Kody, 53, and Christine, 50, who both star on the long-running TLC reality show, announced their separation in November 2021 after more than 25 years in their “spiritual marriage.”

Season 17 of Sister Wives follows the aftermath of the split and how it affects the rest of the Brown family, which includes Kody’s other wives in their plural marriage; Robyn, 43, Meri, 51, and Janelle, 53.

Following the return of Sister Wives to TLC on Sunday, fans have noticed a comment from Kody in the season 17 trailer that they are not happy with.

The footage features lots of dramatic moments between Kody and his wives, who live in Flagstaff, Arizona, but the Brown family patriarch seems to get particularly emotional towards the end of the trailer when he can be heard saying to Christine: “And that’s the reason I’m p***ed off, man, just knife in the kidneys.”

Viewers have taken offence to this particular line as, back in 2014, Christine and Kody’s then-three-year-old daughter, Truely, nearly died due to kidney failure.

The situation played out on a season 6 episode of Sister Wives and began when Truely caught the flu.

Christine and Kody have six children together - also, daughters Aspyn, Mykelti, Gwendlyn, Ysabel and son Paedon - and their elder daughters were helping Kody look after a sick Truely as the wives were away on a trip to San Francisco.

Over the next five days, Truely’s condition deteriorated and when the wives returned Christine decided to take her to the doctor, where they were told her symptoms indicated kidney failure.

After seven days in hospital, Truely, who is now 12 years old, finally started responding to medication and dialysis, and she was released after her 10th day of treatment.

On the January 2, 2022, episode of Sister Wives, Kody said the health scare is still a source of tension in his relationship with Christine.

“I think Christine hates me partly because Truely almost died. And she thought that I had been negligent,” he said, adding that a scare like that “changes relationships.”

Now, one Reddit user has questioned Kody’s behaviour in the trailer, asking: “So why is Kody yelling like a maniac about his kidneys being stabbed if Christine and Kody had all these talks?”

GIRgurl commented: “Also, isn’t it somewhat ironic he’s complaining about stabbed kidneys when his neglectful parenting contributed in part to Truely going through actual kidney failure??.”

Dry_Studio_2114 wrote to GIRgurl: Yes!!! The irony was not lost on me.." while Narcmeter commented: “Kidney pain is ’truly’ karma. I love this for him.”

Another Redditor No_Holiday_9947 wrote: “He flubbed up and read Truley’s line!! The script called for Truley to tell him ‘It felt like a knife to the kidney, when you left me with teenagers while I was sick. I was so dehydrated that I went into kidney failure and almost died.’”

Kody has been on the receiving end of hostility from Sister Wives viewers ever since the show returned to screens for season 17.

Fans have called him out for worrying that Christine may meet another partner who will try to take the family’s money, and have also questioned why Meri stays with him.

Sister Wives continues Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on TLC.