Janelle Brown got real on Sister Wives about what Kody Brown’s first three wives needed to cope with before the “love of his life” Robyn Brown got here into the image.
“Kody has said, ‘Well, swiftly, I met Robyn and she or he’s this Diesel jeans model and she or he’s every thing I need,’” Janelle, 55, claimed through the Sunday, April 27, episode of the TLC series. “And I’m considering, ‘That’s wealthy, dude.’”
Janelle then recalled the toughest times their plural family endured when it was her, Kody, 56, Meri Brown and Christine Brown. Robyn, 46, didn’t join the group until 2010.
“We went through all of the ravenous years after I was holding my bra along with diaper pins,” Janelle revealed. “We were broke as broke, and we went through all of your crazy, ‘Let’s move here, let’s move there.’”
She quipped, “We’ve been through all of this with you, and she or he’s not been through that with you. In order that’s great. You simply take your little Diesel jeans model and just go live happily ever after.”
Kody began his family in 1990 when he married Meri, 54. Three years later, Kody and Janelle had their spiritual marriage, and he and Christine, 53, did the identical in 1994. It wasn’t until 2010 that the Browns added one other wife to their polygamous family, which led to friction throughout the unit.
In 2014, Kody legally divorced Meri and legally wed Robyn. He then adopted her three children from a previous relationship. While Kody and Meri remained in a spiritual union for one more decade the family never fully recovered.
Kody and Christine split in November 2021 and Janelle announced her separation from the patriarch in December 2022. Kody and Meri released a joint statement in January 2023, revealing they’d parted ways as well.
Within the wake of their splits, Kody has claimed he never “loved” his exes, but Meri and Janelle didn’t buy it.
“We were team players,” Meri told Janelle during Sunday’s episode, while discussing their past family funds and responsibilities.
Sister Wives‘ Janelle Brown and Kody Brown’s plural marriage was anything but conventional ahead of their 2022 split. Janelle and Kody’s lives were intertwined well before they spiritually tied the knot in 1993. Janelle’s late mom, Sheryl Brown, and Kody’s dad, William Winn Brown, were married for years before William’s death in 2013, making the eventual […]
Janelle agreed, saying, “We set it up within the very starting. From the very first day, it felt like we just were putting our money in and we were all contributing.”
Meri identified that they “at all times knew that we had one another’s backs too.” She noted that although she was “willing to do it then,” Kody’s remarks about how “he never desired to marry us and he felt forced to marry us” made her query their loyalty to the family.
“I don’t consider it. But he’s at all times been so wishy-washy forwards and backwards,” Meri told Janelle, who said she also thought Kody was spewing lies.
Janelle quipped, “I feel it’s similar to his ego can’t handle the incontrovertible fact that he’s failed miserably at this, or he’s found the love of his life.”
At the top of the episode, Kody acknowledged that he was lying about his love for his first three lives after feeling hurt by their divorces.
“All that I said about not loving my wives and stuff, my exes, it was similar to me attempting to dial in how I felt about it. I used to be bullying myself,” Kody confessed. “I used to be like, ‘Oh yeah, I’m not affected by this. Those mean women, they’re gone. I never loved them anyway.’ This is basically the crap I used to be spewing because that was the one defense I had.”
He admitted, “I got my identity from them saying I used to be ‘awesome’ and telling my kids I used to be awesome and having my kids tell me I used to be awesome. And now they’re gone they usually’re saying that I’m a chunk of trash.”
Kody claimed, “I don’t blame them” because she was also saying “they were a chunk of trash” and he was telling them he didn’t “love” them in the warmth of the moment.
“It didn’t work for a reason, and I attempted to persuade myself that I did this on purpose because I didn’t love them,” he concluded. “As much as I said I hated them or that I didn’t love them — I really like them. This example, what we experienced is over. If it might be friendly, I could be very glad.”
Sister Wives airs on TLC Sundays at 10 p.m. ET.
