Sister Wives star Mykelti Brown says she's facing increased scrutiny after opening up about one of the most painful chapters of her childhood.
After appearing on the Cults to Consciousness podcast, Brown revealed on Patreon that TLC has her "under a microscope" after she disclosed that she was punished—not protected—after reporting an alleged childhood sexual abuse incident years ago. While she said she isn't emotionally ready to publicly share every detail of what happened, Brown explained that speaking out has changed how she approaches parenting her three children.
The daughter of Kody and Christine Brown said one of the biggest problems in her family was a strict rule against "tattle telling." According to Brown, children who reported another sibling's behavior often ended up in more trouble than the person who caused the harm.
"We were not allowed to tattle-tell anything," Brown said. "If I came inside and I told Meri that Leon had punched me, I would get more in trouble than Leon would because I tattletold versus Leon punched me."
Brown said that the environment had devastating consequences when she tried to report something much more serious.
"There is an experience that happened to me. I'm not quite emotionally healed enough and ready to talk about it," she said. "But there is an experience where I went, and I told my parents, and I got in trouble."
The reality star said the experience permanently changed her willingness to trust the adults around her.
"I stopped telling my mom things," Brown explained. "I could have been saved a lot of hurt, a lot of emotional damage and pain if I had that trust with my mom, with my dad, with my other moms."
She added that the experience is why she now encourages her own children to tell her "absolutely everything," saying that trust starts with parents listening rather than punishing.
Brown credited her father's fourth wife, Robyn Brown, with becoming the first adult who made her feel safe enough to speak openly.
"I talked to her about things that happened to me, and I didn't get in trouble," Brown recalled. According to Brown, Robyn confronted the family, telling the adults, "This is not okay. You guys handled this wrong. She needs help. She needs to be saved and rescued."
Brown called the moment "extremely validating" and said it helped her realize, "There's this person that came into my family that's here to protect me."
Elsewhere in the interview, Brown described growing up in a household where older children were expected to help raise the younger ones. She said she changed her first diaper at around age four and was caring for toddlers by the time she was six or seven.
"The kids are raising the kids essentially," she said. "That's a huge issue in polygamy... Looking back, I realized I should have been allowed to be a kid a lot longer."
Brown also said her parents often avoided hospitals because they feared authorities would discover the family's polygamous lifestyle and involve Child Protective Services.
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual abuse, help is available. Contact the RAINN National Sexual Assault Hotline by calling 800-656-HOPE (4673) or visit RAINN.org to connect confidentially with a trained support specialist 24 hours a day.
