Kody Brown, the controversial reality star of TLC’s “Sister Wives,” has been dealing with the aftermath of his three marriages falling apart. Christine, Janelle, and Meri Brown decided they’d had enough, leaving the polygamist with only one wife, Robyn Brown. Christine was the first to leave the family in 2021, followed by Janelle a year later. Meri was the last to break free, and she was with Kody the longest.
Kody and Meri Brown married in 1990 and welcomed one child during their time together. After more than 30 years and some serious marital troubles, they officially called it quits in January 2023, which Meri shared in an Instagram post. However, the exes had been struggling long before that. Their issues began when Janelle joined their plural family in 1993, making Meri jealous. Kody’s first wife had a hard time dealing with his fourth wife, too, especially when the patriarch declared he wanted to legally be married to her.
Despite agreeing to a spiritual union with Kody, Meri didn’t handle their legal divorce all that well, which ultimately caused her to turn to strangers online for comfort. After a catfishing scandal, it was all downhill for the pair. From resentment to public bashing, Kody and Meri have had their fair share of bickering over the years.
Meri’s catfishing scandal was the beginning of their end
One of Kody and Meri Brown’s most significant issues was having to deal with Meri’s catfishing scandal in 2015. According to the patriarch, that was the point where all of their problems started. But Meri has a different perspective on the situation. After welcoming Robyn Brown, the polygamist’s fourth wife, to the family, Kody also wanted to legally adopt three of her children from a previous marriage. To do that, he had to divorce Meri, his only legal wife at the time. Robyn and Kody married in 2014, making Meri one of Kody’s spiritual wives. While she agreed to the entire thing, Meri was left frustrated and turned to social media to find a shoulder to cry on.
However, one of her online friends, Sam Cooper, was more than a pen pal. After engaging with “Sam” for months, Meri found out she was being catfished by a known catfisher, a woman named Jackie Overton. The woman leaked some of their correspondence, in which Meri was venting about her husband. “This catfish was just planting things in my head and telling me how horrible my family was and specifically how horrible Kody was,” Meri shared in an episode of “Sister Wives,” according to InTouch Weekly.
“That was one of the reasons why I didn’t want him around. I was just angry … I just pushed Kody away,” she added. While Kody and Meri did decide to work on their relationship after her affair, it was never the same.
Kody said he doesn’t feel ‘safe’ with Meri
In the aftermath of her catfishing scandal, Meri Brown asked Kody Brown to give her space, which didn’t end well. “He has interpreted that as [me kicking] him out, and he has never come back,” she shared in one of the show’s episodes, as ET reported. Despite defending Meri in public after she was scammed, Kody distanced himself from her.
The Brown family patriarch has made it clear on multiple occasions he does not want an intimate relationship with his first wife. In 2021, Kody told ET that he and Meri have been physically separated for around five years and that they don’t act like a married couple in any way. Meri, on the other hand, went public with wanting to get back together with Kody, but she didn’t get the answer she was hoping for.
In response to a possible reconciliation, Kody clarified that he doesn’t consider himself married to Meri and that she is free to move on with someone else if she wants to. “I don’t believe that we can ever be functional, and I don’t believe that I will ever be emotionally safe with her,” he shared in an episode of “Sister Wives,” as per Us Weekly.
Meri thinks Kody’s perception of their marriage is ‘disturbing’
After finding out Kody Brown has publicly kicked her to the curb, Meri Brown shared her feelings on the topic in the “Sister Wives” exclusive sit-down for Season 16. “It just doesn’t make sense to me,” she said, adding that he has never said that to her personally. Actually, according to Meri, Kody was working on their relationship, People reported. “Even since being in Flagstaff, he has led me to believe that he was trying,” Meri shared with confessional host Sukanya Krishnan.
Meri also revealed that she did confront Kody during their estrangement period to share the news of their breakup, but that the patriarch didn’t want people judging him. He obviously changed his mind down the road, going public with his feelings without letting his wife know first. In another episode of the show, Meri was visibly confused by Kody’s desire to fix things with Christine Brown, his third wife, but not her.
“It’s kind of disturbing because some of the things that he’s frustrated about with Christine, he did to me,” she said in her solo interview, as per Today. Later in the episode, Meri talked to her sister wife, Robyn Brown, about the situation. “I am still here because I’m still trying. Six years later, I’m still here. Ten years, 15, 20 years later, I’m still here. It’s what I want,” Meri stated, but got no response from Robyn.
Meri felt called out by Kody amid his breakup with Christine
Christine Brown was an important aspect of yet another fight between Meri and Kody Brown. The patriarch claimed Christine saved the Brown family when she married him, which rubbed Meri the wrong way. After Christine and Kody called it quits, the patriarch said she was doing them a favor by leaving, just as she did when she joined the Browns. “Thank you for coming into the family and helping me sort of gather up this mess that I was in,” Kody said to Christine in an episode, according to Us Weekly.
Meri, who was sitting next to them, felt called out by the comment, saying that Kody was alluding to her jealousy from the beginning of their relationship. Apparently, after Janelle Brown joined Meri and Kody in 1993, Meri was feeling insecure despite agreeing to a polygamist lifestyle. “When Janelle came into the family, I was jealous. I was young. I was not yet fully mature,” Meri explained, adding that she felt hurt when Kody brought Christine in to mask their problems.
As Meri shared her feelings in a solo interview, Kody never publicly acknowledged her stance. In the episode in question, he went on to discuss how hurt he felt by Christine’s decision to leave. Meri, however, chimed in again. “You don’t care enough to fight for [Christine]. Obviously, you didn’t care enough to fight for me. I don’t understand that,” she said, unsuccessfully trying to get Kody’s attention.
Kody thinks Meri is playing the victim
The Coyote Pass property has been a source of major trouble for the Browns, and one of Meri and Kody Brown’s bigger fights ensued over the land. The family purchased the 12-acre plot in 2018, planning to build each of the four sister wives their own place as well as one for Kody himself. In a “Sister Wives” episode, the family went to visit their parcels, which was a trigger for drama.
Meri was not happy with the pieces of land she got to choose from, according to Cheat Sheet, blaming Kody for letting everyone else pick before she did. “Maybe I’ll just go live in Parowan,” she said, leaving the property soon afterward. Kody was visibly annoyed, stating that he was actually giving Meri the first choice and trying to please her.
“This is the game [Meri] plays. She’s always played it. She won’t be happy until she has all of [the family] bowing at her feet,” Kody told his other three wives, who were also present at the time. Robyn Brown came to Meri’s defense, saying to Kody that it wasn’t okay for him to talk about Meri the way he does. The patriarch was obviously triggered by this as he started to yell, telling his wives that they’re not being frank with themselves about how Meri is treating everyone and that they shouldn’t be on her side.
