‘Sister Wives’ Star Christine Brown Feels Like She’s at the Bottom of Kody’s ‘List of Important People’

This week’s episode of Sister Wives built on the previous week’s episode, which featured Christine Brown opening up about her own issues with Kody Brown. Although much of the focus has been on Meri Brown‘s marital issues with Kody in the past, Christine revealed that she feels more like a “basement wife” than a “queen wife” in her relationship with Kody. On Sunday night, Christine described her relationship with Kody as “rough,” while Kody bluntly said that “plural marriage is a challenge she doesn’t enjoy.”

During a meal in last week’s episode at Christine’s house, she told sister-wife Robyn Brown that she feels “everybody hates me all the time.” In a confessional, Christine later said the troubles with her plural marriage dated back to even before Robyn joined the Browns in 2010. “Looking back, with Meri and Janelle, when it was just the three of us, it was the same kind of thing — I didn’t always know if they were mad at me or frustrated with me,” Christine said.

Flash forward to Sunday’s episode, Kody and Christine hit the road in Sedona, Arizona. During the drive, the two clashed over coronavirus guidelines, as Christine did not think the family needed to be apart. Once they arrived at a beautiful spot though, these concerns were forgotten for a moment. In a confessional playing alongside scenes of the two cuddling together during sunset, Christine admitted to having a “rough relationship” with Kody that has been “strained” since Kody unveiled a plan to move everyone back into one house. Christine told Kody she would never do this again, but Kody shrugged her off, making her feel like she was at the bottom of his “list of important people.”

Meanwhile, Kody said he was opening himself up to Christine’s complaints, which have made even him “cynical” about plural marriage. He felt it was an “endurance” test. “It seems more and more that plural marriage is a challenge that she doesn’t enjoy,” Kody said. “And I’ll be frank, plural marriage is not a challenge I enjoy.”

“More than anything with Kody is, I don’t feel like I’m very important to him,” Christine said before Kody admitted that some of their issues might be beyond repair. “I just don’t know what this means for our future,” Kody said. Later in the episode, Christine and Janelle talked about their positions on everyone living in a big house together again. Christine made it clear that she did not feel she was valued as much as the other sister wives. “It’s hard to get together and feel like I still matter and I’m still important,” Christine said. “I think that when it comes down to it, I don’t matter that much… not really.”

Christine believes if they did all move back together, she won’t have an equal voice. Janelle suggested some changes could be made to their communication methods, but Christine said this was unrealistic to expect. One thing they could agree on is that the current situation is not sustainable. Christine even suggested they move back to Utah.

Kody married Christine in 1994 after he married Meri in 1990 and Janelle in 1993. He is in a “spiritual union” with them, but is legally married to Robyn. There are 18 children among them, including six between Kody and Christine. In last week’s episode, Kody also wondered about the possible “benefits” of his relationship with Christine. While he is not interested in a “big breakup,” he does want to change. He said he would like “a big commitment that everybody will actually do their part and not have it just be me or not have it be blamed on me all the time…. Love really isn’t unconditional. … Nobody is stuck with me and they can all leave.” The season finale airs on April 18 at 9 p.m. ET on TLC.