Welp.
That sure was awkward, wasn’t it?
On this past Sunday’s episode of Sister Wives, Robyn Brown clashed with husband Kody over the latter’s desire to purchase a home as opposed to simply rent some property in Arizona…
… but this disagreement wasn’t the only notable segment on the installment.
At one point, Robyn’s 17-year old daughter, Aurora, suffered a panic attack.
It was a pretty scary moment, as the teenager cried and convulsed in a chair and her mother was forced to embrace her and try to calm her down amidt the tear-filled breakdown.
Why, many Sister Wives viewers wondered, was this featured on the show?!?
On Twitter this week, Robyn explained what happened and then defended the decision to depict the panic attack on air.
"Aurora started having real panic attacks when things got super stressful when were told we had to move," Tweeted her mom, adding:
"It was hard for her to think about moving again and she had a lot going on since it was her Junior year. It was super hard to see her struggle."
Yes, it absolutely must have been.
But that doesn’t answer the question of why a young woman’s panic attack was turned into fodder for a reality TV show. Isn’t it a parent’s responsibility to shield her child from this kind of thing?
"Aurora was given the choice whether to let her panic attack be included on the show," Robyn added in response to the backlash, saying in more detail:
"She just wanted to be able to talk about what it is like to have a panic attack too. She wants to bring awareness so people are more sensitive and supportive to those who have them."
If this second point is true, then we applaud Aurora for being so open about what she goes through.
We’re just a little cynical when it comes to programs of this nature — and it’s hard not to wonder whether producers pressured Aurora to give them the greenlight because her attack made for good content.
Concluded Robyn on this subject, giving fans more context:
She has seen doctors to help her and we did a lot to support her through everything she was going through. She is so accomplished and still is doing very well in school.
She is my over achiever and expects a lot of herself.
It was a very stressful hard time for her.
The scene in question was difficult to watch for most fans.
It took place after Kody and Robyn had gathered their five kids to tell them that the rental home they had been living in was recently sold.
They had 60 days to move out and find another house in Flagstaff, while Robyn and Kody argued in front of their children about whether renting another home or buying a home was the best option for their family.
In the middle of their debate, Robyn noticed that Aurora had started to twitch, which is one of the first signs of an impendiing panic attack.
In a confessional, the teenager opened up about what it feels like when she’s going through this sort of thing.
“It’s like, difficult to think and process things cause it feels like my thoughts are simultaneously going a million miles an hour and nowhere at all,” she explained.
“These panic attacks happen probably four to five times a week. Some of them, I have noticed, are triggered by certain things like when I’m really, really upset or really like emotionally or physically exhausted or when I have a high stress situation.
‘My shoulders and torso will start to shake and I’ll start to have tremors and stuff. By the time I’m in the middle of one, I’m like hyperventilating and I can’t talk and I can’t walk and I can’t do hardly anything for myself.
"I still struggle to convince myself that I’m not the one causing it. I’m not the one instigating it and knowing that it’s not my fault. It’s not a bad thing, it’s just hard.”
Sister Wives Secrets Spilled: What Did Kody Brown Reveal?
VIEW GALLERYncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEoaalpKmsvLCwxqiqrKGgY7CwuY5rZ2toX2WAcL7Om7CnZZKnvLi6jJ2cn52emcBusMScoKyhn6N6tbuMn6ClpV2Zrrazx62cq6tdpa6vtcJmmK2skZi4brvNZqpo