Meri Brown Of ‘Sister Wives’ Lays Bare Her Shock At Breakdown Of Marriage To Kody Brown After 32 Years

Dec 20, 2022 by apost team

The popular TLC reality series “Sister Wives” follows a polygamist family, led by husband Kody Brown and his four wives, Meri, Christine, Janelle and Robyn, as they raise their 18 children. The show has been on the air since 2010 and has introduced the public to the lives of plural families. Polygamy has been and still is a controversial topic that frequently causes issues for the family.

The show began with the Brown family living in Lehi, Utah, but they soon moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, in 2011. The Browns then moved to Flagstaff, Arizona, in mid-2018. Kody and his wives have stated that they began the show to try and educate people about plural families and to combat prejudices surrounding the lifestyle.

Due to legal circumstances, Kody is only married to one woman, Robyn, while the other wives are his “spiritual” partners. He was originally married to Meri, but they decided to divorce so Kody could legally marry Robyn in 2014 and adopt her three children. After they were adopted, the three kids could begin receiving health coverage and other benefits as Kody’s legal children. The father’s relationships with Janelle and Christine have always been “spiritual unions.”

However, it hasn’t been a walk in the park for the relationships within the family. In November 2021, Christine announced she had left Kody, while he revealed in a “Sister Wives: One on One” special in December 2022 that Janelle had also separated from him. Only days after the Janelle revelation, another bombshell dropped – Kody’s relationship with his first wife, Meri, was also over. Read on to learn more about the former couple's lives following their separation.

Kody and his wives have faced many ups and downs when it comes to the public’s opinion of their various relationships. When the Brown family first went public in 2010 on TLC’s “Sister Wives,” they became the target of a bigamy investigation by the Utah police. Lehi police officers investigated whether the family violated laws and turned over evidence to the Utah County attorney’s office. 

The modern Mormon church no longer supports members that have engaged in the practice of polygamy, which was disavowed by the church back in 1890. Bigamy is considered a third-degree felony in the state of Utah and is punishable by a prison sentence of up to five years. However, the charges against the family were dropped.

Kody and his family left Utah to avoid further persecution and headed to Las Vegas, Nevada, instead. In 2016, The Browns attempted to challenge the state of Utah’s ban on polygamy but their efforts were rejected. In 2018, they then moved to Flagstaff, Arizona. 

When the show first aired, it drew mixed reactions. Many were intrigued by the premise, praising the wives for their being “refreshingly modest” and having “a natural, honest presence.” Others, however, criticized TLC for “capitalizing on people who don't” believe in the “sanctity of marriage.” The ups and downs of the Browns have made for fascinating viewing, more so when tensions are raised by the peculiarity of their lifestyle that many doubted was sustainable. The naysayers may now have been proven right with the breakdown of three of Kody’s four relationships with his sister wives.

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Following in the footsteps of her sister wives, Christine and Janelle, was Meri, who told host Sukanya Krishnan on a preview clip of “Sister Wives: One on One,” that she, too, had made her exit.

In the preview, Meri watched a clip of Kody expressing he no longer considers himself married to her. He said, “If she wanted to move on and marry another, she wouldn't get an argument with me.” In response, Meri said: “It just doesn't make sense to me that he would be so frustrated with Christine and be like, ‘She just made this decision. We didn’t consult, we didn’t talk, she just made the decision and then he says, ‘No, I don’t consider myself married to Meri,’” she said, before she added, “Like, he just made the decision. I've never heard him say that to me.”

Meri then recounted how, despite a fraught past, she thought she and Kody’s ties were on the up after their move to Arizona. “Even since being in Flagstaff, he has led me to believe that he was trying,” she said. “You know, our first anniversary that we had here in Flagstaff, it was cheers to a new beginning as opposed to this last anniversary he’s like, ‘I don’t even know why you called me Meri.’ He’s like, ‘We’re not married. We’re not acting as married.’”

When prompted by Krishnan about whether she still considered herself married to Kody, Meri said: “Well, he’s already made the decision. You just saw him say that.”

However, Meri also revealed she remained open to working things out with Kody if he was willing.

“I would. I definitely would,” Meri said. “But I don't think that he’s interested.”

Did you see the breakdown of Meri and Kody’s relationship coming? What are your feelings on polygamy and “Sister Wives?” Let us know your thoughts, and don’t forget to pass this on to friends and family.