Sister Wives’ Janelle Fears for Sons’ Mental Health Amid Estrangement from Dad Kody Brown

Maurice BenardOctober 9, 2023

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As Kody’s kids open up more about their family feud, Janelle says things just “ didn’t feel right anymore” on a “date night” with her husband amid separation.

Janelle Brown and her sons continue to drift further from Kody Brown.

On Sunday’s new hour of Sister Wives, Janelle’s sons Gabriel and Garrison weighed moving in together with Christine Brown’s daughter Gwendlyn — sparking new comments from them all about their respective issues with the patriarch of the family.

For Christine and Janelle, it was nice for them to see their children keeping their bond, despite Christine’s decision to split from Kody. Their potential move-in together also came amid Janelle’s own separation from Kody, following serious divide between him and her kids over his strict Covid protocols for the family.

“At this point, our family to use an analogy, feels like we all abandoned ship in different life boats. Every individual mom is doing a great job keeping their unit together,” Gabe explained in a confessional. “I think it’s really nice that my mom and her kids and Christine and her kids can actually maintain a really functional relationship. It gives me a lot of hope that we can still have this warm place for each other.”

He then reiterated how he and Garrison were still “at odds” with their father following the Covid fallout. He claimed they were “met with a wall” when trying to work things out with him, saying there “was no line of dialogue” to be had between them and that’s “what really drove a wedge between us.”

Christine commented that she felt “very permanent that things are going to be separate” for a lot of them going forward, adding that she would never be getting together with her former family for Christmas in the future. She did say she would love to continue to celebrate with Janelle and her kids, however — before Janelle predicted she and Kody would also never “spend a holiday together again.”

While Christine said her own children were pretty “used to Kody not being in their life,” she acknowledged that wasn’t the case for Janelle and their kids together, as Janelle explained how the estrangement has affected them all.

“I have worried about my boys’ mental health. Gabriel feels everything very deeply, but he’s also the kid who doesn’t say anything,” she said. “And Garrison just seems angrier, sadder, he’s not as happy go lucky as he used to be.”

“For them, this has been a lot more devastating than it has been for my kids,” added Christine.

Despite the messy drama going on between her, her children and Kody, Janelle was still seen celebrating her birthday with Kody near the end of the episode. She explained that the two were still, “on a very superficial level,” able to have a great time together — if she’s able to “compartmentalize.” That being said, she added, “At this point, I don’t see Kody and I working out relationship out. I’m a realist and I know it doesn’t look good.”

While cameras didn’t follow them on the date itself, Janelle said they had a fun time in Sedona and delicious meal together. What they didn’t have, however, were any sparks.

“At one point I slipped my hand into his out of habit and thought, ‘This feels really weird,'” Janelle revealed. “I took my hand back out of his hand. It just didn’t feel right anymore.”

The hour ended with her admitting, “There just isn’t anything there anymore, there just isn’t.”