Sister Wives star Meri Brown has confirmed her split from Kody after a 32-year ‘spiritual’ marriage.
Meri, 51, who starred alongside Kody, 53, on hit TLC show Sister Wives alongside his three other spouses, revealed the TV lothario had made the decision to end their romance in a clip from upcoming special Sister Wives: One on One, obtained by People.
A clip from the show which airs Sunday – showed Kody – who recently split from Janelle – saying: ‘I don’t consider myself married to Meri, and if she wanted to move on and marry another, she wouldn’t get in an argument with me.
Meri responded: ‘It just doesn’t make sense to me that he would get so frustrated with Christine (his third wife) and be like, she just made this decision, she didn’t consult, she didn’t talk, she just made this decision
Over: Sister Wives star Meri Brown has confirmed her split from Kody after a 32-year ‘spiritual’ marriage
‘And then he says “I don’t consider myself married to Meri”. He just made that decision, I’ve never heard him say that to me
‘Even since being in Flagstaff, he has led me to believe that he was trying. Our first anniversary here in Flagstaff, “cheers to a new beginning” as opposed to this
‘Last anniversary, he was like “I don’t even know why you called me Meri, we’re not married, we’re not acting as married”‘
‘And I said to him then, if that’s where we are, don’t you think we should address that publicly?
Tough times: ‘And then he says “I don’t consider myself married to Meri”. He just made that decision, I’ve never heard him say that to me’
Kody met his first wife, Meri, through his sister, who was a mutual friend and introduced them when she was only 19 and he was 22. The pair later described their romance as a ‘very short courtship,’ as they were married just six months after they met
‘And he said no, I don’t want to address that, because I don’t want that out there publicly because I don’t want that judgment.’
Meri was then asked ‘are you still married to Kody?’ by host host Sukanya Krishnan with the star responding: ‘He’s already made the decision, you just saw him say that
‘I would think about reconciliation, I definitely would but I don’t think he’s interested.’
Krishnan then says: ‘Do you know there’s a moment in the past where he spoke about reconciling, do you know that?’ with Meri responding: ‘I have no idea’ before the clip ends.
The split from Meri means that Kody is down to one wife, his only legal bride, Robyn, who he married in 2010.
While only one of his four marriages is technically official – having more than one spouse is not legal in the US – Kody, who has said it’s ‘God’s testimony’ for him to have numerous spouses, calls his other partners his ‘spiritual wives.’
Kody first rose to fame in 2010, on the show- which documented his life with his four wives (including one that was also his stepsister), Meri, Janelle, Christine, and Robyn, while also showcasing some of the many struggles that come with being married to multiple women at the same time.
Turbulent: She said: ‘Even since being in Flagstaff, he has led me to believe that he was trying. Our first anniversary here in Flagstaff, “cheers to a new beginning” as opposed to this’
For over a decade, the five-some made their bizarre relationship work, living in four separate homes on the same cul-de-sac in Las Vegas, Nevada, with their joint 18 children.
However, along the way, the Mormon reality star and his four wives faced a series of problems – stemming from jealousy over who Kody liked most and leading to bitter rivalries between the women over his attention – all of which, was put on display for the entire world to see throughout the 17 seasons of their show.
In late 2021, Christine, shocked the world by announcing that she was moving away from the family and officially splitting from Kody, after growing tension over the way he treated his fourth wife, Robyn, came to a head.
Christine previously said that she was unhappy that Kody was ‘catering’ to Robyn’s needs more than the other wives, and that she ‘didn’t feel special anymore.’
Janelle, has also opted to leave the Mormon reality star, after she said she started to feel like her relationship with Kody had become a ‘patriarchy.’
Kody met first wife, Meri, through his sister, who was a mutual friend and introduced them when she was only 19 and he was 22. The pair later described their romance as a ‘very short courtship,’ as they were married just six months after they met.
She said: ‘I would think about reconciliation, I definitely would but I don’t think he’s interested.
Kody Brown rose to fame in 2010, thanks to his hit TLC show, Sister Wives – which documented his life with his four wives, while also showcasing some of the many struggles that come with being married to multiple women at the same time
‘I was just young and in love,’ Meri previously recalled on the show of their quick decision to tie the knot.
Kody later reflected on falling for Meri in the family’s 2012 memoir, Becoming Sister Wives: The Story of an Unconventional Marriage, and he called her his ‘soulmate.’
‘Meri was so cute and sweet when I met her that I had a hard time suppressing my hopelessly romantic nature,’ he wrote.
In September 2014, the couple (seen at their wedding) divorced so that Kody could ‘legally restructure’ their family. At the time, him and Meri said they were going to stay ‘spiritually married’ but afterwards, Meri said she felt like their romance was ‘dead’ and ‘over’
Meri was no stranger to the world of plural marriages before she met Kody, since she told Las Vegas Sun that she was exposed to it from a young age.
‘My family was in the LDS faith but converted [to the Fundamentalist Mormon faith] when I was about six or seven years old, so I grew up in a plural family with five mothers and 25 brothers and sisters,’ she explained, adding, ‘My parents never pushed me into this lifestyle though.’
