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Robyn Brown- SIster Wives Mini Series
198 Plays10 months ago
Join the Mothers of All Crime as we chit chat about the infamous Sobbin' Robyn. This late comer to the family has risen from Wife #4 all the way up to NUMBER ONE. Robyn is quite literally the last wife standing. However, we ponder whether she has really won anything at all. This wife has become infamous in the sister wives world. We go over the details of premarital sex, COVID 19, divorce, favoritism, adoption and much much more. The age old questions persist- who is really at fault for the downfall of this polygamous family?? Is it the newest, youngest wife? Is it the wanna be patriarchal dictator? OR ultimately is the fame to blame??
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May contain explicit language and unfounded accusations.
Listener discretion is advised.
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Mothers of All Crime'
00:00:21
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the Mothers of All Crime. This is a podcast where we deep dive into mothers involved in infamous crimes and scandals. I'm Monica and this is Crystal.
Who is Robin Sullivan Jessup Brown?
00:00:33
Speaker
So our mother of the week is none other than Robin Sullivan Jessup Brown. Wife number four. The last of the four and the only one standing. The last wife. but to I don't think she's going to be the last wife though. I think she's just the last wife of the OGs.
Is Cody Seeking a New Wife?
00:00:54
Speaker
Ooh, oh my gosh. I would love for Cody to start courting someone. That would be incredible. I would. Yeah. I would love that. Well, rumor has it they have tried and nothing has stuck. So, which I don't blame any of these girls that try to court after you see all of the chaos that has happened thus far and what we've talked about on
00:01:17
Speaker
the other wives episodes, I also wouldn't want to court this man. It's also so hard when you have like the fame element, which I think we could talk about with Robin for sure. But like going forward specifically, like how are you going to find someone who like their intention is not related to the fame at all? Like I feel like one more polygamous woman would probably not want to date anyone in the brown.
Can Fame Find Genuine Love?
00:01:43
Speaker
It's just a lot of attention. it is. And I think that with this point of specifically like Cody and Robin, they are gonna kind of lean on the church. And I have a feeling that, like we mentioned on other episodes, they're not in the church per se, but they're definitely still affiliated to a degree. I think they probably are working through the church and trying to find someone from that angle, rather than
00:02:12
Speaker
just like a random person who's interested in polygamy. Because that angle, like you said, if it was someone random, they're looking for fame, versus if they went through the church, it's probably going to be more a little bit of the arranged side, where the conditioning of your husband as the leader of the family is going to be a lot more embedded into them. Gotcha.
Instagram Fame and Catfishing
00:02:36
Speaker
Gotcha. I guess that does make sense. Like they could probably get like, I don't know if it's matchmakers or what their church does. But I wonder if they, you know, could just hook them up with people who are single in their communities. I'm sure there's some sort of yeah that because I i think it maybe people on like Instagram, and they're just going to be fame seekers. Can you imagine?
00:03:00
Speaker
I mean, I think that would be even better. I would love if they got catfished. I think that would be really incredible. um should Should I DM Cody and just ask to be his new sister wife? Yes, but you have to scrub your social media because they cannot know anything about like how successful and smart you are because they wouldn't like that. We'll make a new page. I'll have a new I'll get to make a whole new page to get some very modest clothing for you as well. I think that's modest. True. Yes, so gonna cover up the boobies. You can't even be showing ankles. I don't want to see wrists. I don't want to see ankles. Nothing.
00:03:37
Speaker
so All right. Well, I'll do some research on
Robin's Evolving Style and Life Changes
00:03:40
Speaker
Robin outfits because, apparently, Robin is his dream girl. so Okay, perfect. I don't have to dress like Robin. so You need like a frilly purple shirt and some clogged shoes and dress pants, even though you don't have a job. I mean, you have a job. Yes. She doesn't. I'm just like like, she dresses very like business casual, like a elderly person. And I mean, that's how I would describe it. Anyway, she used to wear a lot of headbands. But now I feel like in recent seasons, it's just those like curls that need to be brushed out. Yeah, I do feel like the headbands though were very
00:04:21
Speaker
her age at the time, like she was very young for her age, I feel like. And then all of a sudden, she's like, oh, wow, I'm an adult now, I should probably like, do my hair like an adult. In her defense, she is in her 40s, like she's not old. She's not old.
Robin's Polygamous Background and Marriage to David
00:04:40
Speaker
she's not old. I just feel like Cody does this too, where he wears like business clothes to film in. And I don't know if he wears that all the time, but he'll be doing yard work and he's like wearing slacks and a button down shirt and dress shoes. And it's just sort of a weird. I don't know if it's just for the cameras he dresses like that, but I feel like he dresses very formally for someone who doesn't seem to have a traditional workplace environment to go to. Yeah.
00:05:07
Speaker
He's just ready for anything. Ready for any any any meeting. Meetings to go. Yeah, he's ready for a meeting just to just hit him at any point. So let's talk about early Robin, pre-Cody Robin. Pre-Cody Robin. Okay. So Robin was born into a polygamous family um and was raised kind of that, granted they didn't share a house, but she was around that growing up, very similar to some of the other wives. So she was very familiar with how polygamy worked and what she viewed as the benefits of having that type of lifestyle. Yes.
