Sister Wives’ Janelle Brown Suggests Kody Brown Is a Narcissist
Janelle Brown is really telling it all.
The Sister Wives star did not hold back when reflecting on her relationship with ex Kody Brown, going so far as to question whether his behavior indicated narcissism.
“I do think that there was a cycle of love bombing,” she told Sukanya Krishnan during the third part of the TLC series’ four-part tell-all June 8. “And then almost kind of like a wind down.”
And when Sukanya questioned what the love bombing in question might have 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. Then to fix it, you come back in and you love bomb. So there was kind of this cycle.”
To which Sukanya noted, “You use the word narcissist. Are you saying Kody's a narcissist?”
In her answer, Janelle hedged, conceding, “I am not qualified to diagnose him, but he—I guess everybody will have to decide.”
Noting she’s not a psychologist or psychiatrist, the 56-year-old continued, “I read pop culture. I have no idea. But it does seem like there's quite a lot of similarities.”
According to the American Psychiatry Association, narcissistic personality disorder is estimated to affect 1 to 2 one to two percent of the population and involves “a pervasive pattern of grandiosity (sense of superiority in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy.”
This is not the first time Janelle has looked back harshly at her time with Kody, the husband she shared with Meri Brown, Christine Brown and Robyn Brown. With three of those four marriages unraveling—Robyn is Kody’s sole remaining wife—the failure lies with Kody, Janelle insisted.
"When you marry into plural marriage, at least in our faith," she explained on the TLC series June 1, "you are expected to become more than you are."
“He was expected to make those relationships, all of them, work," she added. And while noting the marriages didn't need to be equal, "because nothing's ever fair or equal," Janelle stressed it was the patriarch's expected responsibility to "meet the needs of all the different relationships, right? Whatever that looked like."
According to Janelle—who shares six children with Kody—it was during the pandemic that Kody began to shirk some of those responsibilities.
"I think he really did—especially during COVID—be like, 'I'm just going to shrug this off. You guys don't like each other. I'm tired. You're going to shorten my life span if I keep doing this,'" Janelle reflected. "All of a sudden, he's like, 'I just don't want to do it anymore.'”
As she put it, “He kind of threw this little temper tantrum."
For more on where Kody’s former wives are today, keep reading.
"She looked like a soccer mom," Kody Brown once joked on Sister Wives of meeting then-single mom Robyn in 2009. "She had a van, three kids and was divorced. I thought, 'I didn't need a van, a divorced woman, and three kids in my life—that's just trouble.'"
Nearly a decade and a half on, though, they're still kicking it, with the pair adding son Solomon and daughter Ariella to the squad.
As for bringing on other teammates, it's not in the game plan. "I really, really struggle with it because it feels, like, 'Oh, well. Those didn't work. So, on to [someone] new,'" Robyn said on the December Sister Wives: One on One special of Meri Brown, Janelle Brown and Christine Brown leaving the fold. "That's hard for me. That's really, really hard for me. It feels disrespectful."
In January 2024, a year after she and Kody announced their breakup, Meri revealed on Instagram that she had begun dating Amos Andrews the previous October. But in February 2024, Meri confirmed on Instagram that they had called it quits.
She got the man and the family. Going official with her and David Woolley's romance on Valentine's Day 2023, Christine shared, "I finally found the love of my life, David. The first time he held me close, it felt like my soul took its first breath. He's wonderful and kind, incredible with my children and an adorable grandpa. I never dreamed I could find a love like this."
Two months later he added to the fantasy with a spring proposal. "David treats me like a queen and tells me I'm beautiful everyday," Christine told People. "I've never been in love like this before and the world seems like a brighter place with him in it."
Tying the knot in Utah Oct. 7, she wrote, "I'm so blessed! I've married my best friend."
The first of the 18 Brown children to walk down the aisle, Janelle's eldest daughter wed Caleb Brush at a 2016 outdoor wedding in Montana captured by TLC's cameras. Nearly 10 years later, the two have multiplied their love with Emilia joining older siblings Axel, Evie and Josephine in March 2025.
“Our sweet girl took her time, keeping us all in suspense, but when she decided it was time—she didn’t waste a second," North Carolina-based Maddie wrote on Instagram. "Born on 3/14, she arrived absolutely perfect.”
Four years after their engagement aired on the TLC reality show, Meri's only child settled in Denver with Audrey Kriss.
"My sweetest symphony," Leon raved of their partner in 2022. "Life with you truly is so sweet." Echoed Audrey, "Being your partner and watching your growth and coming into yourself over the years has been an honor and joy."
Eldest Brown kid Logan got the gang back together when he married longtime girlfriend Michelle Petty in Arizona in 2022. "It was a beautiful day and this mama's heart was mush the whole time," Janelle shared on Instagram of her son's wedding. "You always have such a sense of peace when your children find amazing life partners."
More than six years after her 2016 wedding to Antonio "Tony" Padron, Mykelti joked that they'd already tested the limits of their marriage vows by welcoming twins Archer and Ace into the fold in November 2022.
"We have 3 kids and 4 moves under our belt," Mykelti, who is also mom to Avalon, wrote on Instagram at the time. "A whole lot of good times and some hard times #surprisetwins But here we are still doing this whole marriage thing."
Since their 2018 wedding, Christine's oldest daughter and husband Mitch Thompson have traveled everywhere from Paris to Alaska. But in December 2022, they put down roots, with Mitch sharing on Instagram, "We bought our first home! Just in time for Christmas."
Aspyn announced her pregnancy with the couple's first baby in April 2025.
Before hitting their one-year anniversary, Christine's third oldest daughter and love Beatriz Queiroz went to the happiest place on earth and marked six months together with chocolate fondue. Then came the really sweet part, with Gwendlyn sharing a glimpse at the candlelit, rose-filled proposal on Instagram in November 2022, writing simply, "i'm engaged!!"
The couple wed in July 2023, captioning a photo from the ceremony: "Say hello to mrs (x2) queiroz."
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