Ami Brown, an American television personality, was born in Fort Worth, Texas, on August 28, 1964. She is well-known for her role in “Alaskan Bush People.”
Early Years
Ami Brown (Pinterest)The youngest of Eugene and Earlene Branson’s children is Amora “Ami” Lee Branson Brown. Ami’s early education and interests are unknown, although it is known that her parents split when she was eight years old, leaving her mother to work two jobs simultaneously to support her children.
Ami has claimed that her family is poor economically and that her father is violent. Les, her older brother, has refuted his sisters’ claims, claiming that Ami was the Branson family’s favorite child and a well-liked cheerleader in high school: “She was the baby, so she was kind of spoiled!”
Additionally, Les has refuted the allegations made against his father, claiming he was never aggressive in any way. The younger child was “spoiled rotten” in her early years, Ami’s mother Earlene claimed in opposition to her daughter’s remarks.
Individual Life
Marriage
Billy Brown first encountered Ami while he was performing plumbing duties in her mother’s home. Brown referred to their meeting as “love at first sight,” despite the two people’s age differences (Billy was 26 and Ami was 15).
Branson and Brown began dating secretly, and by the time Earlene Branson learned of her daughter’s relationship with the older man, young Ami had already fallen head over heels for Billy.
Ami married Billy on June 16, 1979, after threatening to elope with Brown if her mother tried to prevent it. Ami’s family wasn’t concerned about him despite the conditions of the union: “I wasn’t that concerned about it, because I felt Billy was an honest, reputable person.” additionally promising not to keep Ami from us.
Sometime after the couple’s marriage, the Branson family’s favorable image of Billy changed for the worse when Brown’s fabrication of his past was revealed: “He lied about his age! He appeared to be extremely wealthy and to have come from a wealthy family. With the trappings of luxury, he enticed us.
Ami allegedly didn’t complete her education as a result of her early marriage, and Billy allegedly didn’t disclose to his bride’s family that he was a divorced father of two children.
Children
Ami, who was then just 18 years old, and her husband Billy welcomed their first child, Matthew Jeremiah, in 1982. Their second child, Joshua, was born in August, a year and a half later.
The family appeared to be living a happy life, but Billy was unhappy with his plumbing business and his 9-to 5 work. The tiny family left their community to travel as nomads throughout the nation after he told Ami of his wish to leave Texas and alter his way of life.
Ami expressed these thoughts in an interview with People, saying, “We didn’t know where we wanted to go, but we knew we weren’t where we wanted to be.”
A friend of Billy offered the couple and their two sons a place to stay at his abandoned home on Mosman Island, miles away from Wrangell after they had sold their truck and boarded a ship bound for Alaska.
The young family was left in the isolated location for more than 18 months without any form of communication before a skipper offered to take them back to the city. Ami and her husband, on the other hand, appeared enamored with the life lived far from society: “After we learned we weren’t going to die, we fell in love with everything.”
The couple made their home in the Alaskan tundra and welcomed five more children: Merry Christmas Kathryn Raindrop, Solomon Isaiah, Gabriel Starbuck, Noah Darkcloud, and Amora Jean.
The family had residences in Juneau, Hoonah, and Haines among other cities in Alaska.
Billy, Ami’s husband, is known to have worked odd jobs around the city and published several children’s books to help support his family even though it appears that the couple and their kids subsisted on hunting and fishing.
The family later relocated to Haines, Alaska, where they purportedly built a cabin that eventually caught fire and lived there for several years. Currently, they reside in Hoonah.
Career
Alaskan Bush People: First TV Episode
Ami and her family made their television debut in 2014’s “Alaskan Bush People” on the Discovery Channel. The show, which focused on the Brown family’s adventure as they appeared to subsist alone and far from any civilization even in Alaska, was well-liked by viewers drawn to the family’s unconventional way of life.
It was revealed that the Browns didn’t live in the Alaskan bush when Billy and his family were found guilty of second-degree theft and falsification in 2015 regarding forms they filed to obtain Permanent Fund Dividends available to permanent residents, even though the series was primarily promoted as reality television. The show is reportedly scripted, has been filmed in various locations, including in Washington State, and has been revealed to be fictional. The family did not qualify for the funds since they spent more than 180 days a year outside of Alaska. In addition, according to reports, the family stays in a nearby hotel outside of the period when the show is being filmed and only uses their modest home in the forest.
Health
Ami first noticed severe back pain in 2016: “There were days I was simply bedridden, but I just believed it was my arthritis,” she said. When we were filming the show, all I could manage to do was stand still. I was in excruciating pain.
She visited the dentist in December of that year to get imprints on her teeth. Instead, she learned that her life was in grave danger after receiving a lung cancer diagnosis in early 2017 and beginning a six-week course of chemotherapy in a hospital in Los Angeles. Ami maintained optimism in the face of severe treatment and a three percent chance of survival: “I discovered early in this that it’s really easy to want to give up and just die.”
And on the negative side, these might be my final moments. However, I am willing to fight.
Billy, Ami’s husband, offered encouragement while she underwent the harsh treatment: “She’s the strongest person I know, so if she says it hurts, it hurts.” She tries to keep it hidden from everyone, but four or five times per day, she cries while bending over like a baby.
Since doctors were unable to identify the source of Ami’s cancer, she must have to have regular medical exams for the rest of her life. Fortunately, Ami was officially certified cancer-free in December 2017. But because God is in control and understands what’s important, I want to exhort people to savor each moment and walk through it with him. Never abandon your faith.
Disputed Family
Since Ami left Texas in the early 1980s, her family claims they have not been able to visit her for nearly 40 years. In 2016, Earlene reportedly made the trip to Alaska to visit her daughter, but her efforts were in vain because Ami was on vacation with her family in Hawaii.
The Branson matriarch, who is still optimistic about seeing her daughter again, wrote to her daughter via Radar Online in 2017 and said, “Right now I would say, “I love you very much. I’ve loved you forever. I wish to see you before I pass away. Due to a stroke, she had in 2012, the 84-year-old woman was in poor health at the time.
Billy, the husband of Earlene Branson’s daughter, was blamed for Ami’s alienation, saying, “We assumed he would provide for Ami, that he would keep her in school, and never restrict her from visiting us.”
And we never again saw her!
Les Branson, Ami’s older brother, accused Billy of being the cause of his sister’s cold behavior toward her family: “Billy started behaving very controlling of Ami from the very beginning.” Ami never spoke, and Billy did all the talking, I realized. She would merely relax next to him while grinning. She wasn’t allowed to speak, which I was unaware of at the time. She was unable to talk without his approval!
Sadly, Ami’s mother Earlene passed away in 2018. Ami was heartbroken by this, yet she skipped the burial.
Net Worth
Ami Brown’s appearances in “Alaskan Bush People” have increased her projected net worth to over $500,000 as of mid-2020.
Body Structure
Ami Brown (Pinterest)She is a Caucasian woman who has grey hair and blue eyes. She had beautiful features and blondish-brown hair in her youth, as shown in ancient photographs. Although her height and weight are unclear, she is thin.
Interesting Statistics
Billy, Ami’s husband, was born into a wealthy family. He did, however, lose his family in a plane crash and his wealth after being duped into emancipation.
Brenda was the name of her husband’s first spouse; they wed when Billy was just 16 years old.
Texas law permitted Ami and Billy to get married despite her youth.
Her family rented a Beverly Hills property, reportedly valued at $2 million, while she was receiving treatment for lung cancer in California.