The majority of the episode featured Kody and Christine having a conversation about the end of their marriage, which Christine blamed on Kody previously telling her he didn’t want an “intimate” marriage with her.
In the middle of the conversation, Kody disagreed with Christine about their lack of intimacy, saying that it exists in their marriage when Christine acts a certain way.
“You and I have intimacy and love in the relationship,” he said. “I’m sorry it’s conditional based upon being part of a plural family.”
“A couple times a year doesn’t work for a marriage,” Christine responded to her then-husband. Kody sighed and said he felt like Christine was making an accusation against him.
“You’re not interested in an intimate marriage with me. I was,” Christine said.
“I’m not interested in an intimate marriage with you anymore,” she continued. “Even if you said at this point we could have intimacy again, I wouldn’t believe it for a second.”
Kody shot back at Christine with an accusation about her commitment to plural marriage: “Even if you said you liked plural marriage and would be devoted to it, I wouldn’t believe that for a second.”
Christine and Kody married in 1994 and have six children together: son Paedon, 24, and daughters Aspyn, 27, Mykelti, 26, Gwendlyn, 20, Ysabel, 19, and Truely, 12. Christine, who was raised in polygamy, has said on “Sister Wives” in the past that she very much wanted to live in a plural marriage and specifically to be a third wife.
But she’s admitted on the show that she struggled with jealously when Kody married his fourth wife, Robyn, in 2010. On an episode of the show that was filmed in 2020, she said Kody had “apparent” favorite children, which was negatively impacting his relationships with some of their own daughters.
At the time that episode was filmed, Kody was spending a lot of time with Robyn and her kids at their home because they were following strict COVID-19 rules that Kody put in place so he could visit each wife’s house.
Christine expressed her frustration with the fact that Kody based their intimacy on how she treated her sister wives in Sunday’s episode.
“You are an asshole to think that my value as a human being is contingent upon how I’m treating other people and you don’t find me attractive,” she said in a solo confessional interview, addressing Kody. Christine added that she thought Kody had “a favorite wife” and that he believed Christine wasn’t “treating her well enough.”
“So, there’s nothing I can do. I mean honestly, what he’s asking from me is ridiculous,” she concluded.
Christine and Kody announced via Instagram in November that they were splitting up after more than 25 years of spiritual marriage.
New episodes of “Sister Wives” season 17 air Sundays at 10 p.m. on TLC.