Maddie Brown, daughter of Sister Wives stars Kody and Janelle Brown, took to her recently launched podcast this week to discuss her ongoing estrangement from her father, while also hinting at the abuse allegations she made in 2019 against Kody’s first (and now ex) wife, Meri Brown.
As fans of ‘Sister Wives’ know, Maddie– like many of her siblings– is currently estranged from Kody and has been for a number of years. While Maddie has made few appearances on the current season of the Brown family’s TLC show, her particular relationship with Kody has been discussed more than once in Season 19, with Kody even blaming Maddie in one episode for “spreading gossip” about him to the rest of their family.
While Maddie went on to respond to her father’s comments last month by seemingly calling Kody a “snake” in an Instagram Story, she was more forthright about the topic on this week’s episode of her podcast, The Authentic Society, on which she discussed boundaries and toxic relationships and revealed why she no longer speaks to certain members of her family– including Kody.
“I have no contact with some of my family and it’s because of stuff that has happened,” Maddie said. “[My dad] doesn’t have any respect for boundaries, and you have to play by his rules and I just don’t care to do that.”
Maddie went on to accuse her dad of becoming “very angry” whenever she would try to talk to him about issues going on between them in the past, claiming Kody’s reaction “was one of the reasons” she went no contact with him.
“There was a lot of anger and he’d be like, ‘That’s not true!’ and I’m like, ‘It is true, I know firsthand,’” Maddie claimed. “I always get messages from people who are like, ‘You should just forgive your dad and respect him,’ and I’m like, ‘I don’t think you know what you’re talking about because your experience with your dad could be very different than my experience with my dad.’
“Some people just don’t deserve to be in your life,” Maddie added.
Maddie explained that, to her, setting a boundary lets other people know how you expect to be treated, adding that she will not tolerate those who don’t respect said boundaries.
“ … If you manipulate me, gaslight me, or you lie to me, I will not tolerate that,” she said.
During the episode, Maddie also spoke about boundaries she’s set with other people in her life– including friends and family– while admitting that she previously struggled to do this due to her growing up “in such a fight or flight mode.” This week’s podcast episode also included a conversation about toxic relationships, with Maddie admitting to her co-host that she’s “still learning” how to identify when something is toxic.
“I think I’m quick to be like, ‘That’s a red flag,’ but I think it’s because … I see personality traits of people that I have [been around],” she said. “So, because of the way that I grew up, I feel like my parents exposed us to a lot of people that we shouldn’t have been exposed to. And not that there was anything twisted going on, but they were just not good people.
“They were exploitive to my parents, as well as the family,” she added. “And then there’s also the whole dynamic of my parents.”
The discussion of toxic relationships led Maddie to provide an example of an instance when an adult in her life– in this case, Meri– tried to “punish” her, despite Maddie being an adult at the time.
“I remember I had a conversation with Meri, one of my parents, and she was like, ‘Don’t worry, you’re not in trouble.’ And I was like, ‘I am an adult, A. B, I’m married. C, I have children. I don’t get in trouble,’” Maddie recalled. “What are you gonna do, spank me and put me in my room?”
Maddie went on to compare the situation to circus animals being beaten as a way to prevent them from retaliating against their handlers once they are full grown.
“ … They used to beat the baby elephant so that when it was big and large and big enough to hurt somebody, it was scared,” she said. “Isn’t that so sad? But you see that a lot in toxic families and toxic relationships.”
This isn’t the first time Maddie has spoken out about Meri’s alleged abuse. Several years ago, she tweeted about growing up with an “abusive human” whom she called “a monster.” Maddie’s brother Paedon Brown (son of Kody and Christine Brown) later confirmed that Maddie’s tweets were about Meri.
Meanwhile, Mykelti Brown (daughter of Kody and Christine) spoke out in January 2023 about the abuse she allegedly suffered at the hands of Meri, telling fans on her Patreon that she believed she “got the brunt” of Meri’s alleged abuse.
