my humanity," he said dramatically. Yet, it seems that Kody is once again fixating on pinpointing flaws in others instead of acknowledging his own part in the breakdown of his marriage with Janelle.
Kody might be lashing out because Janelle doesn't want to reconcile
Later in the special episode, according to TooFab, Sukanya Krishnan delved into the topic of Kody and Janelle's sexual chemistry, leading to a contradiction in Kody's desired perception of Janelle. Despite Kody's earlier attempt to portray Janelle as cunning, Janelle told Krishnan, "I'm not someone who goes around blabbing about [my sex life]. That's not me."
While Kody was the one who opened Pandora's box of their intimate moments, he omitted details about his own shallowness. In the aforementioned Season 18 episode that aired in September 2023, as per People, Janelle exposed Kody's levity when she told the cameras, "He's been telling me for years that he wasn't attracted to Christine [Brown]."
Still, despite everything that went down between them, Kody was ready to work things out with Janelle. During a Season 17 episode from November 2022, as per Today, Kody shared, "I'm begging Janelle for a closer relationship. It feels like she's rejecting that and just choosing to have one with Christine."
Despite Kody's perceived efforts, Janelle made it clear she wasn't interested in reconciling, and the patriarch openly continues to blame Christine for it. "Christine has so much influence over Janelle; I just think it's pathetic," he said to TLC's cameras almost a year later, as reported by People. Despite obviously not being fond of the bond between his former sister wives, it's highly unlikely Kody will win Janelle back with that kind of attitude.