00:05:50
Speaker
Yes, definitely grew up in a very religious environment and but her mom was a second wife to her stepdad. So she saw how polygamous families work, although, yeah, she definitely never lived with her other moms, just her regular mom. And I guess because her dad was, like her mom was the second wife, she wasn't really acknowledged publicly. Right. Because it was still illegal at that time. So there was a lot of fear with if you publicly announced that you were a polygamist, like your father was going to jail, your family was going to be ripped apart. So there was that fear
David Jessup's Privacy vs. Robin's Public Life
00:06:32
Speaker
that we saw early in Sister Wives with the children and then moving and things like that. Nobody really knew until she later announced it, kind of joining the show that she was in a Pearl family.
00:06:46
Speaker
Right. Well, I guess she, she was part of a plural family. And then she married someone who was in that community as well. So I guess it was also a possibility that she could have been in a polygamous marriage at that point. It just didn't work out that way. But I feel like it was probably on the table. Yeah, she was the first wife to David Preston Jessup, right, who was also in the community, like you said, and The Jessup family, for anyone who knows about, like, the fundamentalist Mormons and many of the different, like, LDS sects that practice polygamy, you're gonna hear the word Jessup a lot. It's a big family. And it's interesting, there's not a ton known about their relationship. There's just a lot of, like, rumors and what she kind of alludes to.
00:07:43
Speaker
But very rarely did he ever make any kind of comments about anything. He actually was a pretty private person considering she went on national television. And talked about a smack. Yeah. And I don't know if it was more of like because of his family and the community he was a part of or if it was because he just didn't want to deal with the drama. I don't really know why he never kind of defended himself or if he of some of it was true. So I think it could be a mixture of things. um I definitely think he just didn't want the attention and probably even less so because he was being painted so negatively. I don't think there really would have been an opportunity for him to show his side of the story.
Separation, Divorce, and Church Influences
00:08:31
Speaker
if he had wanted to, it would have still been through Robin's lens, because he's a main character and he's not. its I just don't think, I don't really, I would have probably, if I was a friend of his, I probably would have advised him also to stay out of this as much as possible. Especially if your name's David Jessup, because there's so many other people with that name, even in this community. it's a very common name. So i yeah maybe kind of not everybody knows who he is or what he looks like. And it's because he's kept himself anonymous. And he's, you know, a man in his 40s that's not super interested in social media, maybe. Yeah. And you know, like, he also, you got to think of like, at the beginning of the season, when she started talking about all this kind of stuff, she was still a very liked sister wife. She was
00:09:23
Speaker
there wasn't a lot of issues at that point with the show and fans where she was positive and people were very supportive of what she was saying so it'd be really hard to kind of fight against that image that was created for her yeah i guess that's true she wasn't always like the monster that She is now, like to the audience. Yeah. Anyway, because I feel like now she's pretty much universally hated where it's it wasn't it definitely wasn't always like that. Yeah. And so obviously they were married for a while. She was the first wife, they had three kids together. um And I think that Robin always wanted to live polygamy. And I
Did Pregnancy Pressure Robin's Marriage?
00:10:06
Speaker
don't think David did. And that's why there were no other wives added during their entire marriage.
00:10:14
Speaker
Um, cause they were together for eight years. Yeah. In 1999. And then it's kind of weird too. I don't know if you could find anything out about this, but they were separated in 2007 and they didn't get divorced till 2009. Like a really long time. You know, for divorce cases though, particularly with involving children, it's not because it's when you think about like they're having to divide all the assets, the debts, because it's very clear. There's a lot of documentation. There was a lot of debt that was accrued in that relationship. So when you're fighting who has what, the children visitations, like it takes time, particularly if the church started to get involved. Right. um
00:11:00
Speaker
so i personally don't think that it was necessarily that bizarre to have a divorce last that long um until you look at like the dates on paper. I don't think it was that weird personally. Yeah, I guess so. I guess there was a lot of things to figure out and I wasn't really thinking about the church separation as well. I think there was probably a lot of rules
Purity Culture and Robin's Past
00:11:22
Speaker
that they had to go through um because she said that she had been unsealed from her first husband. So she had to go through various channels. I also wonder if the church kind of forced them to get married because I was just double checking the dates and they got married. Robert and David got married June 1999.
00:11:44
Speaker
And then Dayton was born January 16th, 2000. So, I mean, they're only married for like eight months when he was born. So, and I think she's mentioned before that she was pregnant and had to get married, but I wonder if that's the church or if that's their families or I guess it's the same thing in this community. Yeah, I think it's a bit of both um because sex before marriage is not allowed in that community, which is why so many people do get married really young. And that's how you have sex. That's how you have any kind of like experimentation and you have to get married. And it sounds like when looking at dates and kind of from different conversations that she's talked about, um, there was premarital conversations and collusion and
00:12:39
Speaker
Yeah, she kind of alluded that she took her innocence a little bit more than like she gave it to him. But it depends on how you listen to that conversation when she was talking about it too.
