Not an easy journey. Sister Wives‘ Christine Brown got real about the “ups and downs” in her marriage to Kody Brown, detailing the struggles of being part of a polygamous relationship.
“The thing that I struggled with most is when I feel like I don’t have a say or when I feel like I’m not as important or things like that,” Christine, 48, told Us Weekly exclusively on Thursday, March 18, while promoting the current season of the TLC hit. “Anytime we’ve had major decisions, I go through a time where I’m like, ‘Does my opinion really even matter here?’ That’s when we struggle the most … is when I feel like I don’t really have a say or I don’t really have an opinion.”
She added that when she doesn’t feel like “an equal partner in this whole relationship thing,” that’s when it’s tough.

“I think there’s ups and downs,” the reality star, who married Kody, 52, in 1994, told Us. “Overall, we’re steady, but it still happens.”
Christine also shared that it’s difficult to watch Kody go through relationship struggles with his other wives, Meri, 50, Janelle, 51, and Robyn, 42. In the current season, Meri and Kody’s issues have been front and center as they attend therapy.
“It’s been really, really sad [to watch],” Christine said on Thursday. “I know that she still has so much hope and she still is as positive as she can be. She’s super-duper strong. … Every relationship goes through hard times, but it’s super heartbreaking to watch.”
Meri recently opened up to Us about the difficult times in their relationship. “The way I look at it is it’s a matter of, like, am I going to stick through it with him when he’s having a dark time? And is he going to stick through it with me when I’m having a dark time?” she told Us earlier this month, noting that she’s “at peace” with where they are now. “Are we going to figure it out because we made this commitment and, like, how do we move forward with where we’re at?”
In February, Kody told Us that he and Meri, who he married in 1990, “have been in a very dark place for a very long time” and are trying to get better.
“It’s been more about trying to get ourselves out of this hole that we dug ourselves into,” he said. “I hope that some communication heals things. It’s been a long time and it’s been very difficult.”
Sister Wives airs on TLC Sundays at 10 p.m. ET.
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi
For more hot celebrity news, listen to Us Weekly editors dish on top topics & trends with these clips from the Hot Hollywood Podcast!