'Sister Wives' star Janelle Brown admits she's not in love with Kody but might try to reconcile out of 'duty'

• Janelle Brown said on "Sister Wives" that she's hesitant to officially leave Kody because of "duty."
• She also admitted she lost respect for him because of how he treated their sons.

In a recent clip of TLC's "Sister Wives: One on One" season 17 tell-all, Kody Brown's second wife Janelle Brown admitted that she no longer loves him but is hesitant to officially end their marriage. She also said she still believes in their sect of the Mormon religion, which discourages separation.

When directly asked by host Sukanya Krishnan if she and Kody had a loving relationship, Janelle replied, "At this point, no it's not. It's duty, it's commitment, it's a faith that tells you you work it out and stick it out."

News of Janelle and Kody's separation officially broke in December 2022 in the trailer for the tell-all. Janelle and Kody have been "spiritually" married for about 30 years and don't consider themselves divorced.

But Janelle admitted in the new clip that they are closer to officially splitting up than reconciling.

"I think if we both really sat down, we'd look at each other and say, 'really?' We've been separated for several months," she said.

The mother of six told a shocked Krishnan that she's "really happy" with her current status. She said they decided to separate because she felt "indifferent" and "didn't care" about their relationship anymore.

Janelle and Kody have six adult kids: Logan Brown, 28, Madison Brush, 27, Hunter Brown, 25, Garrison Brown, 24, Gabriel Brown, 21, and Savanah Brown, 18.

Viewers watched tension increase between Kody and Gabriel in season 17, in part because Kody forgot his son's 20th birthday. Kody and his fourth wife Robyn Brown also claimed that both Gabriel and Garrison called Robyn to blame her for making the strict COVID-19 safety rules that kept their family separated.

Tension rose between Kody and Janelle when Janelle said she refused to "kowtow" to Kody and force her sons to apologize.

In the clip of the tell-all, Janelle told Krishnan that she still respects Kody. "But I'm so mad about what happened with our kids," she added.

"I think if he had truly been watching out for me and my children, he would've figured out a way to make it work for the whole family instead of having his rules and hanging out with the wife...staying where he was respected and obeyed," she continued, presumably referring to the fact that for much of the pandemic, Kody only stayed at Robyn's house.

In the clip, Kody told Krishnan that his separation from Janelle is "stupid" and he wants to work it out with her.

But he also said, "I won't go to a place where I'm not respected because love doesn't matter to me, respect matters to me."

Part three of "Sister Wives: One on One" airs January 8.