Tearful Janelle Brown Says She's 'Stuck' Financially as Marriage Crumbles

Janelle Brown was overcome with emotion while thinking about her next steps after a blowout fight with Kody Brown on Sister Wives.

During the Sunday, September 10, episode of the TLC reality series, viewers saw Janelle and Kody, both 54, grapple with the aftermath of the spat that aired one week prior. With tears welling in her eyes, Janelle told the camera that she could hardly even “recognize” Kody after their yelling match.

“I don’t know who this guy is,” she said on Sunday’s episode. “Maybe this is who he always was. I don’t know, but I don’t recognize this very mean person.”

Janelle expressed some concerns about her path forward as her relationship with Kody grew even more fractured. “I’m stuck,” she said. “Financially, I have nothing.”

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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 […]

She went on to compare her experience to sister wife Christine Brown, who was the first to leave the plural family. “Christine had the house, I have nothing. My name is on property with everybody else,” Janelle explained, referring to the Browns’ land in Flagstaff, Arizona. “Probably nobody will cooperate now and play ball.”

As the reality of her broken family set in, Janelle asked herself how she didn’t see it coming. “I can’t believe I’m 50 and I can’t even do my own thing ’cause I’m so tied up with them financially. … I can’t believe I got myself into this position,” she said. “How dumb is that? I know better.”

Janelle entered a spiritual union with Kody in 1993. At the time, he was already legally married to Meri Brown. Kody and Meri, 52, divorced in 2014 but remained in a spiritual marriage until confirming their split earlier this year. Kody and Robyn Brown, his only current wife, lawfully tied the knot in 2014.

Christine, 51, joined the polygamous family in 1994. Sister Wives fans were shocked when she and Kody announced their breakup in 2021, but Christine and Janelle have maintained their close bond after the split.

During the season 17 Sister Wives: One-on-One reunion in December 2022, Janelle revealed that she and Kody had been “separated for months.” Tensions have remained high between the now-exes throughout season 18, which premiered in August.

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Sister Wives star Kody Brown has his hands full with wife Robyn Brown and his three former partners, Meri Brown, Janelle Brown and Christine Brown. Kody’s family — which includes 18 total children— was thrust into the spotlight in September 2010 when Sister Wives premiered. At the time, Kody was courting his fourth wife, Robyn, […]

The pair, who share six children, accused each other of “gaslighting” during their “intense” argument on the September 3 episode. “I think you decided you didn’t want to be a plural husband anymore,” Janelle told Kody, who she claimed was “pushing [her] out the door.”

Kody, for his part, argued that Janelle was taking Christine’s side instead of his as the family’s dynamic shifted. After the “dramatic” fight, Janelle told Kody to “come pick up his stuff.”

As Janelle, who lived in an RV on the Browns’ property for several months in 2021, reflected on her “problems” with Kody on Sunday’s episode, she confessed that her issue wasn’t with plural marriage itself.

“I still believe that it can be lived and there’s a purpose for it. … I do think I could live plural marriage again,” Janelle told the camera, adding that the “opportunity” might never come. “I mean, it’s kind of a strange thing. You don’t go around finding people who are living plural marriage.”

Sister Wives airs on TLC Sundays at 10 p.m. ET.