In news that ought to not come as any sort of shock to anyone who been paying attention of late to the Sister Wives universe...
... it turns out that Kody Brown is quite the Grinch.
Us Weeky has obtained footage from this Sunday's Season 16 premiere of Sister Wives, and it features Kody basically crushing the holday hopes and dreams of Meri Brown, Janelle Brown, Christine Brown and Robyn Brown.
“I can’t tell you guys what to do,” Kody says to his spouses as they socially distance from one another outdoors and talk about plans for Christmas, adding:
“I can decide what I’m gonna do. And if the family wants to get together, they can figure it out too.”
Via its official network synopsis, TLC has said that a bulk of this upcoming season will focus on tension among the Browns in regard to COVID-19.
"A difference of opinions about COVID protocols creates tension between Janelle's family and Kody and Robyn," reads this description.
It adds:
"Is the family not getting back together, even for the holidays? With tensions boiling over, more than one wife is questioning the future."
In this new sneak peek, meanwhile, Janelle implies that she would like to have some sort of holiday celebration, partly because some of the family’s older children will be coming home to visit.
Kody, however, isn’t having it.
“I don’t know how long the virus is gonna last, but I’m not gonna have a big Christmas gathering,” he responds, much to the chagrin of Janelle, who later says in a confessional:'
“So, basically, unless we all observe his uber, uber, uber careful stance, forget holidays.
"I don’t know. I guess there’s really just nothing to say but wow. … There’s no optimism. It’s like doomsday.”
This seems to be a constant refrain from all the Sister Wives these days, as Christine previously said she was miserable in her marriage via an earlier clip from this same episode.
This premiere was filmed months ago, but Christine clearly was telling the truth.
On November 2, she announced she was leaving Kody for good.
"After more than 25 years together, Kody and I have grown apart and I have made the difficult decision to leave," she wrote on Instagram at the time.
"We will continue to be a strong presence in each other's lives as we parent our beautiful children and support our wonderful family."
Based on what Us Weekly has posted, though, even Robyn doesn't seem very happy at the moment.
“The relationships are struggling,” she says in her own confessional on Sunday's premiere, elaborating as follows:
“My relationship with Kody is struggling because he’s not seeing his family as much.
"I feel very helpless here."
Earlier this year, Kody told Us Weekly that the pandemic had placed major strain on his relationships with his spouses, who had to keep their distance from one another for most of 2020.
The situation was further complicated by the fact that several of the family’s 18 children are adults with their own families.
“Some of us have been more willing to be compliant than others of us,” Kody explained way back in February.
“That’s been the challenge is, if a wife isn’t completely compliant, she has to travel. She’s going to go see her kids."
Added Kody at that time:
"If she’s going to be potentially exposed and then asked to quarantine after a while she’s gone. Well, do you even love me? Well, yeah, I do.
"But you have to quarantine.
"I can’t come over because [of] quarantining and you put yourself at risk and that’s not fair for me to put the entire family at risk because you traveled.”
As far as the Christine separation goes?
"Christine's decision to leave comes with a great deal of sadness," he wrote on social media just over two weeks ago, adding:
"We enjoyed many years together and I have a large amount of respect and admiration for her.
"Although we are moving forward on different paths, we will always remain committed parents."