Sister Wives' Janelle Brown Details Late Son Garrison's Final Hours
Content warning: This story discusses suicide.
The members of the Brown family can still remember the moment their hearts were divided.
For Janelle Brown, March 4, 2024—the day before her and ex Kody Brown's son Garrison Brown died by suicide at the age of 25—felt entirely ordinary.
Having recently relocated to North Carolina to be closer to eldest daughter Madison Brush, son-in-law Caleb Brush and their kids, "I was traveling back to Flagstaff," the Sister Wives star reflected on the May 4 episode of the TLC reality series.
At the time, she and Arizona-based Garrison were "texting all day long," Janelle noted. "And this was not unusual because he and I talked probably three times a day."
In fact, the mom of six—she and Kody also share Logan Brown, Hunter Brown, Gabriel Brown and Savanah Brown—made it a point to respond to all of Garrison's missives.
"I knew he was struggling," Janelle said of her middle child's battle with anxiety and depression, "and I always just picked up the phone and I always make it a point to just talk to him."
Their conversation didn't involve anything particularly remarkable, she detailed, "it was just, I think he needed the connection."
Nor was she particularly alarmed when he stopped responding to her texts. But since she knew he'd 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," Janelle explained—as she laid down in bed around 8:30 p.m., she called Logan and Hunter.
"Because we've tag-teamed," Janelle explained of how the family continued to rally around the Nevada National Guard staff sergeant, "I said, 'Will you guys see if Garrison will repond to you?' And so they were on it."
Confident her baby was in good hands ("They said, 'Mom, we're on it. We'll just kind of check on him and make sure he's OK'"), the 55-year-old fell asleep.
She could have never imagined the wake-up call she received.
"Gabriel had found him," Janelle said of Garrison, who died by suicide. "He's like, 'Mom, he's gone.' I mean, 'What do you mean?' He said, 'He's dead. He killed himself.'"
The moments that followed were largely a blur.
"I don't remember the next few minutes," Janelle admitted of her shock, "but I got in the car and drove."
She made her way to Garrison's home, calling daughter Maddie along the way. And at some point, members of their expansive family began to rally around her.
"I called Janelle," Meri recounted on the May 4 episode devoted to Garrison's passing, "I said, 'I'm stopping, I'm getting food and I'll be over in a little bit. I didn't know what else to do."
Because, as a family, they'd fought with every fiber of their beings to avoid this type of outcome.
"He had anxiety and depression," Janelle explained to her younger sister Carrie of Garrison's mental health struggles, "and then he started drinking as a way to sort of soothe that." Instead, she continued, it "became the animal he couldn't get a hold of."
Though she and the rest of the brood did their best to wrap their arms around him.
"We knew he was in a bad place," said Janelle. "We were doing everything we could for him, but he just, he just couldn't get on top of it."
As their grief began to replace the shock, Kody and Janelle went about the business of burying their baby boy.
"Kody and I decided that we would cremate him," Janelle detailed. "I knew that that's what he wanted, so we did that. And that way it gives us the opportunity to have the funeral in a better time of year."
His final resting place is on the family's plot in Wyoming. "He loved it there," said Janelle, "so it felt appropriate."
In this, she and her former husband were in lockstep.
"I remember sitting there with Janelle and I was just going, 'Hey, I really just want to take my boy home,'" he reflected in the episode. "And so I said, 'Let's take him back to Wyoming and let's bury him next to Grandma Cheryl. We just totally agreed that would be the right thing."
As Garrison's family mourns his tremendous loss, keep reading to familarize yourself with the outsized Brown brood.
Born May 21, 1994, Logan is the oldest son of Kody Brown and Janelle Brown. He is also the eldest child of 18 in Kody's entire brood.
After graduating with a master's degree in business administration from the University of Nevada in 2020, he married Michelle Petty two years later.
Aspyn is the oldest child of Kody and Christine Brown. She was born on March 14, 1995.
Also a University of Nevada alum, Aspyn tied the knot with Mitch Thompson in 2018. She announced her pregnancy in April 2025.
Born on July 29, 1995, Leon is the only child of Kody and Meri Brown.
In 2020, Leon came out as transgender, sharing that they were previously "socialized as a girl."
"I was pretty young & unfortunately i grew up in a context that was incredibly gendered & restrictive," Leon—who also goes by "Leo"—wrote on Instagram. "and here’s the thing, i’m finally ready to share my favorite self with the world. and that self is incredibly genderqueer, trans, and unapologetic."
Leon married Audrey Kiss in 2020 at a Colorado courthouse wedding.
The second of Kody and Christine's children, Mykelti was born on June 9, 1996.
She married Antonio "Tony" Padron in 2016 in a wedding ceremony documented on Sister Wives. The couple are parents to daughter Avalon and twin sons Archer and Ace.
Janelle gave birth to Madison—her second child with Kody—on Nov. 3, 1995.
After studying at Utah State University, Madison married Caleb Brush in 2016. The pair share kids Axel, Evangalynn and Josephine.
Janelle and Kody welcomed Hunter—their third child together—on Feb. 9, 1997.
Hunter graduated from the United States Air Force Academy in 2020, before studying nursing at Johns Hopkins University.
Christine gave birth to her and Kody's third child together on Aug. 7, 1998.
Born Oct. 31, 1998, Garrison was Kody and Janelle's third youngest child together. He died by suicide on March 5, 2024 at age 25.
Dayton is the oldest child of Kody's fourth wife Robyn Brown from her past marriage with Preston Jessop. He was adopted into the family in 2015, five years after Robyn spiritually married Kody.
In 2014, Kody legally divorced his first wife Meri so he could marry Robyn and officially adopt Dayton as his son.
Nicknamed Gabe, the fifth child of Kody and Janelle was born on Oct. 11, 2001.
Kody and Christine welcomed their fourth child on Oct. 15, 2001.
Gwendlyn tied the knot with Beatriz Queiroz in 2023.
Aurora is the second oldest child of Robyn. She was legally adopted by Kody in 2015 after he married Robyn the prior year.
Kody and Christine welcomed their fifth child together on June 13, 2003.
Her struggles with scoliosis have been documented on Sister Wives.
Breanna is Robyn's third child from her marriage to Preston. After Robyn married Kody, Breanna and her older siblings were legally adopted into the family.
Kody and Janelle welcomed their youngest child together on Dec. 7, 2004. The exes reunited for Savanah's high school graduation in 2023.
Born on April 13, 2010, Truely is the youngest child of Kody and Christine.
Kody and Robyn welcomed their second youngest son on Oct. 27, 2011.
Born on Jan. 10, 2016, Ariella is the youngest daughter of Kody and Robyn. She is also the youngest child of 18 in the entire Brown family.
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