Varying Narratives of Robin's Relationships
00:12:52
Speaker
I think it's very interesting that you say that because I also got that impression when um like I just remember so clearly when she was like stomping on something at like home church explaining to everyone how she gave her purity away to someone who like begged for it and didn't deserve it, which is kind of like a fucked up way to talk about your kid's dad in front of them. but
00:13:18
Speaker
I don't know. she She tells a lot of different versions of this story, but she definitely made it seem like he coerced her into
Cody and Robin's Quick Marriage
00:13:26
Speaker
losing her virginity. Yeah, because I listened to it twice. And the first time I listened to it, it definitely sounded like you she was manipulated and coerced and convinced um or pressured into having sex with him and losing her virginity before they were married. And then the other I listened to it a second time and I'm like, it honestly just kind of sounds like I don't want to see this is where I'm like, if he did do that, this is going to be terrible. And I don't wish this on anyone. But it also kind of sounds like her admitting like I made a mistake and don't follow in my footsteps because I had premarital sex and it ended up not being my one true husband. So you should like not do that.
00:14:14
Speaker
It kind of sounds like she was just like, hey, this happened, don't do it. And then you listen to it again, and it sounds manipulative. Like, it just kind of depends on how you look at it. So I feel like Robin says a lot of things that can be taken in multiple, like she does, she talks out of both sides of her mouth all the time. Because like, in that story, you could think that she's like being so accountable for like, a mistake, quote, quote, that she made. um you could take it that way, or you could see her as a victim in the situation, and she what she definitely didn't want to have premarital sex, but some man manipulated her into doing it. And I feel like the story is interpretable both ways.
The TV Show's Influence on Robin and Cody
00:14:59
Speaker
It feels a bit humble. I mean, people get manipulated into having sex, and
00:15:07
Speaker
That's very unfortunate, but she doesn't explicitly say that also. Yeah, yeah. And this is where like I have such a hard time with like purity culture because they put so much responsibility on the girls. like During her conversation with the teenagers in the Brown family from home church, it was very much like it's your responsibility to control the man's behavior. and how he looks at you. That's why you have to dress modest. That's why you have to protect like the sanctity of marriage. like It's a lot of pressure for young girls and no accountability for the men that are involved in it.
00:15:50
Speaker
like Well, why don't you also control yourself, sir? No. Men are driven wild by lust. And so it's they're not responsible for their actions because you're just so hot showing your ankles and your wrists that they can't i know contain themselves. So like how could a man possibly hold back in a situation like that? I mean, that's that really what they're saying, which is bonkers. And like what a way to speak to your sons that are all there listening to this. like, right them to respect everyone, and to keep their fucking hands to themselves unless it's expressly wanted. Like, it's lack of accountability to your sons is blows my mind. Just such a bad lesson. Yeah.
00:16:41
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. And so, interestingly, obviously, they got divorced, and Robin met Cody a year later, they started their courtship, and got married relatively quickly. But again, very standard, quick kind of thing in that community, they don't typically date very long. So yeah I mean, they complained like it was so long, but I think it was 10 months total that they knew each other. Yeah. Such a long courtship because it was dragged out for the show. It was, absolutely. And unlike all the other wives, Robin had this like elaborate ceremony when they got married, and then went for like a week and a half honeymoon together, which is not what any of the other wives had.
00:17:31
Speaker
The other wives had shitty road trips where they ate gas station food. And Robin had a 11 day vacation to San Diego. Like that's not comparable. And it's, I would be so mad if I was one of the other wives.
Is Robin Cody's Favorite Wife?
00:17:50
Speaker
thinking about how. But then hold on. look We got to remember though, at this point there, the show was funding a lot of this. Yeah. And that's where I think it's really hard. Right. Because you're right, the wives should be pissed. But at the other times, like they were also multiple wives, very, very young, didn't have money, or by the third time there was already kids, like
00:18:16
Speaker
they didn't have the money to spend on that. And the poor wives were very hush hush. It was still secret. Yeah, the show was like promoting this whole thing. So of course, Robin was gonna be insane. It's just so tough because the show and Robin happened at the same time. So it just feels like they're the same thing almost. Yes. And it's so hard to know what parts are just favoritism being shown to Robin and what parts are just parts of the show and parts of having like an influx of money that they didn't have before. I think the show definitely started the whole favoritism thing, because yeah don't get me wrong, I think as time went on, it became very clear that Robin was Cody's favorite. um But I think the show kind of
00:19:06
Speaker
promoted that at the beginning where I feel like Cody made a more of an effort at the beginning to maintain things to be equal.
Legal Adoption and Family Dynamics
00:19:16
Speaker
And the show definitely pushed the Robin angle and then he finally just gave in and was like, yeah, you're right. And then it just became so drastic. Cause I was thinking you meant like Robin favors Cody. be I mean, Cody favors Robin because he associates her with fame and money. But you're saying that, like, the show itself was playing up how much Cody liked Robin, so it kind of forced that dynamic even more. Yeah. Wow. That could be.
00:19:55
Speaker
Because, come on, reality TV, they're gonna do whatever they can to stir the pot, even if there isn't anything yet. And at this time, it just happened to be something already there. And not for nothing. Robin always made went out of her way to make Cody look good on TV, and the other wives didn't really do that. I love that about her. Oh, yeah. And she never says anything bad about him um in, like, the talking heads and stuff. And I'm sure he loves that too. And I think that that's, you could say that it's genuine or you could say that that's her manipulating Cody through the TV show. It's so, it's so like, it's so complicated, this family. I like love it though. It's, it is. Yeah. So let's talk about the kids. um Cody and, bar Cody Brown.
