Sister Wives’ Christine Brown got real about why she thinks Janelle Brown didn’t leave Kody Brown sooner — and it’s all about finances.
Christine, 51, went into detail with her brothers about her 2021 split from Kody, 54, during the Sunday, November 19, episode of the TLC series, explaining that she was financially independent when they called it quits.
“Kody and I talked about what to do with the property and my house before I left. So I was like, ‘Why don’t I keep all of the money from the proceeds of the sale of my house and then I’ll turn the property back over to the family?’” she recalled, referring to their Coyote Pass land in Arizona. “So financial wise, it was very easy for me to walk away.”
Janelle’s situation, however, is a little more complicated. “I believe that’s the biggest reason why Janelle is staying with Kody is because she has nothing in her name,” Christine said. “And the [Coyote Pass] property, Kody’s name is on every piece of property.”
In a confessional of her own, Janelle, 54, said she felt stuck monetarily as the family’s land had yet to be paid off — and no one had started to build as planned.
“I’m stuck here with really nothing that’s free and clear in my name,” Janelle admitted in a confessional interview. “I’m jointly titled on these pieces with other members of the family.”
Kody, meanwhile, argued on the episode that Janelle wasn’t the only one in trouble with Coyote Pass.
“We all have the same problem that Janelle has is that our assets are all combined,” Kody confessed.
Janelle confirmed in December 2022 that she and Kody had been “separated for several months.” Their tension has been front and center throughout season 18 of Sister Wives, boiling over in a blowout fight on camera.
While lack of income and financial stability did play a part in keeping her with Kody, Janelle pointed to her faith as a deterrent as well.
“I don’t know, like, life is short,” Janelle told Christine and her siblings on Sunday’s episode, noting, “We were raised in a culture where marriage is forever. It’s been a harder thing to, like, reconcile.”
She later confessed that some of her and Kody’s six children “have wondered if I really have left their dad” since she wasn’t “moving on” with someone new. Janelle explained that her hesitation to fully leave Kody had to do with not knowing “how to reconcile my faith with where I am now in my life.”
Janelle, who shares Logan, 29, Maddie, 27, Hunter, 26, Garrison, 25, Gabriel, 21, and Savanah, 18, with Kody, concluded, “I’m not in any hurry, just going to wait and see how it works out.”
Along with Christine and Janelle, Kody is now separated from his first wife, Meri Brown. He remains legally married to fourth wife Robyn Brown.
Sister Wives airs on TLC Sundays at 10 p.m. ET.
