Brandi Passante: About Anxiety and Fame After Storage Wars

Do you know the reality TV series, “Storage Wars”? Well if so, then you would remember the feisty Brandi Passante, very popular and the series was viewed by audiences in all corners of the world. It featured a group of professionals and their teams who searched for, bought and sold the contents of storage units that had been abandoned by their renters. Sometimes awesome surprises as well as valuable treasures were discovered, the latter sometimes fetching great prices. The series had a great run on A&E Networks through 264 episodes, until the end of the final season in 2022.

The question is what happened to Brandi, and what has she been doing since? Here we take a closer look at her, and come up with some answers.

A sneak peak into Brandi’s life and family

Brandi Leigh Passante was born on 16th May 1980, in Harris County, Texas, USA and grew up in the city of Houston. She has light brown hair and dark brown eyes and is only 5ft 3ins (1,6 m) tall. During her first job as a saleslady for a carpet store, she and her boss Jarrod Schulz fell into a relationship. Brandi gave birth to their first child when she was 23, and became a stay-at-home mom to their son Cameron, while Jarrod worked in the mortgage industry. Their daughter, Payton, was born two years later.

Brandi has been through a tough time with their children. Payton was born deaf and had a cleft palate, so they wanted to keep her in the hospital, but Brandi opted to take her home and brought her back each morning at 6am with 2-yr old Cameron in tow. Baby Payton had her first ear surgery when she was six weeks old, and when she was one year old, a mouth operation which lasted 16 hours. She underwent extensive speech therapy and became withdrawn, but when she grew up, becoming a cheerleader helped her come out of her shell.

Cameron had a mass on his kidney, and had ultra-sound treatment for a year and a half. Whilst in High School, he became symptomatic, and spent three months in hospital undergoing surgeries. Notwithstanding the setbacks to his schooling, he graduated in June 2021 as is evidenced by Brandi, the proud momma’s post on Twitter. Of course, her children’s health setbacks made life even more difficult for Brandi, who had to juggle being an attentive parent whilst having to attend long film shoots.

About Jarrod Schulz

Jarrod was born on 15th October 1977, in Long Beach, California. He sported a bit of a shady past, and served some jail time in the late ‘90s for possession of a controlled substance. In 2002, Jarrod opened a store selling Western-style clothing called Outlaw Apparel, which is no longer operational. He was inspired by his aunt who managed a storage facility, to visit storage locker auctions, and had accumulated so many items that he decided to open the thrift store Now and Then Second Hand Store, in Orange County California. Brandi joined him on his trips to storage auctions to procure merchandise. At an auction in Harbor City, California, Jarrod was approached by the producers of “Storage Wars” which led to their filming a feature in his store. When they met Brandi there, they invited the two of them to join the show. As Brandi and Jarrod already had the know-how and experience they were looking for, they felt a couple would add an extra dynamic that would complement the show.

So it was that Brandi and Jarrod joined the cast, and the show premiered on 31st July 2011. They quickly became fan favourites, and were known as “The Young Guns”. Brandi’s bubbly personality, attractiveness and sharp sense of humor drew many fans. She’s one tough cookie, and could handle being the only woman on the show originally, because as she claimed, she grew up with brothers and “they used to beat the crap out of me when we were younger, and I think that toughened me up a bit!”

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A post shared by Jarrod Schulz (@jarrodschulz)

Brandi and Jarrod’s disagreements and squabbles on the show and Jarrod’s willingness to take risks, added an extra dimension that delighted their audience. Their fame was a great benefit to their business, and spurred them on to create their own merchandise line with branded clothing, which sold in-store and online.

In 2014, Brandi and Jarrod launched their own spin-off series, “Brandi & Jarrod: Married to the Job”. At about this time, after they had been in a relationship for 15 years, they spoke about tying the knot. However, it seems that never happened even, though many media reports speak of them as being a married couple.

The legal challenges that Brandi had to deal with

Being famous certainly has its setbacks, and in 2012 Brandi fell victim to the notorious Hunter Moore who posted a nude woman on his website, “revenge porn” and claimed that it was Brandi. Brandi was appalled and sued Hunter for defamation, violations etc. and won a lawsuit against him. She requested $2.5 million compensation for damages, but the judge only awarded her $750 and covered her attorney’s fees. In 2015, after other more serious claims, Hunter paid the price when he was sentenced to two and a half years in federal prison.

In December of the same year, a former series co-star, Dave Hester, exposed the cast’s salaries claiming that on average each member earned a bit more than $800,000 per season. He filed a lawsuit alleging that the show was inauthentic, with great finds planted by the show’s producers beforehand, and that they paid for Brandi to get a breast enlargement to add to her sex appeal and boost the show’s ratings. Dave was fired, but later returned to the show.

Brandi and Jarrod’s relationship falls apart

The couple both appeared in Season 13’s premiere in April 2021, but there were rumblings that all was not blissful in their relationship. Yet everyone was taken aback when Brandi released a secret she had kept under wraps and announced that they were no longer together, and had actually split up just after the wrap-up of the 12th Season in 2018. Brandi admitted that it was not easy for her to be starring alongside her ex-, and implied that their break-up was not very amicable. Their relationship had turned toxic, and Jarrod admitted he would sabotage Brandi by outbidding her on storage units he didn’t even want. Both parties had made a fair sum of money over the years, and their separation was messy. There were many rumours doing the rounds, but at that stage neither Brandi nor Jarrod disclosed the reasons for their split, apart from a joint media statement saying that they had mutually and amicably decided to go their separate ways, and were committed to co-parenting their two children, who were then seven and five years old, in a positive manner.

