Janelle Brown has a lot of family history with ex Kody Brown.
Janelle, 56, revealed during the Sunday, November 30, episode of Sister Wives that her mother, Sheryl Usher, was spiritually married to Kody’s father, Winn Brown, prior to their respective deaths.
“My mom came to save me from the polygamists because no daughter of hers was going to marry some into some crazy cult,” Janelle recalled. “And she ended up marrying Kody’s dad.”
Sheryl and Winn married in October 1992. Winn was also spiritually married to two other women before his death in 2013 at age 78. Sheryl, meanwhile, died years after her husband’s death at age 76 in 2020. (Kody was listed as Sheryl’s stepson and son-in-law in her obituary.)
“It was a little weird at first, but I’m like, ‘OK, it’s great. Somebody’s here with me,’” Janelle recalled about her mother’s marriage. “Because a lot of my family did not understand my choices. They were hesitant to still remain in contact with me just because they thought I’d gone off the deep end.”
Janelle and Kody tied the knot in January 1993. She was his second wife, as Kody was already legally married to Meri Brown. (Kody also spiritually married Christine Brown in 1994. He legally married Robyn Brown in 2014 after his divorce from Meri.)
Throughout their relationship, Janelle and Kody became parents to six kids, Logan, 31, Madison, 30, Hunter, 28, Gabriel, 24, and Savanah, 20. Their son Garrison died by suicide at age 25 in March 2024. (Kody is also the father to one child with Meri, six children with Christine and five children with Robyn. Kody also adopted Robyn’s three kids from a prior relationship after they legally married.)
Janelle announced in December 2022 that she and Kody had been separated for “several months” during a tell-all Sister Wives episode. (Christine had split from Kody the year prior.)
“Janelle has made it pretty clear to me that she’s enjoying her life without me,” Kody said at the time.
During Sunday’s Sister Wives episode, Kody also discussed his relationship with Janelle and how it connected to his father.
“There’s a strange relationship that we have in this,” he explained. “It’s weird that Sheryl is both my dad’s wife, my mom’s sister wife and my mother-in-law.”
Janelle previously discussed her mother’s marriage to Kody’s dad during an episode of Sister Wives last year.
“I actually didn’t have a wedding dress,” she recalled in December 2024. “When Kody and I got married, my family was very upset with my decision to join the faith, so most of my family was not talking to me or associating with me.”
She added, “My mom was at the wedding because she came to save me from the polygamist and ended up marrying Kody’s dad three months before we got married. So my mom was obviously OK with it, but the rest of my family was really not OK with it. So they didn’t, they didn’t come.”
Sister Wives airs on TLC Sundays at 10 p.m. ET.
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