Even before three out of four of Kody Brown‘s wives chose to walk away from their plural marriage, the Sister Wives star was struggling in many of his relationships with his kids. And on this week’s episode of the TLC reality series, one of his daughters — Ysabel Brown, whom he shares with ex Christine Brown — opened up about her fraught relationship with her dad, and how she’s worried it will get even worse now that her mom has found someone new.
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Though Christine married David Woolley last year, the episodes of Sister Wives that are currently airing are focused on Christine’s wedding and earlier relationship with David. And in this week’s episode, Ysabel asked if David was trying to replace her dad.
“No. Because no one is going to replace your dad. No one. If you need a dad figure, or a father figure, or someone like that, he’ll be whatever you need,” Christine told her daughter.
She admitted she was concerned that getting closer to David meant her relationship with her dad getting worse.
In a confessional on the show, 21-year-old Ysabel voiced her concerns about getting closer to David as he got closer and closer to officially becoming her stepdad.
“I worry that my dad and the chance of having a really close relationship with my dad is slowly going away,” she said.
Ysabel worried that her relationship with her dad would 'not exist anymore.'
But she did make it clear that it wasn’t David she was worried about making that happen — it was Kody.
“Actually I don’t mean to say that he would be that kind of person because he would only ever come into any situation with everybody else in mind and only with respect to everybody else as well. David like he comes off as a very present dad like with his children,” she said. “So I mean, how lovely would that be, right? So I would love to have a relationship that is as amazing with my own father.”
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Kody has admitted he's at least partially to blame for his fractured relationship with Ysabel.
In a previous episode this season, Kody counted missing Ysabel’s scoliosis surgery as one of “two huge mistakes” he made. It happened during the height of the pandemic, when he spent most of his time with Robyn and her children.
“One of those mistakes was also not going to Ysabel’s surgery. And that put some bad blood between a bunch of us,” he said on the show.
Christine acknowledged that her daughter just wants 'a dad.'
“She wants a dad big time. But she wants her dad,” Christine told the cameras.
And in a scene where Christine was talking to Ysabel, she reassured her that David isn’t trying to replace anyone. “I’ve always wanted you guys to have a great relationship with your dad, a great one. So David coming in, all that does is [give you] someone else to love. But replacing dad? No,” she said.