00:20:50
Speaker
And Robin had two more kids together. So there's five total. Right. So it's but Aurora, Brianna, Solomon, and Ariella. Yes. And he ended up adopting legally the first three. Yes. Which required him to legally marry Robin because she only was a spiritual wife at first. Right. And legally divorce Mary. Yes. so Which big Mary did obviously she was involved in that and she was She kind of like I think felt the pressure of it, but I also think she did it in good faith of like she wanted those kids involved and Robin had been eluding and talking about a whole lot of like abuse allegations towards her ex-husband and all of this debt that she accused because of him which
Financial Strains and Parental Rights
00:21:43
Speaker
Cody paid off which means the family paid off
00:21:48
Speaker
um So I could see you as kids, these there are kids, when like everyone passes away, we want them in our world. And we can all live together forever as a family. Like, I could see that. But then you look at it from the biological father's perspective, that now he's legally no longer has children, and kind of bullied into it, really.
00:22:25
Speaker
So hard to say if he was bullied into it or not. I kind of go back and forth, because he did sign over the rights to his kids. And I feel like, I don't know, like, I don't know all the details, obviously, and it's hard to find things. There's allegations about back child support, issues with medical bills, issues with him not like showing up to visits and like whatever. And maybe he did go back child support and financially he just like didn't think he'd ever get ahead of it and felt like he needed to sign overwrites them because he couldn't financially support them. But like, I feel like if your children are your priority, you would move mountains to support them.
00:23:14
Speaker
as opposed to signing them over. And like nothing like not even like I wouldn't sign my kids over to Cody Brown for sure. But like, even if you liked Cody, it's still like, but you're there your kids and you had Dayton at least until he was 910 when Cody like came in the picture. It's like you were his father for 10 years before he even met this guy. That kind of shows me who David Jessup is more so then. I ah totally see where you're coming from. And I think ah where I start to struggle is they know this community and they know how this community does not like
Accusations of Abuse and Lack of Proof
00:23:57
Speaker
to go to court. This community doesn't have money because all the mob of their money goes to the church. So David definitely is not,
00:24:07
Speaker
financially lucrative, like he didn't have the extra money. And I was able to find documentations that say that like he was with back child support. I could never find anything confirming he never showed up to visits. And there's like messages about from his family members being like, he loved the visits. He was always there. We miss the kids. Um, I think a lot of it boiled down to money and one thing in particular I think had a lot to do with it was this ATV accident that um Dayton was involved in. So on the show, Dayton had, so he was in an accident, he had surgery um and ended up having like a lasting effect on his eye. So people definitely in the show noticed it and they
00:25:01
Speaker
had to address it eventually because it became very obvious, but they didn't actually air anything about the accident, which I think is interesting because there were other children who had severe accidents that had that recorded and put online in part of the show, but this one didn't. And it's because it has now come to light that he was they In the show, they were like, oh yeah, he was with friends and ATVing and blah, blah, blah. Turns out he was with Cody. um Cody was just not supervising him. And that's when an accident happened. And he was not with friends. He was not with his father. And they tried to blame everything on the dad. And then they went and mandated that the father pay half of the medical bills that
00:25:54
Speaker
were crude while Cody was supposed to be watching him. And from what I saw, it basically put him under water. and He couldn't afford it. and And the only way that Robin and Cody were willing to pay off the entire debt and take care of all of his son's medical bills and the surgeries and everything was for him to sign over his rights for the adoption.
00:26:27
Speaker
Yeah. I do think that there was a, it was mostly financial, I'm sure. But I have mixed feeling. I mean, I, it's hard to know because the kids don't really ever talk about him on the show. But like, I don't know what their relationship with him was like after that. Now. Like, I mean, maybe he was abusive to Robin and I feel like people who abuse their spouses I mean, that is an abuse of your kids too. So I don't know how that has shaken out. I think he has some pretty serious medical problems now.
Shaping Children's Views of David
00:27:04
Speaker
More currently. yeah
00:27:07
Speaker
um He has been remarried. He has four children. He is still a monogamous. so So I take that as he never wanted to live polygamy and never intended on living polygamy because otherwise he would be right now. Like you get this point. um but i think that's true he and this is just at like comments from his family members his sister-in-law made a post about something where he loved his kids and he wanted the best care for his kids and the best option was to not fight and when it came down to money if it means your kids being taken care of the best way they could be if you just sign this paper and you have your ex-wife saying
00:27:53
Speaker
don't worry, you'll still see them. It's going to be fine. But this is the best way so we can like cover them financially with the medical. You might sign over because you're like, you know what, this is the best thing for my kid. It's not about me. And then slowly but surely Robin just stopped allowing the visitation to the because now he has no legal right to see them. And if she's sitting there saying how terrible he was and abusive, most of these kids don't remember that. she puts it in their head, of course they're going to believe that.
00:28:32
Speaker
I don't know if it's 100% her. I think Cody definitely has a strong play in that. um But I, I'm not going to say that he wasn't a bad person at some points in their relationship because they were young and who knows what happens behind closed doors. But I definitely think they manipulated the situation so that he never saw those kids again, regardless if he wanted to or not.