As their relationship disintegrated, so too did their business, and the thrift store was closed in 2019. Brandi and Jarrod pursued their own individual business ventures and it appears that they have never resolved the tensions in their relationship.

‘Storage Wars’ Stars Brandi Passante And Jarrod Schulz Quietly Split In 2018 (via @Fox411) https://t.co/c7SCEZLLIk

— TMZ (@TMZ) April 24, 2021

Brandi and Jarrod’s public altercation

It can be construed that Brandi and Jarrod’s relationship is beyond reconciliation. Brandi shared an image on her Twitter page promoting the return of the series in March 2021, on which she plastered a devilish mask over Jarrod’s face. In May 2021, according to TMZ, Jarrod got into a heated argument with Brandi, who was hanging out with friends at a bar in Orange County, and when she asked him to leave, Jarrod yelled at her and her friends and it was alleged that he pushed Brandi twice. The police were called – Jarrod denied manhandling Brandi, but in any case, he was charged with misdemeanor domestic violence battery. It’s not known what the outcome was, but he didn’t re-appear in Season 14 of “Storage Wars”, and the word was out that he had been sacked. Jarrod admitted that a fight with a producer led to his dismissal, but claimed that he wasn’t the one who started it.

In January 2020, Jarrod announced that he had a new girlfriend, Rochel Beckman who is from El Toro, California and studied at Concordia University, Irvine.

Brandi was hit hard that year when her dad passed away in October.

Jarrod featured in other shows, eg Discovery Channel series “Diesel Brothers”, “Celebrity Family Feud” and “Storage Wars Northern Treasures”. He’s involved in charity events, especially raising awareness for Breast Cancer research, his mother being a survivor. He’s remained active on social media, and in 2019 took over the Rush Bar & Grill in Lake Forest, California.

Brandi’s life and what she is doing after “Storage Wars”

In February 2021, Brandi was a guest in “Spirit Talk Hosted by Shavaun and Sabrina”, where she discussed the trials and tribulations of taking care of her family, and her role in “Storage Wars”, which she quipped was a ‘blessing and a curse’.

Brandi has never slated Jarrod outright, but has intimated that she escaped what could have been an awful fate ‘by the grace of God’. Otherwise, she’s been quite outspoken about the challenges she faced being a single mom. She said it would have been easier if the kids were younger, as teenagers are rebellious and think that they know everything, so having a “scary dad voice” around helps. She admitted that she had to take into account that they too were going through their own traumas, related to her separation from Jarrod.

Brandi’s Instagram post on 9th August 2022, when she also touched up her tattoo, says it all: ‘My little reminder of the strength, that I finally, miraculously, found… & all that I’ve accomplished. In spite of constantly being told, that I was worthless… My reminder that I can be fearless and free to make my own choices without consequences. Well it started to fade, along with all that confidence.’

Brandi’s used to people saying gross and inappropriate things on social media, and has a knack for responding with apt and sometimes cutting retorts. She seldom mentions her children though, as they hate publicity, so she keeps them out the spotlight.

Brandi continued working in the secondhand re-selling business, and formed an online store called Brandi Passante’s Pop-Up, selling vintage and antique items, secondhand and new goods.

Brandi isn’t likely to disappear off the scene, and has been active on social media, keeping her fans updated on her ventures and adventures. She hasn’t posted on her Facebook page – with almost 870,000 followers – since the last season of “Storage Wars” in 2021, but is active on Instagram and Twitter with over 425,000 and 155,000 followers respectively.

In 2020, Brandi joined Cameo, a platform where people can pay for a personalized video message from a celebrity. One can also have a live video chat with her on the portal, or get her to promote a company brand. She’s also featured on several TV shows and podcasts, and is a co-host on the Orange County podcast “Happening Now with Hammer“, on which a broad range of topics are discussed on their YouTube channel, which has more than 140,000 subscribers.

Brandi has also worked with charities and is a firm supporter of Women’s Own Worth (WOW), an organization that assists victims of domestic abuse/violence. She MC’d at their 6th Annual WOWapalooza event, and helped them raise over $100,000.

In 2022, Brandi replied to a comment made on Instagram when someone asked her why her voice was raspy on her videos, she replied, ‘I have Hashimoto’s Disease. An auto-immune disease that affects my thyroid. Sometimes, it makes my throat raspy.’ This hasn’t been confirmed.

And now for the latest good news on Brandi

Although she remained single for a while, saying that she wasn’t seeing anyone ‘in particular’ and that she’s ‘just going with the flow…’ because she felt emotionally dead inside and needed to find her place, the good news is that it all changed on 2nd May,2023 when she showed off the new man in her life, posting a video compilation of photos of him on Instagram, wishing him, “Happy Birthday Beaver” to the tune of, “Nothing Can Change This Love” by Sam Cooke.

The ‘lucky guy’, as he was coined by many of her adoring fans, is Clifford Beaver, comes from El Toro, California, and is a New Home Sales Consultant. Clifford reciprocated for her 43rd birthday on 16th May, by compiling a video clip featuring photos of the happy couple together, using the Looking Glass song, “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl) and declared, “Happy Birthday Brandi! I love you so much, and happy we found each other.”

Brandi’s net worth

It’s good to hear that Brandi, with all the struggles she’s faced and the hard work she’s put into her personal life and career, has created a success of her life. According to authoritative sources, her years on “Storage Wars” and all her other business ventures have earned her a net worth of over $2 million. More importantly, she’s found herself again, and there is nothing more valuable than happiness and love!