Kody Brown detailed his own emotional rollercoaster on Sister Wives following the death of his son Garrison Brown.
“Grief hits you in waves. When it hits me, I can’t run from it,” Kody, 56, explained during the Sunday, May 11, episode of the TLC series, which was filmed roughly four months after Garrison died by suicide in March 2024 at age 25.
Kody revealed, “If I cry it out, or if I sob it out, I can cut it short, but when that wave comes, I cannot prevent it from affecting me.”
Kody and ex-wife Janelle Brown announced their son’s passing in March 2024 and later celebrated his life with a family funeral. The former couple, who split in December 2022, share five additional children.
Sister Wives’ Kody Wanted More Time With Son Garrison, Recalls His Death
In addition to a military funeral for Garrison, Kody set out on his own “pilgrimage” to his birthplace of Wyoming to put his son to rest near family. Janelle’s ancestors are also buried in the area, and she said on Sunday’s episode, “I want to be buried right next to Garrison” when her time comes.
Kody, meanwhile, made it clear he wanted to take Garrison “home” and bury his ashes “next to his grandma and his grandpa and, you know, just kind of … finish the circle.” He noted, “I was the first one that held him. This is my son. I rocked him to sleep. This is part of my mourning process.”
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Kody began to tear up thinking about Garrison’s final resting place and their unfinished business. “Sometimes out of the blue, out of the blue, it’ll overcome me. Almost, like, some kind of anxiety attack,” he revealed. “Just a deep, overwhelming feeling that I’ll never see him again.There’s so much left unsaid, so much left undone.”
Kody and Garrison were on the outs prior to his death after Kody enforced strict guidelines for the family during the coronavirus pandemic. Kody also butted heads with son Gabriel Brown over the same issue.
“Garrison’s poster will always be in my garage, and I always will always see it and wonder what was missed in the future that would have been,” Kody continued. “And it’s a game of consciousness to move with grief, to make your blood sweet instead of bitter from the pain.”
Janelle, for her part, went to the Flagstaff, Arizona, High Country Humane Society during Sunday’s episode to see how they honored Garrison and his love of cats. She noted that Garrison’s nursing school friends wanted to pay tribute to him, so she suggested donating to the animal society in his name and it “snowballed” from there.
Sister Wives’ Janelle Brown Gets Emotional Over Money Raised in Son’s Honor
The local organization, where Garrison adopted his animals, named their cat adoption room after him with a commemorative plaque.
“Since his passing, $25,000 [has] been raised for High Country Humane for the cats,” a High Country Humane worker revealed. “In addition to the room naming, we also sponsored all of the cat adoption fees in Garrison’s name in March. And we did 36 cat adoptions in honor of Garrison.”
Janelle was speechless after seeing all the “good that has come” from Garrison’s untimely death. “I needed to come and see,” she said. “It’s almost like a legacy. So, I had to see it.”
Sister Wives airs on TLC Sundays at 10 p.m. ET.
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