00:29:02
Speaker
I mean, I don't know. I kind of feel like, hmm, I guess I just want to believe that she wouldn't lie about something like that, that if you like, Saying that he's abusive is so, and in such a public way, because she definitely has said that her marriage was abusive. um I feel like to say that so publicly and have it not be true is so terrible that that is hard to even like wrap my brain around. But I think regardless of maybe he's a great guy, maybe he's a terrible guy, but I definitely think it was important for the narrative for Robin to eliminate him completely. Because honestly though, if he was abusive and this terrible, terrible human, and why was she allowing her children to go there for extended periods of time unsupervised?
00:29:55
Speaker
Why didn't she go to court and say, hey, he's abusive, these visitation need to be supervised. Why is there no record of any abuse whatsoever anywhere? Why would you protect your kids? That would be my challenge to it.
00:30:15
Speaker
I feel like both of them are not protecting their kids. Oh yeah, true. And it doesn't seem to be the real priority. Either way you slice it, like, There's been some, ah there's been blame thrown around and a lot of not taking accountability, I think, on both sides. And I think it's just easier to slap a new, we have this new family to replace than calling the police and filing charges for domestic violence.
Complexity of Cody's Relationships
00:30:45
Speaker
That's a terrible, difficult thing to do, um even though maybe that would have been the correct course of action to take.
00:30:55
Speaker
I think she just wanted to cut him out completely. I don't know if she was willing to go to the extent of reporting it to the police. It's tough in a closed religious community also. I have a hard time with, oh yeah. I mean, she's not a perfect young for sure though. Like a lot of ill feeling towards how Robin has handled it. And I think that she saw the opportunity to replace him with her new husband and didn't care whose detriment that was, whether it was the kids' detriment or the other wives' detriment. It was about her and the narrative she preferred to have. Just makes me sad for the children more than anybody, because either way, there's truth not being told. And that's just the only person that affects negatively over the kids, which is too bad.
00:31:51
Speaker
for sure. And I would love to hear from them. But I mean, if they want to write a book or something, I think that they actually would have really good, interesting perspectives. I know. Well, it's hard because a war in Dayton would really be the only ones that would have remembered their dad enough to like, possibly be like, Hey, you know, that didn't actually happen. But when you hear something over and over again, for decades, you're going to start to believe it regardless if it's true. So that's what's so hard about a lot of that too.
00:32:28
Speaker
Yeah, that's true. Although, I mean, I don't think Dayton wants like the, like the public attention. He doesn't even yeah film, up but Aurora does. Maybe she should write a book. On the show, but But her, I mean, she definitely also was very important, I think, for the narrative that Robin's been trying to create, because she also seems like she worships Cody. And I think that Robin definitely coached the kids into being obsessed with Cody. And I heard of Aurora. And I have nothing to back this up. It was on some podcast I listened to ah that Cody might end up marrying Aurora.
00:33:17
Speaker
which gives me the, I don't think she would go on with it because of how public it is. I don't think they, I don't think Cody would ever risk it because of how public. I think if this was still the closed community and they weren't like public figures, I, I could see it. Um, but creepy because it's not abnormal for like men in communities like this to marry their stepkids because technically they're not their children.
00:33:56
Speaker
I know, but he adopted them. Isn't that creepy? There are people that do it in those communities. like
00:34:06
Speaker
i mean Definitely seen that on, um, did you ever see, who was the guy that went to- Tom Green. He's a perfect jail. of it He did a place. Yep. And they lived in the same house and shared work with their mom. Like how creepy. ah
00:34:26
Speaker
But that's what I'm saying is like, the rumors or five are horrifying. Totally unfounded. o But I think Aurora is like also has a little bit of a brain. Oh my god. She does look at him as a father figure. I don't think she would go along with it.
00:34:46
Speaker
Oh, no, definitely not. And I think Robin would. I would hope stab Cody to death before that happened. I don't think. I don't think she would put up with that at all. Because she likes to pretend that like Cody called all the shots, but Robin's in charge. 100%, I think. Robin's in charge of that family and that dynamic. And what she says goes. I think it depends on the
Favoritism and Relationship Strain
00:35:11
Speaker
topic. She would not be cool with that at all. I don't know. Oh, no. for I don't think her husband is fucking her kid. She's very protective. I think there are topics that that's totally true with her. And then there's some topics that I think Cody completely runs it. Like they actually work very well as a monogamous couple. Like they definitely have their categories of
00:35:32
Speaker
what I say go versus you say go.
00:35:39
Speaker
Well, this is kind of out of order, but do you who do you think was making the COVID rules? I think Robin that family made the rules and then I think Cody took them to the extreme. Because I think Robin ah her and did a lot of like that CDC guidance and then like just stuck in that bubble. And then I think she would have been more willing to be like, hey, let's do like outdoor like things. And like if everyone kind of was well-behaved, I don't think she would have taken it to such an extreme of like that Cody did, where like you either follow my rules or like get out of the family. like I don't think she would have taken it to that level.
00:36:28
Speaker
Yeah. Like she would have been more willing to compromise. Yeah. waste certainly What do you think? But he dug his heels in.
