Fans of Sister Wives have been both anticipating and dreading Season 19, and its premiere is now just days away.
As we recently reported, the upcoming season of Sister Wives (which debuts on September 15) is expected to be tense for a number of reasons.
Though there’s ongoing fallout from the collapse of the Brown family’s sprawling plural marriage, that’s not nearly as consequential or as tragic as the untimely death of Garrison Brown.
Editor’s note:
This article contains mention of suicide or suicidal ideation. If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health crisis, please visit findahelpline.com to connect with resources in your country.
Garrison was Kody’s son by his now former wife Janelle, and Kody acknowledged they’d become distant at the end of Season 18.
In 2021, Kody’s marriage to Christine crumbled, with Christine’s “sister wives” Meri and Janelle leaving not long after her.
In March, Garrison died by suicide, leaving the entire Brown family shattered.
Janelle Brown moved “in secret” to North Carolina this year, not long after Garrison’s passing.
Mykelti Brown Padron (daughter of Christine and Kody) and her husband Tony Padron have repeatedly expressed concerns about how TLC will handle Garrison’s death.
More recently, Mykelti and Tony told Patreon subscribers that an incident at a “recent funeral” had strained their relationship with Kody’s remaining wife, Robyn, with whom he is now monogamous by default.
How Many Children Does Kody Brown Have?
Kody Brown has 18 children in total.
With ex-wife Meri, Kody shares one child, and six each with ex-wives Christine and Meri.
Kody and current wife Robyn have two biological children, and Kody legally adopted Robyn’s three children from a previous relationship.
Kody And Janelle’s Differences Were Stark As They Discussed Their Grief
Like most major reality TV shows, Sister Wives is filmed, edited, and airs in batches (seasons), so the events on our screens are always lagging behind “real time.”
By the same token, Sister Wives’ Season 19 is debuting on Sunday, September 15, and in the ensuing 18 seasons, the Brown family have become notable and newsworthy.
Consequently, if something major occurs between seasons, it often becomes news — which was unfortunately the case with Garrison’s unexpected death.
A tragedy like this puts both the subjects and the network in a difficult position, as the show is still filmed in a semblance of chronological order, while viewers and the show’s stars remain acutely aware that something unimaginably sad happened.
Mykelti has reiterated her fear that Garrison’s passing will be handled insensitively, a concern Janelle and Kody might share.
On September 5, Janelle shared a beautiful tribute to Garrison on Instagram, writing in part:
I love you so much and will see you again when my journey is done.
On September 11 and 12, People published separate interviews with Janelle and Kody about the loss of their son, and their differences were even more evident through that inadvertent contrast.
Janelle’s interview appeared first, and she discussed being blindsided when Garrison died, as they were in close contact, and she saw no “obvious signs” anything was amiss:
“[Garrison and I] actually were having conversations. He had all the resources that he could have needed. This was just such a shock. We just never expected this.
“I really actually had sort of thought like, ‘Okay, maybe he’s finally starting to get his momentum. It’s hard in your twenties to find your path. And I was really excited, so it was such a shock … because there was just no indication at all.”
Janelle repeatedly described every parent’s nightmare, adding: “It just wasn’t for lack of love or lack of anything … we did everything. We really did everything that we could have done. And unfortunately, sometimes [that] still isn’t enough.”
People published Kody’s interview about Garrison the following day, and taken together, they illustrate the reality of the chasm between Janelle and Kody, both interpersonally and in terms of perspective.
Where Janelle was confident she’d done everything in her power to help Garrison, Kody said his relationship with their son “certainly could have been better,” and continued:
“We could have been talking more. I’d get texts, stuff like that, and we could have, retrospectively, we could have done so much more. And it was almost like — I’m busy with my life, he’s busy with his life, and when we connect, we’ll connect.”
Janelle’s interview focused primarily on Garrison himself, whereas Kody’s was more about Kody’s feelings.
While Janelle spoke of Garrison and how the family coped going forward, Kody talked more about how losing Garrison affected him:
“The hard part is giving away that future that I saw for him, the excitement.
I want
to go out to dinner again.
I want
to sit down.
I want
to have a beer.
I want
him to try and make me laugh because he was kind of that way.”
People reported that Janelle “acknowledge[d] there wasn’t much more she could’ve done as a mother to prevent this tragedy,” whereas Kody had a different perspective:
“The only regret is just, gosh, I would just do that more often. The only regret is that you didn’t do something. You didn’t take more time.”
At the end of the interview, Kody admitted Garrison’s death “irrevocably” changed him, adding: “I can’t get back to where I was. I can’t reconcile that [Garrison is] not here.”
