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Kody Brown begins to confront his grief following the loss of his son Garrison Brown in the latest episode of “Sister Wives.”
The father of 18, who was estranged from his son at the time of his death in March 2024, opens up about the complicated feelings surrounding Garrison Brown’s passing in a confessional interview.
“There’s so much left unsaid, so much left undone,” he says.
The May 4 episode of the TLC reality series followed the Brown family after they learned that Garrison Brown had died by suicide at the age of 25. In the May 11 episode, Kody Brown sheds light on his healing process and admits that the grief can be crippling at times.
“Sometimes out of the blue, it’ll overcome me, almost like some kind of anxiety attack, just a deep, overwhelming feeling that I’ll never see him again,” he explains.
Later in the episode, Kody Brown breaks down as he recalls a visit to Wyoming where the family buried Garrison Brown’s ashes after his death.
“We’re doing mourning things to respect and love the dead, to mourn, to own that pain. And we’re doing happy things so that we are moving on from mourning, so we can have faith in the hereafter and in our own futures and in our own lives,” he says.
Walking through the stages of grief isn’t always simple, and Kody Brown goes on to acknowledge that he’s been wrestling with some challenging emotions.
“Garrison’s poster will always be in my garage, and I always will always see it and wonder what was missed in the future that would have been. And it’s a game of consciousness to move with grief, to make your blood sweet instead of bitter from the pain,” he says.
Why were Kody and Garrison Brown estranged?
In the years leading up to his death, Garrison Brown and his brother Gabriel Brown were estranged from their father. Kody Brown’s strict COVID-19 protocols, and their fallout, were a frequent topic on “Sister Wives,” with several family members saying they drove a wedge between the father and his sons. Janelle Brown also disagreed with her then-husband’s strict stance on the matter.
In an October 2023 episode of the reality series, Janelle Brown said she was “worried” about her sons’ “mental health.”
“Gabriel feels everything very very deeply … and Garrison just seems angrier, sadder. He’s not as happy-go-lucky as he used to be,” she said.
Gabriel Brown offered his perspective on the feud in a confessional interview, saying, “Me and Garrison are at odds with our dad because when we expressed our discontent with how things were going with COVID, I was met with just a wall, there was no line of dialogue. I think that was what really drove the wedge between us.”
In another episodes, Garrison Brown said he and Gabriel Brown had tried to men their relationships with their father.
“We’ve reached out and tried to be open, but it’s been neglected and overlooked for offenses that were believed to have happened but they never did,” he said during a confessional interview.
Kody Brown denied the statement and said his sons were “not being fair” because he was only trying to “protect” his family during the pandemic.
Following his son’s death, Kody Brown told People he has one major regret about their estrangement.
“The only regret is just, take advantage of the time,” he said. “I want to go out to dinner again. I want to sit down. I want to have a beer. I want (Garrison) to try and make me laugh because he was that way.”
