Janelle Brown of ‘Sister Wives’ Granted Spiritual Divorce From Kody Brown

Janelle Brown is a free woman. 

In the January 4 episode of TLC’s Sister Wives, Janelle, 56, reveals that she has been granted a divorce – or “spiritual release” – from her marriage to former husband Kody Brown. 

“I have it,” Janelle says in a sneak peek at the episode that was shared with People. “That was easy. I thought I was going to have to come back for a second meeting. I am free. I am free. I am free. I am free.”

Janelle Brown felt ‘shift in … energy’ after spiritual divorce 

While Janelle and Kody were never legally married, they were in a spiritual union for nearly 30 years. The two announced their split in December 2022 but had not worked with their church, the Apostolic United Brethren, to dissolve their marriage. 

Initially, Janelle had said that she had not thought about getting spiritual divorce because she was no longer active in the church. But she later reconsidered – and she’s glad she did. 

“There was really kind of a shift in my energy, and I think maybe it must have really meant something deep down that I’m sort of not always paying attention to. So I’m glad I did this,” she says in clip.

“As I was leaving, I just kind of felt free,” she continued. “I felt like a weight had lifted off me. So, somewhere in the back of my mind, this must have been more important than I realized to have this done.”

Meri Brown of ‘Sister Wives’ also got a spiritual divorce 

In 2024, Kody’s first wife, Meri Brown, received a spiritual divorce from Kody. For her, the process was emotionally difficult but necessary. 

“I was granted what is called in our church a release, which is basically the equivalent of a divorce,” she explained in an episode of Sister Wives. “It was a very, very hard conversation, hard meaning heartbreaking because this is not what I wanted to do. This is not what I intended when I married Kody.”

Meri’s decisions to seek out a spiritual divorce led Janelle to consider the same move. 

“I have kept my faith,” she said, even though she was no longer a believer in plural marriage. “I have kept a lot of the LDS or Mormon doctrines. I’m still in that realm … so just so I’m sure I’m good, if I were to remarry, maybe it’s worth getting a spiritual divorce.”

Sister Wives airs Sundays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on TLC. Episodes also stream on discovery+ and HBO Max. 

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