Janelle Brown reveals her whirlwind courtship with Kody Brown influenced her choice to marry him back in 1993.
“Robyn [Brown] and Kody had a very long courtship compared to the rest of us,” Janelle, 56, reveals in an extended preview for the Sister Wives: One-on-One special, which was released after the Sunday, May 25, episode and will continue with part 2 on Sunday, June 1.
She confesses in the clip, “If I had a year with Kody, I’m not sure I would have married him, honestly.”
Janelle entered a spiritual union with Kody, 56, in 1993, three years after he legally married first wife Meri Brown. Christine Brown joined the plural family in 1994.
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Kody welcomed six kids each with Janelle and Christine and one child with Meri, most of whom were born before Robyn, 46, began courting Kody in 2009. (Kody and Janelle’s middle son Garrison died by suicide in March 2024 at age 25.)
Following almost a yearlong courtship, Robyn and Kody spiritually wed in 2010 but made it legal in 2014 so Kody could legally adopt Robyn’s three children from a prior marriage. They later welcomed two children of their own.
While Kody remained spiritually married to Meri, 54, after the legal divorce, their family fell apart less than a decade later. Christine, 53, split from Kody in November 2021, and Janelle followed in December 2022. Meri confirmed her separation in January 2023.
Throughout season 19, fans have seen how each ex-wife has moved forward without Kody and how he and Robyn have stayed connected.
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During episode 1 of the Sister Wives: One-on-One special, Janelle and Kody reflected on their split. “I don’t know what went wrong between us, but it made me angrier and angrier until I was just like, ‘Yeah, I’m done.’ And she was, too,” Kody said during the Sunday episode.
Janelle, meanwhile, clapped back at Kody’s previous claim that she has a “card that says ‘victim’ on it” and she “likes to play it.”
“I’m definitely not wearing a victim card just because I want my feelings and boundaries and emotions respected,” she fired back. “I don’t think that’s being a victim.”
Janelle wondered if it was Kody’s “ego” that was making him say negative things about her or if his allegiance to Robyn had tainted his viewpoint.
She claimed that Kody is “running interference so hard for Robyn and trying to take the fall so that Robyn doesn’t get any blame,” noting, “They’re both culpable for their actions. I think they both have done things just like we all have.”
Janelle explained that if it’s not the Robyn factor, perhaps it is his “ego,” because even though Kody doesn’t follow their church guidelines anymore, “He is a failure as far as what’s expected of a man who enters into plural marriage.”
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In the preview for the June 1 episode, Janelle hinted she had more to say about Kody and Robyn’s dynamic. “I think in a lot of ways, he’s made himself even more villainous, I guess to kind of take away some of the blame from her,” she claimed, joking, “This is just gospel according to Janelle.”
Christine, meanwhile, noted in the preview, “[As a] polygamist in this world, if you’ve got a guy who three of his wives leave, it’s a problem with a man,” agreeing with Janelle’s assessment of their shared ex-husband.
Christine also laid blame on Kody for the downfall of their polygamist family. “You need to turn a mirror on yourself. You wonder what ended this era and it was you. You picked favorites,” she quipped, referring to Robyn.
Episode 2 of the Sister Wives: One-on-One special airs on TLC Sunday, June 1, at 10 p.m. ET.
