It’s over between Janelle Brown and Kody Brown. The Sister Wives stars have officially called off their spiritual marriage after nearly 30 years together and following a few months of breakup rumors fueled by on-camera tension. “I am separated from Janelle,” Kody confirmed in a Dec. 11 preview clip for Sister Wives: One on One. In a separate clip from her own one-on-one interview, Janelle added, “Kody and I have separated.”
This comes following reports of a split on Dec. 9. “Janelle is a strong independent woman and realized she can do it on her own,” a source close to the estranged couple told In Touch on Friday, Dec. 9 of Janelle’s reason to leave. They added that she feels she “outgrew him.”
Kody and Janelle, both 53 and the parents of six children together, began to face some cracks in their foundation during the COVID-19 pandemic, as they disagreed over Kody’s strict quarantine rules and how to navigate the difficult time. During the 17th season of Sister Wives, their disagreements became more apparent, including Kody’s discomfort with Janelle’s decision to rent and live in an RV as she awaits a family home to be built on Kody’s Coyote Pass property in Arizona. Plus, during the Dec. 4 episode of the hit TLC series, Janelle and Kody got into a fight after Kody seemingly compared Janelle’s loyalty to him to that of his fourth wife, Robyn Brown.
“There’s an unwillingness for some of the family to accept other members of the family or to communicate with other members of the family. I have somebody in my life who is fundamentally loyal to me, who sees me as the head of the family,” he vented to Janelle without naming Robyn, 44.
Janelle did not take the comments well and thought she was being instructed to be more like Robyn. “It frustrates me beyond belief that he perceives this one wife as being so perfect as such a saint, who was so nice to us and she was treated so wrong,” Janelle complained in a confessional. “Kody’s been a broken record about this. Robyn’s been victimized. I don’t see it that way.”
In his chat with the cameras, Kody said he does not need Janelle to be like Robyn. Instead, he wants her to “just be loyal.” He added, “I have 100 percent loyalty from Robyn. So, okay, yeah, I guess that’s like Robyn. Nope. I’m just asking for loyalty. I’m asking to be the head of my household.”
As fans know, Kody was dumped by his third wife, Christine Brown, in 2021 after more than two decades of marriage. In an Instagram message that followed Christine’s announcement, Kody said the situation is less than ideal. “Christine’s decision to leave comes with a great deal of sadness,” he wrote. “We enjoyed many years together and I have a large amount of respect and admiration for her.”
Before the divorce, the marriage struggles between Christine, 50, and Kody were aired on Sister Wives. During a Nov. 2021 episode of the show, Christine admitted that she could no longer “do marriage with Kody anymore.” She also expressed her dissolution with the Coyote pass property and the so-called plans for a family home to be built there. “Isn’t it obvious that we’re not going to build on the property to anyone but me?” Christine asked.
Kody now has two wives: Meri Brown, who he married in 1990, and Robyn, who he tied the knot with in 2010. Kody divorced Meri, 51, in 2014 so he could marry Robyn, but they are still technically together, despite years of tension in their relationship.. Kody shares 18 kids with his current and ex-wives.