Sister Wives : Christine and Kody Brown's Daughter Truely Says It's a 'Betrayal' to Learn of Their Split Last
Christine Brown and Kody Brown's youngest child, Truely, is opening up about her parents' separation for the first time.
As Sister Wives fans know, the former couple had planned to hold out on telling their 12-year-old daughter about their separation. But other Brown family members — including Kody's children with the other wives — knew about the breakup earlier.
This week's episode of the TLC hit saw Christine sit down for a candid discussion with Truely to see how she was taking the divorce news and how she was processing their upcoming move to Utah.
"So, the first day when I found out, I was extremely upset, but I'm fine now," Truely said. "I just had to realize for a day that not everything was going to change."
Truely then said she "kind of noticed the signs" that her mother wasn't "as happy" in her marriage with Kody, but she "didn't actually know" for sure since Christine tried to hide the issues from her.
"It was a bit of a heartbreak at first, but I'm fine now," she said.
RELATED: Sister Wives Sneak Peek: Christine 'Cannot Respect' Kody for Prioritizing Social Event over Family
Truely revealed that she "reached out" to her sister Aspyn and her grandmother to discuss the matter.
"When I talked to Aspyn and my grandma about the divorce, it was more of me trying to tell them because I didn't really know what else to do," she then said in a confessional. "Although what they did say is reassuring, because they both already knew. But also the realization that everyone knew before me, it did kind of feel like a betrayal."
Resuming the conversation with her mother, Truely told Christine she thought it would be easier knowing that her parents' divorce was already done since the marriage was never legal to begin with. But the preteen said she wished Christine hadn't "[kept] it a secret from me for so long."
Christine Brown/Instagram
Truely's biggest gripe with the matter was learning that she was moving back to Utah soon — something that would keep her apart from the rest of the family in Flagstaff, Arizona.
"They knew before me, I wasn't told we were going to be moving in September, which is only a few months away," she told the cameras. "That realization that she told me last after everybody else that I didn't get to know and we were about to leave, it was kinda hurtful. It did feel like a betrayal that she wouldn't bother to tell me about it and I was going to be affected the most."
RELATED: Christine Brown Leaves Her Sister Wives and Kody in Explosive Midseason Teaser: 'I'm Done with You'
From there, Christine told her youngest child that "the hardest part of all this" was informing her about big life changes to come. Truely understood where her mother was coming from, citing how she's "the youngest" and how it'd be "the hardest break for me."
"At this point though, I'm very grateful that I decided to end it with Kody before any fighting or before any real arguments Truely would have noticed and Truely would have seen," Christine shared in a confessional. "But still, it's hard for her to look back and see that I was sad. That's hard because she's just a kid. That's a lot of the burden on her."
Gabe Ginsberg/FilmMagic Kody Brown and Christine Brown
Kody, 53, eventually weighed in on the matter in a separate confessional. From his standpoint, he felt as if Christine has been "unfair" to him when it came to how they were handling this situation with Truely.
"I do believe she's being very unfair with me and to me, especially in this conversation with Truely, where she's marginalized me so much and our marriage so much that she's kind of leading Truely into blowing it off," he said. "They're blowing me off."
RELATED: Sister Wives' Kody Brown Demands Shared Custody of Daughter Truely, 12, After Split from Christine
Recalling his solo conversation with Truely on the matter, Kody noticed how she "seemed really okay" with it all. But he was "somewhat shocked" that she was "more devastated" by moving than the divorce.
"I wish I could get them to stay," he added. "I don't understand really — and Christine may have told me 10 times. I don't understand why she needs to move."
Toward the end of the episode, Christine and Kody discussed whether or not they should obtain a child custody agreement in the state of Arizona.
"You and I actually have to have a child custody agreement in place or the state takes her, and essentially, becomes the owner of her," Kody said. "Yeah, it's stupid."
Though Christine pointed out how they weren't legally married, Kody said that "doesn't matter."
"In this case, we've go an issue where we have to have a child custody agreement in place and we just say, 50/50 agreement. Then, we just work out the details," he continued, later adding in a confessional how he didn't "trust" Christine.
Christine didn't want to get a lawyer involved, though Kody said she will likely need to hire one to help draft their child custody agreement. He then put his foot down, saying he didn't want to involve the state of Utah in their child custody agreement because the region isn't kind to polygamists.
"I would love it, not getting a lawyer involved," Christine said in a confessional. "But if he's already going there and lawyering up, I'm going to as well. I don't want to though."
Kim Raff Christine Brown
Christine and Kody announced their separation in November 2021 after 25 years together. In addition to Truely, they share son Paedon, 24, and daughters Aspyn, 27, Mykelti, 26, Gwendlyn, 21, and Ysabel, 19.
Kody is still spiritually married to Meri Brown, Janelle Brown and Robyn Brown.
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Sister Wives airs Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on TLC.
