Sister Wives’ Janelle Brown says Kody knew exactly how to hurt her — and did it anyway: ‘He attacked...’
Set against the controversial backdrop of polygamous relationships, TLC's 'Sister Wives' has to be one of the most controversial reality shows on TV. The patriarch of the family, Kody Brown, who is often slammed by viewers for his poor treatment of his partners, was in for a shock when his third wife, Christine Brown, decided to divorce him in 2021, which was followed by Meri and Janelle Brown. Now, Janelle has opened up about the most heartbreaking thing that Kody did during their separation, and we can totally see why she feels hurt.
In a candid moment on 'Sister Wives: Tell All,' Janelle opened up to host Suki Krishnan about what she described as the most painful thing Kody had done to her during their split, which was a deliberate emotional attack aimed at her core values, as per Screen Rant. "He has attacked all of his wives who are living in the area that hurts them the most or that they pride or that they value," Janelle revealed in a video posted by TLC. For her, that area was her sense of financial responsibility.
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"I am fiscally responsible," she explained, adding that Kody "sort of undermines that," likely as a way to hurt her deliberately. Christine also supported her, saying Kody's actions were meant to diminish Janelle’s confidence, saying, "He did that to Janelle so she didn't feel smart." Reportedly, Janelle also resents Kody for his manipulative and controlling behavior, accusing him of refusing to take responsibility for his actions and emotionally undermining his wives to maintain power.
In the Sunday, June 8 episode of Sister Wives' tell-all special, Janelle opened up about her relationship with Kody, questioning whether his behavior aligned with narcissistic traits. "I do think that there was a cycle of love bombing," she told host Krishnan, describing a recurring pattern of emotional manipulation. When asked what that looked like, Janelle explained, "For a narcissist, there's a cycle where you love bomb and then there's sort of a waning and then you almost kind of destroy or hurt them," per E! Online.
Addressing the issue, Janelle further said, "Then to fix it, you come back in and you love-bomb. So there was kind of this cycle." Krishnan then pressed her, saying, "You use the word 'narcissist.' Are you saying Kody's a narcissist?" Janelle responded cautiously, "I am not qualified to diagnose him, but he, I guess everybody will have to decide." Though Janelle clarified that she isn't a mental health professional, she admitted that, based on what she's read in pop culture, Kody's behavior shows many signs similar to narcissism.
Janelle also didn't hold back when placing blame for the decline of their plural marriage, saying, "When you marry into plural marriage, at least in our faith, you are expected to become more than you are." She further said, "He was expected to make those relationships, all of them, work." While Janelle acknowledged that fairness wasn't always possible, she stressed that it was the patriarch’s responsibility to "meet the needs of all the different relationships, right? Whatever that looked like."
Janelle then shared that the turning point came during the pandemic, revealing, "I think he really did, especially during COVID, be like, 'I'm just going to shrug the situation off. You guys don't like each other. I'm tired. You're going to shorten my life span if I keep doing this'." Then Janelle bluntly put it, "He kind of threw this little temper tantrum."
