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It’s been an ongoing theme and/or topic of discussion for awhile now:
Kody Brown is a bad father.
We’re not just making a subjective statement here. Kody himself recently came out and admitted as much.
On the November 9 episode of Sister Wives, however, viewers learned the extent to which Kody has lost contact with at least one of his kids.
At one point on this installment, Janelle Brown was asked if Kody was even aware their eodest daughter was due to give birth.
“No, Maddie doesn’t really even tell him that she’s pregnant,” Janelle replied.
To be clear, this episode was filmed many months ago. To also be clear and to emphasize the point above: Kody’s own daughter did not tell her father that she was expecting a child.
“He’ll find out,” Kody’s second wife added, noting there was no reason to keep him in the loop about becoming a grandfather again because, when it comes to Kody and Madison?
“They haven’t spoken for a long time. It’s probably been two or three years.”
Crazy, right? And extremely sad.
Also, however, not really surprising.
About seven months after Maddie welcomed her fourth child with husband Caleb Brush in March (very young Emilia joined older brother Axel, 8, and sisters Evie, 6, and Josephine, 2), the reality star delivered a scathing rebuke of her infamous dad.
Sharing an inspirational quote to her Instagram Stories about carefully deciding what is “worth your energy” last month, the mom of four explained how she was able to reach that point.
As she wrote in a DM to one follower looking for advice:
“Your dad saying lies about you for the entire world to hear teaches it to you REAL QUICK.”
Elsewhere, on the Sister Wives Season 20 premiere, Madison broke down in tears over her lack of any relationship with her father.
“I might have to step out,” Brush said at one point in a confessional alongside husband Caleb Brush during the September 28 episode, adding of where things have gone wrong between her and Kody:
“You want your dad to show up. You want reconciliation. I know I played a part and I’m angry because I’m still trying to learn to not be disappointed.”
Last November, Maddie explained that her decision to have no contact with this parent stemmed from his insistence on calling all the shots in their relationship.
“He doesn’t have any respect for boundaries,” she said on a 2024 episode of her The Authentic Society podcast. “And you have to play by his rules, and I just don’t care to do that.”
Referring to herself as “a straight shooter,” Maddie went on to say her father would get upset by her honesty, likely because it can’t handle any kind of self-reflection.
“You ask me a question, I’m going to tell you what I think,” she said back then.
“And he would get very angry when I would be like, ‘I don’t know why you’re surprised here.’ And so that was one of the reasons that I went no contact because it was like, he didn’t like a mirror being held up.”
Maybe, though? Possibly? Kody is starting to see a little bit of light?
“I should have had a stronger relationship with my children,” he said on the November 6 episode of Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test, adding:
“My failures were because I didn’t know about being a good dad and husband, and I thought I did. I really thought I did, and I misunderstood that. I did it wrong in so many ways, and I hated being blamed for it, and so it made me resistant to ownership.”
If Kody stops putting the burden on his sons and daughters to mend their connection to him, who knows. Maybe there’s hope for this family after all.
Madison Brush: I Haven’t Spoken to Dad Kody in YEARS! was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.