Janelle Brown got real on Sister Wives about what Kody Brown’s first three wives had to deal with before the “love of his life” Robyn Brown came into the picture.
“Kody has said, ‘Well, all of a sudden, I met Robyn and she’s this Diesel jeans model and she’s everything I want,’” Janelle, 55, claimed during the Sunday, April 27, episode of the TLC series. “And I’m thinking, ‘That’s rich, dude.’”
Janelle then recalled the hardest 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 the starving years when I was holding my bra together with diaper pins,” Janelle revealed. “We were broke as broke, and we went through all your crazy, ‘Let’s move here, let’s move there.’”
She quipped, “We’ve been through all of this with you, and she’s not been through that with you. So that’s great. You just 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 same in 1994. It wasn’t until 2010 that the Browns added another wife to their polygamous family, which led to friction within the unit.
In 2014, Kody legally divorced Meri and legally wed Robyn. He then adopted her three children from a prior relationship. While Kody and Meri remained in a spiritual union for another 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 had parted ways as well.
In 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 finances 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 in the very beginning. From the very first day, it felt like we just were putting our money in and we were all contributing.”
Meri pointed out that they “always knew that we had each other’s backs too.” She noted that although she was “willing to do it then,” Kody’s remarks about how “he never wanted to marry us and he felt forced to marry us” made her question their loyalty to the family.
“I don’t believe it. But he’s always been so wishy-washy back and forth,” Meri told Janelle, who said she also thought Kody was spewing lies.
Janelle quipped, “I think it’s just like his ego can’t handle the fact that he’s failed miserably at this, or he’s found the love of his life.”
At the end 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 just like me trying to dial in how I felt about it. I was bullying myself,” Kody confessed. “I was like, ‘Oh yeah, I’m not affected by this. Those mean women, they’re gone. I never loved them anyway.’ This is really the crap I was spewing because that was the only defense I had.”
He admitted, “I got my identity from them saying I was ‘awesome’ and telling my kids I was awesome and having my kids tell me I was awesome. And now they’re gone and they’re saying that I’m a piece of trash.”
Kody claimed, “I don’t blame them” because she was also saying “they were a piece of trash” and he was telling them he didn’t “love” them in the heat of the moment.
“It didn’t work for a reason, and I tried to convince 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 love them. This situation, what we experienced is over. If it could be friendly, I would be very happy.”
Sister Wives airs on TLC Sundays at 10 p.m. ET.
