‘Sister Wives’ Star Janelle Brown Recounts Her Brief Marriage to Meri’s Brother Before Kody Brown

Janelle Brown was married to fellow Sister Wives star Meri Brown’s brother Adam Barber. However, there is little to no detail about it in the media except what Janelle herself revealed during her latest appearance on the Reality Life with Kate Casey podcast. The reality star recalled her “very, very short-lived” marriage to Adam before she went on to embrace polygamy.

On Tuesday, November 5’s episode of the podcast, Janelle said the marriage wasn’t the real deal. To which the host Kate Casey joked, “Many of us have had starter marriages,” prompting Janelle to admit that it “really qualifies” as that. She continued, “I think we might have lived together physically, actually lived together for, like, six months,” however, the marriage “just didn’t take,” per PEOPLE.

She was married to Barber for two years before splitting in 1990, the same year Meri became Kody’s first wife. When asked if meeting Kody was uncomfortable, the TLC star responded, “I didn’t cross paths with him. I was not at Meri’s house all the time” (who was her sister-in-law then) except “occasionally. I just happened to be there when Kody came. And I already was intrigued with the faith,” per Us Weekly.

Back in June, after fans reacted to Janelle’s first marriage, Meri opened up about the relationship during an appearance on the Miss Understood With Rachel Uchitel podcast. “I think it really weirds a lot of people out,” including herself for it took her time to get her “head wrapped around it. There were emotions. Let’s just say, there were emotions.”

Following Janelle’s split from Barber, she married Kody in 1993 and became his second wife. Christine and Robyn Brown later joined the plural marriage and became sister wives. Janelle recalled her opinion of polygamy at the time, “[It] represented something a little more dynamic or something more robust than the faith I had.”

But Janelle didn’t instantly click with Kody. Instead, she had other prospects whom she was meeting with and even introduced them to Meri and Kody. “I had other relationships and boyfriends. Sometimes we did double date.” She also noted that it wasn’t Kody who initiated the relationship but when she met Kody, she went, ‘Oh,’ I had sort of a feeling. Like, ‘Oh there you are.'”

But it was Janelle’s interest in polygamy that prompted her to pursue Kody, “I started to investigate the faith. Meri’s mother was a really great resource for me. I pretty much made the decision to join the faith.” The pair eventually got married in 1993 and welcomed six children, out of which their son Garrison Brown died in May at the age of 25.

After years of marriage, Kody and Janelle announced their separation in 2022 , ending their 30-year spiritual marriage. Janelle’s decision to split with Kody was a culmination of intense family drama, centered around his relationship with her kids.