"He's Very Absent" — Robyn From 'Sister Wives' Shares Details About Her Estranged Biological Dad

Season 19 of Sister Wives offers viewers an up-close look at the difficult dynamics between Kody and his children amid his three breakups from Christine, Janelle, and Meri. Divorce and separation is never easy, and it's often the children of a separating couple who end up bearing the brunt of the drama.

In Episode 4, viewers see Robyn beg Kody to reach out to the kids who have become distant from him after the divorces. She also reveals that for her, the issue hits especially close to home after her own experience with her biological father.

"When I was little, my parents got a divorce. He lived with one wife in another city, and then my mom lived alone," Robyn says. "I remember confronting my biological father saying, 'What happened? Why?' All he really did was just make a bunch of lame excuses as to why he wasn't there for me when I was young and it just sucked."

While Robyn says she's sympathetic to the fact that Kody is also in pain following the fallout, she wants to caution him against being the kind of dad her own biological father was. "To Kody, I'm like, 'Hey listen, you don't want to be this guy. I know you're hurting, but you don't want to be this guy.'"

There's not a ton of info available about Robyn's biological father, but his name is Robert Marck. He and Robyn's mother divorced when Robyn was young, and Robyn's mom eventually remarried a man named Paul Sullivan. Although technically her stepfather, Paul is the man Robyn has referred to a few times throughout the series as her dad. He was present at her and Kody's wedding as well as at Solomon's birth.

Paul died in February 2022, but it appears as though Robert is still living. Robyn says that her relationship with him at the time of filming Season 19 was still very strained. "My dad, my biological father ... was very absent, did not fight for the relationship, did not care to have one, still doesn't really care to have one," she says in the episode. "I'll see him now and then he'll tell me how much he loves me, but he's very absent."

It's interesting to note how Robyn's childhood experience somewhat mirrors that of her own children. Long-time fans of the show will remember that Kody and Meri were legally divorced years ago so that Kody could legally adopt Robyn's kids. Robyn's ex, David Jessop, needed to give up his parental rights to Dayton, Aurora, and Breanna in order for that to happen. David Jessop has never been featured on the show and if Robyn's kids have any contact with him, it appears to be quite limited.

After his son Garrison's tragic death in March 2024, Kody spoke to People about feeling as though he had had more time to connect with him. "We could have been talking more. I'd get texts, stuff like that, and we could have, retrospectively, we could have done so much more," he said. "And it was almost like — I'm busy with my life, he's busy with his life, and when we connect, we'll connect. It was kind of like, we've got forever. It was more like it was a convenience of time that I felt like I had," he said. "Retrospectively, there would've been more of a regular catching up and touching base."

Since there's quite a delay between when Season 19 was filmed and present-day, it's difficult to ascertain the current state of his relationships with the kids who he says are distant from him. If there is any possibility for a silver lining after such a tragic loss, it could perhaps serve to galvanize Kody's dedication to reconnecting with his estranged kids.