00:36:38
Speaker
i I mean, I could definitely buy that theory. um I feel like ah definitely initially she was very scared of COVID. And then I think he kind of used it as like a way of like, well, I'm protecting Robin. from this horrible family, which I think she likes to frame herself as like a damsel in distress because- My personal favorite thing that she does today is that she speaks Cody. That's my favorite because she says it to the women that have been married to him for like half of her life. Like, no. Right? Like, yeah, you've been married to him for 20 years, but I speak Cody, let me mediate your conversation.
00:37:24
Speaker
It's like, who are you? You're new here. Like, you're a guest. I'm sorry. This is crazy. You have been married to him for six months, and I have six children with him. And you think that you know him better than I do is nuts.
00:37:43
Speaker
Yeah. Oh my gosh. i I speak Cody. So offensive. but The only person that liked that was marriage problems with him. from like day one of their relationship. So I think for her that was like, I'll take any saving grace that I can get versus the other two were like, uh, I'm perfectly capable of having a conversation. If he doesn't get it, we'll try again later. why
00:38:09
Speaker
Well, that's go true too. And I feel like there's this whole weird notion on the show that Robin is like the communicator. She's the one with like the emotional intelligence in the family and no one else is capable of communicating. But I actually just agree with you that it's it's really only Mary. Like Janelle and Christine both seem totally capable of communicating things. I think Cody just didn't care to listen. But if they couldn't Like they, they could say things. i see good They're very articulate. When they were before Robin, the two of them had the emotional intelligence and were able to have those conversations because Cody would listen at that point. But then after Robin came around and honestly, no fault to Robin, Cody zoned in on her and was like, this is my person.
Robin's Polygamy Ideals vs. Reality
00:38:58
Speaker
And they couldn't have those conversations anymore, which made Robin seem so much more
00:39:06
Speaker
like in that emotional standpoint because she was the only one actively having those conversations on the show.
00:39:16
Speaker
oh Yeah. And I think one of Robin's like most brilliant moves is that she always acts like she has everyone else's backs. and that she's like going to bat for Cody for them like, oh, you need to sleep on Christine's couch or you need to call her you need to whatever. And it's, like it's brilliant to position yourself that way. Because Cody only sees you as being supportive of the other women. And when the other people are just constantly complaining about Robin and all she's doing is speaking so highly of everyone and trying to get Cody to spend more time with other people.
00:39:52
Speaker
It's, it looks great on her in his eyes. Do you feel that she means most of that or do you think she's saying it from a strategic standpoint?
00:40:06
Speaker
I think a lot of it's strategic. I do. I don't think she, I think she just wanted to be top dog though. I don't think she actually wanted everybody to leave. Like that doesn't look good for her. I don't think she wanted everyone to leave. I think she pushed it too far. and Cody gave up on the whole polygamy whatever that they were doing initially. So I think she just went a little too far and everyone jumped ship, but I think she would have been much happier as just the favorite wife in a polygamous situation. Oh my god, it's seven days a week.
00:40:45
Speaker
um
00:40:48
Speaker
A lot of it was genuine, but I do agree with you. She wanted to be, I think she wanted more control and that's hard to have as someone who comes in 15, 20 years into an established family. But I do think there are a lot of times that it was very genuine where using Christine as an example of like, you shouldn't have left the house. Like I think that Robin really wants to live plural marriage and that's important to her. And comments like that is she genuinely was like, no, you should have done this and like on k Christine's side of it. But I also don't think I agree with you from a strategic standpoint because she's not obviously like, well, you're not staying here and like walking him out. Like she's just like, this is what you should have done, but like, you know, you make the decision. Like, and that's where that manipulation kind of comes in.
00:41:48
Speaker
So I want to ask you, what do you think she's trying to achieve? Like, what do you think her ideal scenario was? Like, did she want him 25% of the time? Because that's like, to me, that's like fair polygamy, to whatever extent that could be. Like, do you think she would have been happy with that? Because I think she also realized she was going to get him a little more having the youngest children.
00:42:16
Speaker
But I don't know. Cause I do generally feel she wants to live like me. And I think there is a chance that if they don't get another wife, that she could leave Cody. Um, because she wants that lifestyle. I do agree. I think she wants to be top. I don't know.
00:42:41
Speaker
I think she, she's kind of old. She would be a new family though. and though And then like if they were wives after, she would be the legal she'd be the
Influence and Manipulation in Robin and Cody's Relationship
00:42:55
Speaker
legal wife. She'd be technically now the first wife. like I could see how that would give her all the power yeah that you were mentioning. But I do think she wants polygamy.
00:43:12
Speaker
But she wants polygamy, but she wants more time with the husband than Maybe she just needs too many wives. Maybe she just needs like one other wife.
00:43:26
Speaker
Hmm. I actually like, I think it would have been miserable for Janelle, but I think that her and Janelle could have been really good, um, only other wives for each other. Cause Janelle wasn't really good at having Cody with her 24 seven, you know, she would have been ah giving Robin 90% of the time with him. Like Janelle would have been totally fine with 10% of 30 I feel. I think her and Cody had a good time together from like her conversations, but like she definitely enjoyed her alone time. So having someone like Janelle as a sister wife would have been really easy, but then having someone like Christine who wanted him more than 25% of the time. That's hard when you also want him more than 25% of the time.
