‘Sister Wives’ Janelle Brown Knew Her Relationship With Kody Was More Like "Friends with Benefits"

The Sunday, October 22 Sister Wives episode featured Christine Brown eagerly anticipating her first Easter after her divorce from Kody Brown. On the other hand, even though Janelle Brown mentioned that her life has improved since splitting from Kody, she's still remained open to the possibility of returning to polygamy in the future. But as the show continued, viewers witnessed Janelle mention that she needed "something different from a relationship," indicating that her expectations and wants had changed and that her connection with Kody was no longer meeting them. As she thought about it, she realized that their relationship had been more like "friends with benefits" for years. Christine agreed, saying that it wasn't really a "marriage." 

As per All About The Tea, afterward, the patriarch of the family accused Christine of influencing Janelle's thoughts about their marriage and helping her decide to separate from polygamy.  “I’m growing and I need something different, like, I don’t want to be married anymore," Janelle had announced during their separation in December 2022. As per People, the couple had an explosive argument over the issue in the trailer of the 18th season of the hit series. “This is not only me, Kody,” Janelle was seen saying. “Don’t you dare point your finger at me!”

“You make this excuse forever but I’ve tried…” Kody responds. However, the TLC star wasn’t ready to listen to his side of the story, “Shut your f***ing mouth and let me talk to you for a minute.” She continued, “No, no, no. I’m done listening to you,” before bolting from the couch. Kody was spotted responding. “Ok. So, we’re done?” Janelle is then seen asking and he adds, “Goodbye.” Her anger flares and she says, “F*** you” as he slams the door shut. 

"Kody and I have separated and I'm happy, really happy," Janelle had revealed to the host Sukanya Krishnan on Sister Wives: One on-One special in January. "I don't know, things just really became sort of indifferent, like I just didn't care anymore."

"I've kind of mourned that that part of our life is gone," the reality star had shared back then. "I wasn't heartbroken. It wasn't heartbreaking for me like it was for Christine [Brown]. It was just kind of like, I just mourned that that life was gone…. We had this great run." 

In 2021, Christine ended her polygamy marriage situation, and Kody verified his split with Meri Brown both in their One-on-One chats and in a shared Instagram post with her later. Robyn Brown is his sole remaining wife at this point. Following her breakup with Kody, Janelle has been using social media to share inspirational quotes with her fans and to commemorate her life as an "independent woman."