Janelle entered the picture three years into their marriage, in 1993, while Christine joined the family one year after that.
Kody then married his third ‘spiritual wife’ Robyn in 2010 – and all three of Kody’s other partners have admitted in the series that if it hadn’t been for Meri’s willingness to enter into a polygamous marriage, none of them would have gotten with Kody.
The pair welcomed their first and only child together, a daughter named Mariah, in July 1995. Mariah later came out as nonbinary, and changed their name to Leon.
After welcoming their first child, Meri and Kody quickly started trying for baby number two – but Meri struggled to conceive.
After 12 years of fertility problems, she became pregnant again in 2007 – but she unfortunately suffered from a tragic miscarriage at 10 weeks.
‘I completely assumed that after I had Mariah, it would be very easy for me to conceive again. And that just didn’t happen,’ she said in a 2012 episode of their show, while reflecting on the heartbreaking loss.
‘I was so frustrated and so angry. I didn’t understand why. After another 12 years of trying, [I got pregnant] but then, it was just taken away from us. I didn’t understand that. It was really hard.’
In September 2014, the couple announced that they were getting a divorce so that Kody could ‘legally restructure’ their family. He then married Robyn, and adopted her children from her previous marriage.
At the time, him and Meri said they were going to stay ‘spiritually married,’ but after the divorce, Meri admitted in an episode of the show that she felt like their romance was ‘dead’ and ‘over.’
Kody also hinted that there was trouble in paradise when he claimed that he had been ‘deceived’ by Meri at the start of their romance, adding that their marriage ended up being ‘very different than what he expected.’
Things got worse in 2015, when news hit the web that Meri had been involved in a catfishing scandal that saw her forming a strong relationship with someone she had met over Twitter named Sam.
She revealed that she had fallen hard for the man, only to find out that it was actually a woman named Jackie Overton the entire time, who had completely tricked her.
Kody also hinted that there was trouble in paradise when he claimed that he had been ‘deceived’ by Meri at the start of their romance, adding that their marriage ended up being ‘very different than what he expected.’ They are seen at their wedding
And she later admitting in the show that the incident made her and Kody grow apart, since Jackie ‘planted things in her head’ by telling her how ‘horrible her family was.’
‘This catfish was planting things in my head an telling me how horrible my family was and specifically how horrible Kody was,’ she said.
‘That was one of the reasons why I didn’t want him around. I was just angry. I’m just angry at him. I just pushed Kody away. I did. He’s not the one I should’ve pushed away.’
However, by December 2020, it seemed like she and Kody were still going strong.
‘Let’s just clarify something here. I love this man,’ Meri wrote on Instagram at the time, shutting down any rumors that they were ending their relationship.
‘I don’t owe anyone an explanation but I’ll do it anyway … My relationship with him is MY relationship with him. Sure we’ve had ups and downs through the years (I mean, isn’t that somewhat normal?) High highs and low lows.
‘But here’s my truth. I love him. I love my family. I’m committed. I have 30 years in this. We struggle. We communicate … I’m not going anywhere.’
During an interview with Us Weekly in February 2021, Kody admitted that he and Meri had been in a ‘dark place’ for a ‘long time,’ but said they were trying to get ‘themselves out of the hole they dug themselves into.’
One month later, Kody revealed in an episode of the show that while he felt close with Meri like a ‘friend,’ he hadn’t felt any ‘romantic inclinations within their marriage’ in a long time.
And in January 2022, he told viewers that he didn’t see himself and Meri getting ‘intimate’ again any time soon, while calling their pairing a ‘bad match.’
‘I’m not ever going to be in a conjugal relationship with her because I’m not going to go through that emotional torture ever again … I’m not trying to make Meri sound bad, it’s just a bad match,’ he said.
‘There’s a point where intimacy is just damage. It’s misleading to have intimacy in a relationship where there’s no real safety. I’m not going there.’
Meri told Oprah Winfrey on her show that jealousy also played a big part in her problems with Kody. She said, ‘I’m not going to lie – there are jealousy issues. Those are natural. Hopefully that’s something that I can overcome. I have to work through [the feelings].’
In October 2022, Kody suggested that Meri move away from the family – who reside in Arizona – to Utah to run an inn that she had opened, but Meri was hurt by his proposal.
‘I was here at the very beginning. I helped start this family. It was me and him and we had plans. He loved me,’ she said during the show, while holding back tears. ‘For him to just be like, “Um, just go up there now.” It didn’t make sense.’
He added: ‘The reason I’m suggesting this to Meri is, honestly, as a family [it] doesn’t feel like we interact that much. I’m not even trying to push her away.’
Despite all of their problems, Meri made it clear in an episode which premiered earlier this month that she doesn’t want to give up on Kody.
She said in the show, ‘I am still here because I’m still trying. Six years later, I’m still here, 10 years, 15, 20 years later I’m still here. It’s what I want.’
However, Kody said to the camera during a confessional, ‘I don’t want to be in a relationship with her anymore.’
Janelle and Kody first met in 1989, since their parents were friends, and right away, Janelle said she knew it was something special.
She wrote on her website, ‘When he walked into the room I looked at him and had that feeling of remembering something I had forgotten. It was a singular…
