Ami’s Family SLAMS Billy’s Lies — Child Bride Was ‘Spoiled Rotten’ In Dream Upbringing
Jan. 16 2017, Updated 1:36 p.m. ET
Billy Brown and his son Bam Bam infamously lied about living in Alaska. And now, the Alaskan Bush People patriarch’s in-laws claim he lied about his wife Ami’s childhood! In an exclusive interview, Ami’s estranged mother Earlene Branson, 84, and brother Les, 57, insist to RadarOnline.com that the reality star, now 53, grew up in a happy southern home far from poverty and abuse. Learn about Ami’s secret early days while clicking through exclusive photos from her family’s private album.
Despite their 37-year estrangement, Ami “was very attached to her mother” as a child, Les claims.
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Earlene and Les haven’t given up on a long-awaited reunion with Ami. “I’m still very hopeful that Ami will get to see her mother before she dies,” he says. “I hope somehow fate will intervene.”
“She was the baby, so she was kind of spoiled!” Les tells Branson of Ami, who grew up with her mother, father and two older siblings outside Fort Worth, Texas.
Though husband Billy, 64, claimed in his memoir that Ami grew up dirt poor, the popular cheerleader “had a good childhood,” Les insists. Earlene, a retired government employee, claims her youngest daughter was even gifted fur coats: “She was spoiled rotten!”
Both Earlene and Les deny their home was filled with violence, as Ami once alleged on an episode of Alaskan Bush People. Her father “was never abusive. He was never prone to spank us a lot,” Les says.
Les acknowledges that their parents’ divorce when Ami was 8 likely brought her some pain. “She lived in a home with a single parent who worked two jobs to keep afloat,” he recalls.
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Ami’s brother and mother blame Ami’s allegedly skewed recollection of her childhood on her “very controlling” husband. “When I heard Ami say on TV that she came from an abusive household…I think that’s something that Billy really drilled into her head to demonize us and to keep her from wanting to contact us,” Les says.
Discovery Channel
For now, they’ll keep calling, writing and even attempting to visit the reality star in Alaska.
