Uhh, Apparently ‘Sister Wives’ Stars Kody Brown and Second Wife Janelle Are Also Step-Siblings?!
Such a tangled family tree. Sister Wives stars Kody Brown and his second wife, Janelle, are apparently step-siblings as well as husband and wife. Say what!? Yep, polygamous families can get complicated, y’all. Radar Online reported on January 18 that Kody’s father, William Winn Brown, was married to Janelle’s mother, Sheryl, for at least part of his life. Hmmm.
Janelle, 49, explained in a 2013 episode of the TLC series, “Before Kody and I were really courting, I was actually friends with his family. My mom was worried I was getting sucked into some polygamous cult. But she ended up meeting Kody’s dad and they ended up falling in love and getting married before Kody and I started courting.” So it’s not like they’ve been siblings their whole lives, people. It could be worse!
Radar reported that when William died in August 2013 at the age of 78, Sheryl was listed as one of his wives in his obituary. Kody’s biological mom, Genielle, and William’s second wife, Bobbi, are apparently also listed. Just one of the many fun quirks of being part of a family that includes sister wives, we guess!
On top of all that, Kody, 50, and Christine Brown, 46 — one of Kody’s other wives — aren’t just spouses, but cousins as well. Distant cousins, but still. And in case it all didn’t seem complicated enough already, Janelle and Kody’s daughter Maddie is married to Caleb Brush, who is Maddie’s aunt’s brother/the brother of Kody’s sister-in-law, Erica Brush Brown, according to Heavy. Confused yet? So are we. But it makes sense if you break it all down.
For good measure, we should also mention that Radar reported back in October 2015 that Janelle was previously married to Adam Clark Barber — the brother of Meri Brown, 48, Kody’s first wife and Janelle’s sister wife. Janelle apparently fell for her first husband’s brother-in-law while she was still married to her first husband. However, Kody and Janelle were not “spiritually married” until 1993.
It’s safe to say that this is one family tree that must take a lot of work to research and work out. But as long as everyone in the Brown family is happy, we guess? Which frankly seems a little questionable when you watch certain episodes of their reality show. Fans will just have to wait and see how everyone is doing when Season 8 of Sister Wives, airing on TLC, premieres on Sunday, January 20 at 8 p.m. ET.
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