One after the other, on Sunday’s episode of the TLC actuality present, father Kody Brown, his spouse Robyn and the ladies who used to contemplate him their husband — Meri, Janelle and Christine — informed how they came upon about Garrison’s dying.
The cameras have been educated on Meri Brown as she sat on a sofa and ready to speak about her birthday. “That’s weird. Kody’s calling me,” she mentioned, wanting towards her telephone and mentioning the person she had referred to as her husband till January 2023.
“Do you want to take it?” a crew member requested. “Nope,” she replied. “He can text me if he needs me.”
“He’s calling again,” she mentioned later, showing irritated. “I already texted him.”
Then she mentioned, “He said it’s an emergency.” The crew referred to as lower and he or she obtained on the telephone. “What?” she requested. Then the image dissolved into textual content: “On March 5, 2024, Kody and Janelle’s son Garrison passed away.”
Garrison, who was 25 when he died, was one of many former household’s 18 kids. He was discovered by youthful brother Gabriel, Meri mentioned.
“It is with great sadness I confirm Mr. Robert Garrison Brown was located in his residence deceased, as a result of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound,” police informed The Instances final March.
Garrison and Janelle Brown chortle collectively as Janelle helps make dinner on TLC’s “Sister Wives.”
(TLC)
Garrison’s roommates and his brother Gabriel informed police that Garrison had been fighting a ingesting drawback and potential psychological well being points. However Gabriel mentioned his brother had began a job at a medical facility and appeared “OK.”
“It was just this weird, weird, surreal moment that’s like, ‘No … not one of our kids. They’re not going to do that,’” Meri mentioned later within the episode. “And I’m like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ and he’s like, ‘No.’”
Robyn, who was the final spouse to affix the beforehand polygamous group and is Kody’s authorized spouse, mentioned her husband seemed “really shocked” when he got here into the room the place she was working.
“I’m just trying to gather the details, trying to figure out what’s going on, trying to be there for him, trying to register the shock myself. Trying to register what’s going on myself,” Robyn mentioned. “And — he just fell apart.”
Christine, in the meantime, mentioned she “fell on the floor” after getting a uncommon telephone name from son Hunter, whose organic mother is Janelle.
“He just said, ‘Garrison killed himself.’ And I just fell on the floor in the office. … We all knew that he was sad,” she mentioned, then trailed off, saying “and then we all hoped that he would just … “ before going silent.
Suicide prevention and crisis counseling resources
If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts, seek help from a professional and call 9-8-8. The United States’ first nationwide three-digit mental health crisis hotline 988 will connect callers with trained mental health counselors. Text “HOME” to 741741 within the U.S. and Canada to achieve the Disaster Textual content Line.
Organic mother Janelle shed tears all through her testimony.
“So Gabriel had found him,” she mentioned. “He’s like, ‘Mom, he’s gone.’ And I’m like, ‘What do you mean?’ And he’s like, ‘He’s dead. He killed himself.’
Janelle said she didn’t remember the next few minutes, but said through tears, “I got in the car and I drove.”
Garrison was launched in 2010 throughout the debut season of the “Sister Wives” actuality collection, which chronicles the highs and lows of a polygamist household headed by Kody. The collection has adopted the household throughout its time residing in Lehi, Utah, Las Vegas and Flagstaff. Janelle, Meri and Christine have ended their marriages to Kody, whereas Robyn stays his authorized spouse. Though marriage to a couple of particular person at a time just isn’t legally acknowledged in the USA, Kody has referred to as his relationships with the ladies “spiritual unions.”
Earlier than his dying, Garrison texted a bunch of individuals whom the household works with, writing, “I want to hate you for sharing the good times. But I can’t. I miss these days.” In accordance with a police report, listening to about that message prompted Janelle to textual content Garrison, who was estranged from dad Kody. They’d a brief dialog that ended abruptly.
“He was a bright spot in the lives of all who knew him,” Janelle posted on Instagram on the time. “His loss will leave such a big hole in our lives that it takes our breath away.”
Kody had simply that sort of visceral response, he mentioned in Sunday’s episode.
“The first moment the grief really clobbered me was when I was sitting down with [daughter] Gwendlyn holding her hand,” he mentioned. “I look inside myself, I’m looking down my esophagus, in my imagination, and into my lungs. And I feel this sort of grief come up out of me. Everybody’s silent. I think that Gwendolyn’s sobbing and Robyn’s trying to console her. This grief comes out of me and I wailed.
“And that’s when I first I think became really aware that this situation has gone down and it’s just sort of unreconcilable. I just don’t know what to do. I’m lost in this.”
Former employees author Nardine Saad contributed to this report.
