Sister Wives star Janelle Brown says ex-husband Kody Brown spent ‘lots’ of the family’s money toward the end of their marriage.
On Sunday night’s episode of the long-running TLC series, the 55-year-old mother-of-six said, ‘I never felt like I had much control over my own money because everybody was pulling from the same [account].’
Kody was once simultaneously married to Janelle as well as three other women — Robyn, Meri, and Christine — but now, the father-of-18’s sole remaining partner is Robyn.
Janelle separated from Kody, 56, in December 2022 while Christine, 52, left the marriage in November 2021. Meri and Kody have been legally divorced since 2014.
On the latest episode of the reality show, Janelle shared that the blended family used to thrive by pouring their finances into one pool. ‘We set our family up that way. But, like, toward the end, it was just really hard,’ she said of the arrangement.
She lamented, ‘The last several years, Kody would just take out funds and I don’t know what for. And the money was just being spent — and lots of it.’
Janelle Brown says ex-husband Kody Brown spent ‘lots’ of the family’s money toward the end of their marriage
Janelle lamented on Sunday night’s episode, ‘The last several years, Kody would just take out funds and I don’t know what for. And the money was just being spent – and lots of it’
Kody defended his spending, rejecting the notion that he burned through the money recklessly.
‘I was a father to 18 and a husband to more than just Janelle,’ he explained, per an account from Us Weekly. ‘So we had a lot of places that money needed to go that weren’t always Janelle’s business.’
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He added that because Janelle was responsible for ‘doing the bookkeeping,’ she was able to see the details of the transactions.
‘Some of the bills to be paid by all of us were supposed to be paid by her,’ Kody noted.
Janelle, on the other hand, maintains that she was not as privy as Kody claims.
She hit back: ‘He loves this mantra that somehow I was [the] all powerful one with all the financial control.’
In truth, she said, ‘I really was just the person who recorded the transactions and sent them to the CPA.’
A previous episode showed Janelle making her case as she elaborated, “If I controlled the money, we would have paid off [their land, Coyote Pᴀss and] built a house.’
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Kody was once simultaneously married to Janelle (second from left) as well as three other women – Robyn (second from right), Meri (far right), and Christine (far left) – but now, the father-of-18’s sole remaining partner is Robyn
Kody and his four wives pictured together in Las Vegas in 2015
Now that the majority of the family’s marriages have broken down, the group is at odds about what to do with their shared 14-acre plot of land.
Meri shared on a recent episode, ‘I feel like Kody and Robyn probably have some plan of what they want to do and how they want to handle it. I think that Janelle has some sort of plan, and I know that I do as well.
‘And none of us are talking to each other because none of us trust each other.’
For her part, Janelle emphasized she’s ready to resolve the issue of the land ‘because this is the only thing that still ties me to Kody and Robyn.’
She added, ‘I’m ready to just close that chapter.’
