Sister Wives’ Janelle Brown Remembers Late Son Garrison Being ‘Very’ Involved With Younger Siblings

Sister Wives star Janelle Brown is looking back on the good times with her late son, Garrison Brown, and remembering how much he loved being a hands-on big brother in their large family.

“He was always very much involved with the young kids,” Janelle, 56, told viewers in a sneak peek of the Sunday, May 11 episode of Sister Wives, shared by Us Weekly. “He was very mindful of Truely.”

A montage of home videos showed the late Marine patiently teaching his little sister Truely Brown, 15, how to plant, while another clip captured Garrison happily goofing around with the younger kids and embracing his silly side.

“Garrison was always somebody who wanted to be working with his hands,” Janelle said in a confessional. “He did his best when he was working with his hands.”

Garrison’s love for his siblings extended across the entire family, as Janelle shared that he often spent time with his father, Kody Brown, and Kody’s fourth wife, Robyn Brown’s youngest children, 13-year-old Solomon and 9-year-old Ariella.

“Robyn would comment that he would come over every day to see Sol and Ari,” Janelle explained in the preview. “He was always very much about his younger siblings.”

Garrison came from a large family as one of Janelle and Kody’s six children while his father has a total of 18 kids. Janelle became Kody’s second wife in 1993, joining him and his first wife, Meri Brown, as they began building their plural family. Kody, 56, continued to build their family when he spiritually married Christine Brown, with whom he shares six children. Years later in 2014, he legally divorced Meri, 54, to marry Robyn, 46, and adopt her three children from a previous marriage.

However, by November 2021, the cracks in the family dynamic became clear when Christine, 53, announced her split from Kody. Just over a year later, Janelle followed suit in December 2022, and Meri confirmed her separation from the family patriarch in January 2023.

Apart from Garrison, Janelle and Kody welcomed five other children: Logan, 30, Maddie, 29, Hunter, 28, Gabriel, 23, and Savanah, 20.

Garrison died at the age of 25 on March 5, 2024, from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. More than one year later, the show captured how his family coped in the wake of his tragic death and it was addressed for the first time during the May 4 episode.

Janelle, who was living in North Carolina after her split from Kody, said she had been “texting [Garrison] all day long” the day before his passing. “And this was not unusual because he and I talked probably three times a day,” she noted.

“I knew he was struggling,” the Sister Wives star continued, referencing Garrison’s struggles with anxiety and mental health. “And I always just picked up the phone and I always make it a point to just talk to him.”

She explained that their phone call didn’t seem out of the ordinary, explaining to producers that she felt her son just “needed the connection.”

When Garrison stopped answering her messages, she wasn’t immediately concerned as she knew her son had been drinking. “He would go through periods where he was really good and then he just would have a binge just as part of the cycle,” she told viewers.

When she was ready to go to bed, Janelle asked her sons Hunter and Logan to keep an eye on Garrison. It wasn’t until the next morning that she learned that Garrison took his own life.

“Gabriel [Brown] had found him,” Janelle said of Garrison. “He’s like, ‘Mom, he’s gone.’ I mean, ‘What do you mean?’ He said, ‘He’s dead. He killed himself.’”

Kody also spoke about the unimaginable loss during the May 4 episode. “Grief comes in waves. It just wasn’t supposed to be this way. You know what I’m saying?” Kody explained. “It’s just heartbreaking.”