Sister Wives' Janelle Brown Says She ‘Knew' Son Garrison Was ‘Struggling' Before His Death
Sister Wives star Janelle Brown admitted that she was aware of her son Robert Garrison Brown's struggles with his mental health before his death by suicide in March 2024.
The TLC personality, 55, opened up about the day before her and ex Kody Brown's son's death at age 25 during the Sunday, May 4, episode of Sister Wives, explaining that it felt like an ordinary day. Janelle, who said she had been 'traveling back to Flagstaff' at the time, was 'texting all day long' with Garrison on March 4, 2024.
"And this was not unusual because he and I talked probably three times a day,' she explained. "I knew he was struggling, and I always just picked up the phone, and I always make it a point to just talk to him. … It was just, I think he needed the connection."
Janelle said that although Garrison eventually stopped responding to her texts, this was nothing out of the ordinary. She knew that he 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," the Taeda Farms cofounder said.
Janelle added that she got in bed at around 8:30 p.m. and called her sons Logan Brown and Hunter Brown, with whom she's 'tag-teamed' to check in on Garrison.
"I said, 'Will you guys see if Garrison will respond to you?' And so they were on it,' she continued. 'They said, 'Mom, we're on it. We'll just kind of check on him and make sure he's OK.''
Janelle fell asleep, but she later woke up to a call from son Gabriel Brown telling her that Garrison had died on March 5, 2024.
"Gabriel had found him," the reality star explained. "He's like, 'Mom, he's gone.' I mean, 'What do you mean?' He said, 'He's dead. He killed himself.' I don't remember the next few minutes, but I got in the car and drove."
Janelle later told her younger sister, Carrie, that Garrison struggled with 'anxiety and depression' and had 'started drinking as a way to sort of soothe that." However, it "became the animal he couldn't get a hold of."
"We knew he was in a bad place," she continued. "We were doing everything we could for him, but he just, he just couldn't get on top of it."
Janelle and Kody, 56, confirmed their son's death in a statement on social media shortly after news of his passing broke on March 5, 2024.
'Kody and I are deeply saddened to announce the loss of our beautiful boy Robert Garrison Brown,' the statement read. 'He was a bright spot in the lives of all who knew him. His loss will leave such a big hole in our lives that it takes our breath away. We ask that you please respect our privacy and join us in honoring his memory.'
Janelle has remembered Garrison on social media in the year since his death. On April 10, she paid tribute to her son on what would have been his 27th birthday.
'Such a weird day. You seem so alive in the millions of photos I have. I sometimes forget I won't see you again — and then — I remember,' she wrote on Instagram. 'Grief is so strange. I've loved all the remembrances of you posted by family and friends. And I had to re-share the reel from the county fair because it shows who you were so well. Till we meet again sweetheart.'
If you or someone you know is in emotional distress or considering suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
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