‘Sister Wives’ Star Kody Brown Admits He and Janelle Split: We Are ‘Separated’

Admitting defeat. At the tail end of the Sunday, December 11, episode of Sister Wives, Kody Brown confessed that two of his four marriages are over. 

“I am separated from Janelle, and I am divorced from Christine,” Kody told cameras just days after In Touch broke the news that Janelle Brown – his second wife – had ended their spiritual marriage of almost three decades. 

“Janelle is a strong independent woman and realized she can do it on her own,” an insider exclusively told In Touch of the Strive With Janelle founder, adding that she ultimately “outgrew” her husband and father of her six children. 

Meanwhile, Kody and Christine Brown – who Janelle shares a close relationship with – have been separated since November 2021. Though she still participates on the show, Christine made it clear when she announced her intention to leave Kody that her life was taking her in a different direction than that of the patriarch’s.

“After more than 25 years together, Kody and I have grown apart and I have made the difficult decision to leave,” Christine stated at the time. For his part, Kody wrote in a separate post, “We enjoyed many years together and I have a large amount of respect and admiration for her.” 

While the ex-couple appeared to have some element of respect for one another following their separation, fans watched as things soured between Christine, Kody and the three other sister wives – including Meri Brown and Robyn Brown – throughout season 17 of the hit TLC show. 

At one point during the November 27 episode, Kody asserted that his separation from Christine was damaging his other relationships, namely with Janelle and Robyn – Meri, as fans of the show can attest, has been living a largely independent life from Kody for years. 

“I’m struggling so much with this divorce. It’s probably poisoning my relationship with Janelle a little bit and definitely poisoning my relationship with Robyn,” Kody said. “I think that’s because I haven’t figured out what I am when we’re not this family. I’m out of my frame and I’m out of my purpose. I’m spiritually off course. I’m a mess.” It should be noted that Kody is only legally married to Robyn, and as such his other three marriages are not binding. 

Though the confirmation of Janelle and Kody’s split came with an element of surprise, followers of Sister Wives were all but waiting for the two to go their separate ways. Their once positive relationship went downhill quickly amid the COVID-19 lockdown, and Kody’s dynamic with his and Janelle’s children also deteriorated in part due to his strict pandemic protocols. Speaking to In Touch exclusively in November, Christine’s aunt, Kristyn Decker, further alleged that Janelle had left Kody “a long time ago.”

“As far as any relationship, any marriage goes, I think [Janelle’s] similar to, in Meri [Brown]’s situation where she’s just staying in a marriage that’s not really a marriage,” Kristyn admitted at the time. “I don’t think they’ve had a marriage for a long, long, long time. It’s just platonic.” 

Further exposing the underbelly of the TLC family, Decker speculated that Kody “forced” himself to “believe” in polygamy. 

“I think that’s how it is with most men. I really do. They believe that they have to,” Kristyn told In Touch in an exclusive video interview. “I saw that in several of my brothers and that it was really heartbreaking to them to not be successful. And so, I guess to a great degree, maybe Kody really is feeling like a failure.”