“My siblings have told me multiple times that they think that I did receive the worst that she gave,” Mykelti said last year. “However, I think that we were all affected by her.”
(Both Paedon and Gwendlyn Brown, daughter of Kody and Christine, later confirmed the claims about Meri putting her hands on Mykelti.)
Maddie stated on her podcast this week that it wasn’t until she got older that she began to realize the things she experienced in her family as a child weren’t “normal.”
“ … When you become an adult and you start telling people about your experience … I’ll tell [my husband] Caleb [Brush], poor Caleb, when he came into the family, I’d tell him stories and he’d be like, ’That’s not normal,’” Maddie said. “And I think that’s when I first started to be like, wait a second, this dynamic isn’t so normal.”
RELATED STORY: ‘Sister Wives’ Stars Kody & Christine Brown Reveal How They Felt About Their Daughter Gwendlyn Marrying a Woman
(Photos: TLC; Instagram; X)
4 Responses
I feel badly for this family. When teenagers get married you know you’re waiting for the card to crash & we need life saving tools for the parents to learn that the kids you brought into this world as well as those your are a guardian for need real life parenting skills. 1st 17 yr olds do not have communication skills nor parenting skills naturally. This was made worse b/c the polygamous groups are considered to follow harsher rules than God meant anyone to follow. Why? The organization wanted to keep a set of rules they would follow & ice tithes to keep their church going. So Family therapy is a good start but by the time the parents recognized their ideal was broken the older kids were disgusted & committed to living their own lives by their rules. Maddie is still young but I’m glad she recognizes what values to bring to her home for marriage & raising her kids. Ii grew up abused s/no siblings. I was too afraid to tell that my well known Mm. acted insane when punishing me by torturing me. We had $’s but no love th as t was ‘real appropriate love.’ My life was hell & friends just didn’t understand except those going there own prblms. Meri was likely raised that adults are authoritarians who use the strap, wooden spoon or strap to punish kids every time they disobey. That thinking came from the Bible where in the book of Proverbs it says ” …0arentz spare not the rid when disciplining the child so they learn to difference between right & wrong. ” But ppl forget tge admonishment to families ” parents do not provoke your children or they will grow up to despise you.” So Maddie is correct but always bear in mind your parents themselves had not matured into adulthood in healthy communicative marriages prior to giving birth like it was a competition. I remember Kody being super spiritual trying to get the polygamous teaching correct so he could be a better husband & parent. Kristine was always jealous when he wasn’t w/her . Meri was lost & lonely. He was not a nice man to her mentally. He should have divorced her or gone for serious counseling instead of allowing her to hope. She gave her young adult yes to him, her daughter & everyone’s kids. The little ones always enjoyed her including the newest members( Robyn’s family). So it would be terribly unhealthy for everyone go to live their lives like they are now. Everyone maybe one family @ a time should go to a Family counselor & set their boundaries & use assertive conversations instead of all the blaming. I’m living proof that it helps as my Mom hated my hubby & experts said she had borderline personality disorder. I forgave the sickness in her & she committed her life to learning about a personal relationship w/Chrisf. And wound up making my hubby hr best friend for her final 15 yrs of her life. I hope they read this & choose a better way by setting pride aside. I still don’t understand what Kristine’s purpose is for the lawsuit w/Kody for Truely. Sometimes she looks addicted to hating Kody & other times she looks like she still wants his attention. I never like adults involving kids into their parents’ relationship issues. Those are sacred. Just heal Brian’s. Robyn leave Kody if he doesn’t make efforts to understand how to love his lovely family w/grandbabies much better than he has. He’d be surprised how eager ppl are to forgive & heal ! 🙏🏻🙏🏻💖
Good for her for speaking out! And I completely believe the claims from the kids that Meri was abusive.
I always look at Meri’s portion of the show in confusion like, why is she so lonely? Even on her birthday, she’s hanging out with a friend (employee) or on holidays, she’s just alone in her big house. I’m like, they are SO many people in your family and not one of them (including your own child) wants to hang with you? So yes, I absolutely believe the abuse claims.