Storage Wars is one of those universal shows that doesn’t really have any hidden agendas except for the discovery of hidden treasures. Its simple premise has helped it to gain a worldwide following over the years and become one of those universally loved reality shows.
One of the most popular characters on the show is Brandi Passante and her former partner Jarrod Schulz. The two would argue and share in funny antics that helped them become fan favorites, and they represented a younger generation of treasure hunters often called “Young Guns”.
However, while Brandi is outspoken on the show, she remains fairly mute about her personal life and what she’s been through, including a messy breakup and an assault charge related to Jarrod. Here’s an overview of what the reality star has gone through.
Brandi had to take a break from the show for a while
Brandi said when she joined Storage Wars she wasn’t really sure what would happen with the show, but she definitely was surprised by how successful it was, going as far as saying “I really, honestly didn’t think that [the show] was going to go anywhere.”
She was surprised by the workload, though. She was forced to work 60 hours a week, slogging out to locations far away and sometimes having to wake up at 3 am to do so. This is in addition to being a full-time mom. Brandi said this made her miss out on her kid’s important milestones, like her daughter’s kindergarten start.
All of this factored into her decision to take a break from the show.
Her relationship with Jarrod was ruined because of the show
Because they “worked” together on Storage Wars and had a family together, Brandi and Jarrod were together pretty much all the time – something that factored into their breakup. The couple was the co-owners and managers of a thrift store in California as well as keeping up with the show’s brutal shooting schedule.
“Working together as a couple every day is quite an obstacle to overcome. We’re together 24 hours a day, seven days a week trying to make business decisions together,” she said, adding that it often led to heated confrontations.
Jarrod also spoke about the trouble of being together and how it worked on the show.
“[Storage Wars] makes our dysfunction seem a little less dysfunctional,” he told the OC Register.
The couple’s spin-off show was quickly canceled
The couple proved so popular on Storage Wars that they were offered a spin-off show called Brandi & Jarrod: Married to the Job. The show the stars’ personal lives managing the store and taking care of their two children, and even though the show had marriage in the title the couple never gets married.
The show failed fairly spectacularly by barely making a blip in the overall zeitgeist and being canceled after only 8 episodes.
Brandi and Jarrod’s relationship comes to an end
The couple’s split was initially announced when Brandi did an interview with The Dad Diary in 2020, even though the couple broke up in 2018. However, there were many signs of the breakup when it happened. Fans who perused Brandi’s Instagram posts noticed that she stopped wearing her engagement ring and even saw new partners here and there.
Jarrod also was fairly public about the whole thing, especially when he introduced the world to his new girlfriend Rochel Beckman. With clues like these, most fans knew that things were over between the storied couple.
Neither left the show despite the breakup
Well, it is a reality show after all. Season 13 of Storage Wars saw the couple split up and no longer working as a team during the show. However, this only helped to up the drama between the two, as the former lovers found themselves quarreling more often over items.
Before the season even started, Brandi took to Twitter to post a promotional image of the show with Jarrod’s face replaced by a devil emoji. The two often fought and bickered during the season, to fans’ delight.
Jarrod got in trouble with the law for allegedly shoving Brandi
Brandi was fairly vocal about how she didn’t enjoy being around Jarrod during the show. This apparently bled into the couple’s real life, as TMZ reported that Jarrod showed up at a family gathering and the two got into an alleged argument.
Brandi was at a bar in Orange County and the two got into a verbal exchange that quickly got heated. Brandi asked Jarrod to leave and he refused, according to the site. Things got more heated and Jarrod allegedly shoved Brandi more than once. Someone called the cops and Jarrod bailed by the time they showed up. When authorities questioned him, he denied putting his hands on his ex.
Jarrod was charged with domestic violence and did not appear in the latest season of the show.
Brandi handles most of the parenting herself
Once the couple broke up, she took on the role of the main parent for their two children. In the past, she revealed that she did most of the parenting anyway. She is very serious about her children’s privacy and doesn’t let them post on social media to keep them away from “creepy” guys on the Internet.
Although she did kind of bend this rule when her son recently graduated.
The breakup left her devastated
Breakups aren’t easy to deal with regardless of the circumstances, but one in the public eye is probably even more so. Brandi said the separation left her with wounds that are deep and psychological. She told Spirit Talk that “I wasn’t really allowed to have an identity for many, many years. And so these last couple of years, I’m kind of coming into my own and figuring out who I am.”
The other side of that coin is that Brandi seemingly found her independence and voice after the breakup. She’s out there dating and trying to go with the flow of her life.
Her father died in 2020
Life is full of hardships and loss, and Brandi’s life is no different despite her notoriety as a reality TV star. Brandi lost her father in October of 2020 and she penned a special tribute to him on Instagram that included Willie Nelson lyrics from the song “Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground.”
“I can’t think of a time that you ever got mad at me or yelled at me. I absolutely used that to my advantage,” she said. She also revealed that she suffered another loss and that she wanted to stop having to feel the deep sting of losing loved ones.
She’s had her fair share of health problems
Around the same time she announced that she was done for good with Jarrod, she revealed that she had contracted the coronavirus and was quarantined for 12 days. Her symptoms were your garden variety – headaches, loss of taste, and congestion. She said she was drinking “nasty celery juice” and doing her best to recover, which she eventually did.
Some fans noticed that on the show she was talking with a really raspy voice, and she revealed that she has an autoimmune disorder called Hashimoto’s Disease, where the body attacks itself. It goes after the thyroid glands which makes her voice raspy.
She loves doing charity work
Not all celebs give back, but fortunately, Brandi is one of those that do. She’s worked with charities like Women’s Own Worth (WOW) to help victims of domestic violence and she hosted the organization’s charity event in 2019.
“I have experienced some things in my life, and it’s a really wonderful cause. It’s things that are needed, so I wanted to help in any way possible,” she said about her charity work with WOW.
She’s also very involved in disability rights, as her daughter Payton was born with a cleft palate and deaf. Payton went through several surgeries and Brandi was there to help every step of the way even though she was raising her toddler Cameron at the time. Speaking of Cameron, he had a number of health issues himself, including a serious procedure to treat a kidney condition.
She has a new teammate on the show for Season 14
With Jarrod conspicuously absent from the season 14 proceedings, Brandi has a new teammate on the show: fan-favorite Bozek. One episode in particular on the latest season is called “Bozek is my Spirit Animal.”
The pairing works well for both of them, as Brandi can still argue and Bozek gets more airtime.
She’s a regular on the ‘Happening Now With Hammer’ podcast
As if reality TV wasn’t enough, Brandi regularly appears on the podcast “Happening Now With Hammer” with Hammer and Troy Davis, who she met at a dive bar. Topics on the podcast range from celebrating 4/20, the war in Ukraine, and Pam and Tommy, the hit Hulu show.
She is really good friends with castmate Kenny
People who tune in to the “Happening Now With Hammer” podcast were delighted to learn that Brandi and castmate Kenny are really good friends in real life.
“He’s one of my favorite humans,” she reveals on the show, setting the table for Kenny’s eventual appearance on the podcast. The two even posed for selfies together after it happened.