00:44:13
Speaker
Yeah, like I think Christine and Mary, it was way too much. Like he definitely couldn't make all of you can't make full wives happy though. I just really I mean, maybe someone can, but Cody definitely did not. ah And I think it would be it's an extremely tall order. I I mean, I make my husband watch all of these polygamy shows, and I sometimes like joke about having a second wife, and he's always like, I literally, like, you're a project, like, just keeping you happy. You have already two personalities, it's fine.
00:44:47
Speaker
like it's why I'm sick at the time. I think it's interesting, you know? like I don't want you to have all this free time for your polygamous wives to come in. Like, it would be really tough to keep four people emotionally, spiritually, sexually fulfilled. Financially, so like all of these things. It's hard to do with one. I don't know. It was too. And he but I, I think that I think Janelle would have stayed and it would have probably just been Janelle and Robin.
00:45:26
Speaker
thugging it out till the end if Cody hadn't turned on Janelle's sons so harshly because that's why I think Robin is really the only wife left standing. That didn't really have to do with Robin so much. That was all Cody. That's why I feel like at the end of the day a lot of it is Cody and Robin is just here for the ride. I agree with that. I agree with that. I mean, Cody is the common denominator. And he's like the one with all the resources when it comes to like, emotional and sexual and physical and like all of these things that like are part of a marriage. You can only get it from Cody, because you're not allowed to go elsewhere, but Cody is allowed to go elsewhere. So like the pressure for him
00:46:19
Speaker
to maintain each of the relationships is not as important as it would be for each wife to maintain their relationship with him. And so Cody is always going to have an unfair share of the power. And Robin can be his favorite all she wants. But at the end of the day, Robin doesn't have right anything to give these other people. Maybe she's hoarding Cody, but she can't give that away either. It's up to him. There's a lot of displaced anger to rob him for Cody's actions, where it's like, at the end of the day, he's a grown man. Yeah, definitely. He's going to do what he wants to do. She can only fight that so much without ruining her own relationship. Nobody's going to do that to themselves.
00:47:09
Speaker
ah I don't care who you think you are. None of those women would have ruined their relationship for somebody else. I don't care what they say. So it's oh not really fair to like put on 100%. You could have done something about it. Like, right. But you wouldn't have either. but None of you are scot-free in this. Right. Right. And I just want to be clear with what I was saying before. I don't mean that Robin gets to decide a for the family what everyone does. I think she just gets to decide between her and Cody. Like I think in that dynamic, Robin pretends that she has no idea what she's doing and she's clueless and she needs Cody to save her, but she's kind of moving him around and puppeting him around and he doesn't realize
00:48:01
Speaker
that she's just getting what she wants out of him, but I think that that's a very common i and hate to say that but like
Fame's Impact on Family Dynamics
00:48:07
Speaker
strategy. Most women do that. and i'm not like In general. i think I think a lot of women do that. It's very effective because people like to be needed and wanted and valued and feel indispensable. and But they really only want that from someone who they love and desire. They don't just want that from Mary. They want Mary to need him to save her because he doesn't care about her. But with Robin, it works because she inherently has the advantage of him being in love with her, which
00:48:50
Speaker
Maybe he loved the other wives. I think he did, but I think that it's different. And I think that part of it with it being different with Robin is just because of the fame and the attention and the ability to watch it back and just being so, keeping it so present all the time by having it be all at the start of the show. I think that their relationship was always going to be different and it kind of set everybody up for failure. And it would have been much better for all the other relationships if the show started like three years after Robin got married or something. Yeah, I can see that.
00:49:33
Speaker
Because then I don't think she would have this special dynamic with it. Yeah, that's a really good point. I mean, she might, but it would
00:49:46
Speaker
Like My Five Wives was a really boring show, but part of it was already there so long before the show even started. So like there there was problems, but it was way more established. And they also didn't get famous from the show because it didn't have as many seasons and it wasn't as popular. But I think part of that is because they didn't have that drama of a new wife coming in and additional children coming in and the upheaval in the family and the moving like all of the drama that surrounded Robin and the family was great TV. And was that from My Five Wives? So it's all linked together. It must be so weird in their family like trying to
00:50:35
Speaker
think about your family as a separate entity from the show? Because for them, probably... It depends though, because I don't know if they all watch it. I think Robin watches it though. I could probably see like, maybe clips, but at the same time, I think after that long on TV, a lot of people stop watching their own stuff, because who wants to like and then then you it like you just the same thing you stop googling yourself or you stop reading comments because emotionally it has to be draining I guess but they also are forced to watch a lot of it for like yeah like the tell-alls or whatever that they do at the end like they show them a lot of clip and for the talking heads they were clearly showing them clips for the last few seasons which
00:51:29
Speaker
ah added an element for sure and I think that because they have to watch it and because they have to participate in it and it's so It's just documenting like so many family moments it It would be hard to separate completely from that mentally at least for the people who are filming I think if you're not filming and you're not watching the show it kind of is irrelevant But if you're filming and you're watching, or if you have to watch it because you're doing talking heads or tell-alls, then it becomes, it's like another family member. It's like this other thing that's always with us.
