Janelle Brown is still hoping for a reconciliation between her ex, Kody Brown, and their two sons, Garrison and Gabriel Brown. But the battle of wills wages silently on.
Of their six children together, the only one with whom Kody has a relationship is their 18-year-old, Savanah. The former couple share Logan, Maddie, Hunter, Garrison and Gabriel, in addition to Savanah.
“There’s still not a lot of movement,” the Sister Wives star told Us Weekly of her younger sons’ relationship with their father. “I’m hoping, again, that time heals.”
The estrangement persists with Kody and his sons
Even if the boys don’t reconcile with their dad, Janelle at least hopes they can find peace within themselves. “It does affect them when they don’t have a good [relationship] with their dad,” she says. “So I’m hoping that in the future, things can get better.”
During Season 17, viewers watched the disagreement grow between Kody and Gabe and Garrison. They thought his excessively strict rules during Covid, which included sanitizing groceries and even mail, were ridiculous. They both continued going to their jobs, and Gabe refused to stop seeing his girlfriend.
Finally, Kody laid down the law, with a little more force than was necessary. He told Janelle that if the boys didn’t apologize for their infractions, they would no longer be welcome at family events. What family events? There were no family events at Kody’s during Covid.
Additionally, Kody believed that the boys, along with many of his other children, were disrespectful of his fourth and obviously favorite wife Robyn Brown. There’s the crux of the matter. Nobody but Kody likes Sobbin’ Robyn, and his feelings are hurt.
And then there was one
Although Kody later rescinded his apology requirement, the damage was done. Gabe and Garrison felt their dad was prioritizing Robyn over his children. They were very hurt by his favoritism. Their wounded feelings only compounded Janelle’s issues with her estranged husband.
In December 2022, Janelle finally announced that she and Kody had been separated for several months. The writing was on the wall after their big blowout right before Christmas a year earlier, where the F-word was thrown repeatedly by both parties.
Kody’s third wife, Christine Brown, had taken her leave in November 2021. Meri Brown, Kody’s first wife, also confirmed in January 2023 that she was done, leaving only Robyn. Conveniently, Robyn is Kody’s only legal wife. He talked Meri into divorcing him in 2014 so that he and Robyn could legally marry, allowing Kody to adopt her three children from her previous marriage.
Janelle confessed on-camera that she worries about her kids’ mental health following the family drama. “Gabriel feels everything very, very deeply,” she said. “And Garrison just seems angry or sadder, like, he’s not as happy, go-lucky as he used to be.”
For his part, Kody admitted, “I haven’t been in touch with Gabriel and Garrison for quite a while. I’m pretty sad that I’m not close anymore.” So pick up the damn phone then, Kody. You’re the adult. Swallow your freaking pride and call your sons.
Despite the estrangement between most of her and Kody’s children, Janelle concedes that “he was a good dad” while they were growing up.
Sister Wives airs Sundays at 10/9c on TLC.
TELL US – DO YOU THINK KODY BROWN WILL EVER BE ABLE TO HEAL THINGS WITH HIS SONS?
