Meri & Janelle Brown Were Sister In-Laws Before ‘Sister Wives’

Janelle, who tied the knot with Meri’s brother, Adam Barber, long before becoming Kody’s second wife, is now opening up about the early days of the “shortlived” union.

Reflecting on her past, Janelle Brown’s story reveals how complex the Brown family dynamic has been since the beginning.

Before becoming Kody’s second wife, Janelle had a brief and “very, very short-lived” marriage to Meri’s brother, Adam Barber.

Looking back, Janelle describes that first marriage as a classic “starter marriage,” sharing that she and Barber “might have physically lived together for like six months,” ultimately calling it quits in 1990 after just two years.

When asked about the unusual situation of marrying into the family of her former sister-in-law, Janelle explained that crossing paths with Kody—who was already married to Meri—was not as awkward as it might sound.

“I didn’t cross paths with him. I wasn’t at Meri’s house all the time,” she clarified, adding on the “Reality Life with Kate Casey” podcast that she was only there occasionally and happened to meet Kody during one of her visits.

Shortly after her divorce from Barber, Janelle joined Kody in plural marriage in 1993, followed by Christine and Robyn, creating the family dynamic that has captivated fans for years. 

Janelle’s journey to her marriage with Kody was not love at first sight. While chatting with Casey, the 55-year-old shared that ater her first marriage ended, she had other relationships.

In a surprising twist, Janelle disclosed that she would occasionally double-date with Kody and Meri, who were her “token polygamist friends.”

The TV personality admitted she found their unique lifestyle intriguing, saying, “Polygamy represented something a little more dynamic or something more robust than the faith I had.”

It was not Kody who pursued her for marriage, though. Instead, Janelle’s growing interest in the faith drew them closer. She recalls their first meeting as serendipitous, saying:

“When I met Kody just in passing, Meri introduced us. I go, ‘Oh,‘ I had sort of a feeling. Like, ‘Oh there you are.‘”

Guided by Meri’s mother, who was supportive of her spiritual questions, Janelle decided to convert, setting the stage for her eventual marriage to Kody.

Janelle’s passion for the polygamist lifestyle initially brought her into the Brown family, but over time, the once-united clan began to fracture. After his splits from Christine, Janelle, and Meri, Kody’s only remaining marriage with his fourth wife, Robyn, is hitting hard times.

In an August “Sister Wives” trailer, Robyn opened up about her frustrations, calling out Kody for “sabotaging” their relationship. 

The Blast reported that the fourth wife, feeling isolated, admitted, “I feel like the idiot that got left behind,” as she struggles with the emotional fallout of Kody’s broken marriages.

Meanwhile, the father-of-eighteen, visibly shaken, reflected on what he sees as betrayal from his former wives. “The dream of a big polygamist family is just shot,” he lamented a vision that crumbled after years of strain.

Kody also accepted his part in causing the cracks in his marriage with Robyn during the emotionally charged episode. The polygamist opened up about how anger and self-loathing sabotaged their relationship.

The 55-year-old revealed he had once considered leaving Robyn for another partner—only to then admit to the new woman that his heart was still with his fourth wife.

He acknowledged that his anger had become a major turnoff for Robyn and that his raw honesty only deepened the rift between them.

Reflecting on his choice of words, Kody confessed, “You can only imagine how terrible that was. You know, there are some things in a man’s mind that should never be expressed.”

The 46-year-old’s emotional call out in August was not the first she had expressed her frustrations about the state of their once-thriving polygamous home. In last year’s “Sister Wives: One-on-One Special,” Robyn shed light on the toll that Kody’s divorces took on him—and their relationship. 

Speaking with Sukanya Krishnan, the TV personality described how her husband’s back-to-back separations left him emotionally guarded and suspicious.

The mother-of-five explained, “His suspiciousness is about women in general,” noting that his painful experiences made him reluctant to fully rely on her for support. 

With the Brown family’s fractures growing deeper, Janelle Brown’s reflections on her early days with Kody and Meri offer a look back at a more unified time in “Sister Wives” history.