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There are a lot of complex feelings involved in this one.
In a recent video by Paedon Brown, he discusses the tense lack-of-relationship with his widely reviled father, Kody.
He doesn’t hate Kody. In fact, he doesn’t like it when Sister Wives fans tell him that they hate his dad.
Instead, Paedon says, his “heart breaks” at the subject of his father.
‘My heart breaks’
Cameo is a service in which fans pay for public figures to record short videos — for themselves, for fellow fans, or even to prank non-fans.
You can find beloved celebrities, relatively unknown actors with small-yet-passionate fanbases, and even criminals like George Santos. You can also find Paedon there.
A woman named Sarah received a Cameo from Paedon — one that is now posted to Reddit. It seems that she had hoped for his advice on dealing with her own father.
“My heart breaks every time somebody talks about him,” he acknowledged in the video.
“My heart genuinely breaks every time I learn another f–ked up, messed up thing that he has done,” Paedon expressed.
Paedon responds to hate for his father, Kody Brown
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However, Paedon’s feelings are more mixed — and perhaps more nuanced — than some Sister Wives fans might expect. Or hope.
“The only advice I have, is you have to be strong in front of people who hate him,” he suggested.
“Because in front of my family,” Paedon explained.
“I’m here with family, I’m about to hang out with family,” he detailed.
Paedon explained: “It’s dark s–t and all of us are like, ‘Yeah, we’re sad, we’re sad that this is the situation.’”
‘You deserve much better’
Paedon lamented that it is “heartbreaking” that he, like most of his siblings, is estranged from Kody.
He also suggested that sometimes, he encounters fans who feel more negatively than he does, which seems to make him defensive towards dear ol’ dad.
Paedon recalled a time when he encountered a fan who simply told him: “I hate your father.”
“ … she was just okay to tell me she hates my father,” he described.
Paedon added: “I’ve had so many people justify their hatred of my father to my face.” (Hating Kody is normal; blurting it out to his kids is not)
For an advice video, Paedon didn’t seem to have much. He acknowledged repeatedly that he wasn’t sure what to tell Sarah, and even apologized.
“I’m sorry that you have a tough relationship with your father,” he expressed to Sarah.
“You deserve much better,” Paedon affirmed.
“And I have no advice,” he admitted, “but you are killing it, Sarah.”
Paedon counseled her to “keep going, keep going, keep going.”
Why is he so forgiving of Kody?
“Take another step, forgive, forgive, keep going,” Paedon urged. “Forgiveness is not for them, it’s for you. Forgive and keep going.”
Even in a world that seems to push forgiveness at all costs towards even the worst of parents, that may come as a shock. But we should keep in mind that Paedon is a Mormon.
Forgiveness is a core element of Christian theology, dating back to the religion’s origins.
From the start, Christian belief has centered itself upon anticipating the end of the world — meaning that petty or serious disagreements were ultimately meaningless.
This belief in absolute forgiveness (coupled with the belief that past wrongdoings can be absolved, no matter their severity) is not exclusive to Christianity, and has metastasized into self-help and spirituality places in our culture.
Paedon’s feelings are complex, and it’s likely that his apparent belief that he “shouldn’t hate” or should even “forgive” Kody stem from complex influences.