Future of Robin and Cody's Dynamic
00:52:12
Speaker
And that's why Cody's constantly screaming about people talking shit about him behind his back. like he I feel like he means to the cameras. I don't know, because I think a lot of the time there's a lot of like those one-on-ones with the cameras that
00:52:25
Speaker
the wives do talk about him at that point in the show. And he's probably direct, he definitely watches it. And that's why he knows that people are talking.
00:52:36
Speaker
ah but
00:52:40
Speaker
know Like maybe Robin asked to watch it because Cody's constantly watching it and screaming. And so it's haunted house and they live together. yeah And they live together because they're married.
00:52:55
Speaker
Yeah, I feel like that's going to be kind of super bizarre. um But also interesting to watch in the seasons coming up where it's sister-wise, it's a show still. It's the dynamic of like now what they're doing. There's polygamous marriage. It's like the divorce of a polygamous family. That's what we're going to be watching, which is very interesting. It's a new thing and I i feel, okay, i I know I've been talking a lot of shit about Robin, but I also feel like she's pretending, not pretending, she's acting like it's super upsetting to her that the other marriages are breaking up. And that may be, but also she really can't say anything else. Like she is in a position where no matter what she says,
00:53:50
Speaker
I feel like she's going to look terrible because she is kind of the winner in the situation. So people are already primed to hate her. I think she's ah been viewed as like the other woman and like the mistress and stuff like that. So it's, but if she got on TV and she was like, well, I'm just glad that they all finally left and now I get Cody all to myself. Like people would hate that too. So. Yeah. And I do feel bad. You really can't say anything. like
00:54:20
Speaker
Like having Cody in spurts was a lot easier and now having him all of the time and angry because before he would be like have days of anger, but I feel like now there's so much anger towards everything else that he projected it on Mary or Christine or Janelle or the kid. Like he was always projecting it onto somebody else and now there's no one else to project it onto. So my concern is that he actually is going to turn and all of that toxic energy is going to be directed solely on her. And that's actually makes me really nervous for her because of the four wives, she's not the one that's going to fight back. She's not the one that at the end of the day is going to like
00:55:14
Speaker
just didn't truly stand up to him. I feel like the other three finally got to a point where they're like, I put up with you for so long. I'm done with this. Come at me, bro, basically. And, but they had 20 years on her in that kind of dynamic. My fear is she's going to get into now this position where she's the only one. There's nothing she can do. And all of that toxic behavior is gonna be 100% on her. And I actually feel really bad and I'm a little nervous for her.
00:55:54
Speaker
Yeah, that's actually very terrifying to think about. And I i hope that Cody is in a better place than he seemed to be in last season. Although I find that very hard to believe. because they've been through such a terrible tragedy in their family. I feel like everyone's going to be maybe not in the best places mentally after that. And I think Cody's been in such an angry place, and then he's going to be so sad as well. And that is a terrifying combination. I think it's very unpleasant right now in Robin's house. It makes me sad for her.
00:56:37
Speaker
and happy for Christine and Janelle and Mary that they're not with him right now because I don't yeah i agree with that company.
00:56:49
Speaker
Well, so we've kind of jumped around all over the place for Robin. Do you have like kind of any last thought that we didn't talk about that you want to talk about?
00:57:06
Speaker
Um, I think the only thing we briefly touched on it, but I just want to mention my sister wife's closet and how that business was supposed to like support the entire family and ended up being like a huge financial burden. And I don't think they made any real money doing that. Um, and also the art ugly jewelry. It's so expensive and it's so bad. I think that's why I have such a hard time. But Robin was the forefront of a lot of it. Like she was the driving like hey person.
00:57:46
Speaker
Yeah. I will never forget when they were like trying to get investors for their business, my sister wife's closet. And they were like, Oh, well we have millions of hits to our website every month. And they're like, well you have 12 sales. And they're asking for money for like marketing, which you don't need marketing bro. You're on a super hit TV show right now. So talk about it, but also why are there $300 ugly sterling silver necklaces? Like no one wants that. There, there was so many things that they could have sold and they eventually started doing it with the MLMs, but Robin's own um MLM was really bad.
00:58:33
Speaker
Otherwise I feel like we covered everything. Yeah. I think I've brought up most of them. I think i yeah I feel really bad for what situation she's about to be in, regardless of like my opinions on her behavior up until now, which obviously I'm not her biggest fan, but I do think she's also just in a really bad situation and trying to make the best of it at this point.
00:59:01
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, like I said, she's the winner. Is is it a prize? Yeah.
00:59:11
Speaker
oh
00:59:13
Speaker
yeah ah What a prize. What a prize. Anyway. he know for um I I can't wait until the next season. Maybe we'll like do a recap because I feel like this upcoming season is going to have some really interesting tidbits coming in.
00:59:36
Speaker
I would absolutely love that. And if you out there would really love to hear that, let us know. Or if there's like specific things in the Sister Wives that you think we missed, let us know. We'll absolutely take a peek at it and do one on that one too.
00:59:52
Speaker
All right. Well, I'm always thinking about the Sister Wives. All right. Well, I'll talk to our next mother and our next grouping of mothers, but thank you for chatting about Sister Wives with me. Bye. All right. Have a good one.