For those who aren’t keen to all of the Sister Wives backstory and drama, this might come as a shocker to you. Before Janelle Brown took a shot at polygamy, she started off in a monogamous marriage. But here’s the kicker: it was with Meri Brown’s brother, Adam Barber. During an interview on the Reality Life podcast, hosted by Kate Casey, the 55-year-old television personality opened up about why her first marriage was “short-lived.”
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'It just didn't take.'
“It was very, very short-lived,” Janelle started off. She and Adam tied the knot in 1988 at the LDS temple in Salt Lake City, according to The Ashley. But the knot soon unraveled, and the couple reportedly split two years later in 1990.
A “starter marriage” is how she classified their union. “I think we might have lived together physically, actually lived together for, like, six months. [It] just didn’t take,” she shared.
Kody and Meri got married the same year Janelle and Adam divorced.
Kody and Meri tied the knot in 1990, which is the same year that Janelle and Adam divorced. On meeting Kody, Janelle recalled how it went. “When I met Kody just in passing, Meri introduced us,” she said. “I go, ‘Oh.’ I had sort of a feeling. Like, ‘Oh there you are.'” She later joined Kody and Meri’s marriage in 1993.
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Fans shared their take on how things unfolded.
Of course, many people found it straight weird that Janelle would pursue a relationship with her former sister-in-law’s husband.
“Understood Meri a bit more after learning this … like how absolutely gross?” one person commented. “Your sister wife was married to your brother, just gross. And IDC who disagrees.”
“I love Janelle (she and Meri have always been my favorites) but have always been very frustrated that Janelle somehow gets a pass for not only this but how it very likely contributed to the tension between Meri and her,” another person wrote. “Not to mention how she originally wanted to marry Kody ON Meri’s birthday and had to be talked out of it by Kody’s mom, Genielle. Meri has taken the brunt of and carried the ‘problem wife’ because of all the secretive, unspoken dysfunction of this family and Janelle, especially, has just been let off scott free.”
Janelle says Meri's mom was a 'resource' for her.
When it came to her interest in the polygamous faith, Janelle said Meri’s mom provided some help to her. “I started to investigate the faith. Meri’s mother was a really great resource for me,” she shared. “I pretty much made the decision to join the faith. But I was not at Meri’s house all the time. I mean, I was there occasionally. I just happened to be there one time when Kody came. And I already was intrigued with the faith.”
She used to double date with Meri and Kody before joining their relationship.
To make things even wilder, Janelle dated other men after leaving Adam, and she used to go on double dates with Meri and Kody before she joined their relationship. “They were always my token polygamist friends. I was 20,” she said. “It felt cool to have unique friends.” She even attended their wedding.
As for how Meri felt, she shared some insight on an episode of the Miss Understood With Rachel Uchitel podcast in July 2024. “I think it really weirds a lot of people out and the community’s not that small,” she said. “So, it’s kind of weird that that all happened that way. It took a minute for me to get my head wrapped around it. The whole thing was interesting. There was emotions. Let’s just say, there was emotions.”
