Janelle Brown was formerly married to her sister wife Meri Brown’s brother and Sister Wives fans are curious why she never mentions it.
During the last episode of Sister Wives, Janelle and Meri laid everything out when they talked about personal space in a discussion that turned heated.
Janelle mentioned to Meri that when the family lived under the same roof in Lehi, Utah, she and Christine were inconvenienced by Meri’s reluctance to let them pass through her living room.
For Janelle and Christine to get to each other’s quarters of the house, they were forced to go outside and around the back deck to each other’s entrances.
Out of concern for her privacy, Meri didn’t want her sister wives passing through her portion of the house, especially while she wasn’t home.
Sister Wives star Janelle Brown was previously married to Meri Brown’s brother
TLC shared a clip from the scene in the episode when Janelle and Meri hashed out their past issues and some Sister Wives fans pointed out that there’s something Janelle continually fails to mention: she was previously married to Meri’s brother.
Janelle married Meri’s brother, Adam Barber, in 1988 but their romance didn’t last long — they were divorced two years later.
As Janelle wrote in the family’s autobiography, Becoming Sister Wives: The Story of an Unconventional Marriage, “Unfortunately Adam and I had problems right from the start.”
“We weren’t spiritually, emotionally, or romantically compatible,” Janelle added. “We lived together for only six months before he moved out.”
Now, Sister Wives viewers are curious why Janelle doesn’t bring up the fact that she was once married to Meri’s brother. Janelle was in attendance at Kody and Meri’s wedding, as she was still married to Meri’s brother, Adam, at the time.
Taking to the comments section on TLC’s Instagram post, Sister Wives fans expressed their concerns.
Sister Wives fans wonder why Janelle Brown doesn’t mention being married to Meri’s brother
“I can understand how Meri would feel seeing the woman who was with her brother, now with her husband & having kids with Kody, having a front seat to it all & just had to accept it!” wrote one Sister Wives fan.
Another commented, “Love how Janelle doesn’t mention that she was married to meris brother,” before others who weren’t aware asked for an explanation.
They responded, “yep! That’s how she was [part] of meris family before marrying kody. She was meris sister in law.”
“Ok…wasn’t janelle married to [Meri’s] brother????” another Sister Wives fan asked, also aware of Janelle’s history.
A fellow viewer replied and speculated that Janelle, going from Meri’s friend to her sister wife, was the catalyst to them not getting along.
“Yes!!” the Sister Wives viewer responded. “I think it was the beginning of not having a friendship anymore.”
Janelle and Meri’s unresolved issues date back to their early years when they were still figuring out plural marriage.
Meri, being Kody Brown’s first wife and first legal wife, put her in a unique position of being the only one of Kody’s wives who had him to themselves for any length of time.
When Janelle entered the family in 1993, three years after Kody and Meri had been living essentially as a monogamous couple, their family dynamic was disrupted.
Adjusting to life as a newlywed is never easy, but adding another wife to a marriage is a whole other topic of discussion.
Sister Wives airs on Sundays at 10/9c on TLC and Discovery+.