Let's start here:
The romantic life of Kody Brown is very confusing.
This is someone who has 18 children with four different women and who stars on a show called Sister Wives, and yet...
... he only has one legal wife.
Kody was married to Meri Brown from 1994 through 2014, at which time he divorced this polygamous paramour in order to exchange technical vows with Robyn Brown and adopt her kids from a previous relationship.
And yet...
... Kody remained with Meri and also with his fellow spiritual spouses, Christine and Janelle.
Just over two months ago, however, Christine announced she was leaving Kody, making the statement amid a move back to her native state of Utah.
So Christine did have to take this actual step because she moved far away from other members of this plural marriage.
For the past several months, meanwhile, many Sister Wives viewers have wondered why Meri and Janalle stick by Kody's side, considering the awful way he treats them on a near-daily basis.
Meri, for example, admitted on air during Season 16 that she and Kody are just friends, much to her dismay.
Why won't she leave Kody, observers continually ask?
For two reasons, one might counter:
- She earns a salary from TLC by remaining part of this unusual romance. You can't exactly star on Sister Wives if you aren't a sister wife, you know?
- How can you really leave someone who you aren't really, you know, with?!?
This brings us back to Janelle.
Typically the most laid back of all Sister Wives, even Janelle was pushed to her limit on Season 16.
At one (amazing!) point, she cursed Kody off after he refused to respect her point of view when it came to the COVID-19 pandemic in late 2020.
At another point, she openly questioned her status as a sister wife.
"I've caught myself in the last few weeks really reflecting and being like, 'Okay, look: do I still choose plural marriage?'" confessed Janelle on a January episode of the show.
"Yeah, I still choose it, but I've had to have that conscious decision with myself."
Janelle joined the Browns when she married Kody (as his second wife) in a spiritual wedding ceremony on January 20, 1993.
She isn't legally bound to him, however.
She can leave any time, which may almost explain why she hasn't yet: Janelle can just go on living her life without giving any thought to Kody if she so chooses.
The thing is, she clearly does keep thinking about Kody -- and about what to do moviing forward.
“I’ve had to really think. My children are almost grown and there’s not a huge necessity anymore to stay. It was a wonderful way to raise children,” Brown added in a previous confessional about the polygamous lifestyle.
“With Kody and I right now, our relationship is pretty strained.
"And you know, it’s easy to walk away."
Will she ever do so?
Yes, actually, according to Us Weekly.
“Janelle meant it when [she] said she would leave Kody,” an insider supposedly told the this tabloid late last week. “It’s going to happen.”
This same source said Janelle has been influenced by Christine, to whom she remains close and who seems pretty darn pleased with her decision to officially become single.
“She sees how happy Christine is now that she’s ‘free’ from Kody and is strongly considering separating from him too,” Us Weekly added in its report.
“Christine and Janelle are very close and they have conversations about it...
"Kody’s] trembling and worried that Meri or Janelle are going to leave him.”