Sister Wives’ Kody Brown Claims Ex Meri Brown Was “Never Loyal to Me Ever” in Marriage
Kody Brown has a different outlook on the end to his spiritual marriage to Meri Brown.
During the Oct. 13 episode of Sister Wives, Meri reached out to the former couple’s church to request a release from her marriage to Kody, which began in 1990 when the couple legally tied the knot and continued after their 2014 legal divorce.
At the time, Meri divorced Kody so he could legally marry his fourth wife Robyn Brown in order to adopt her three children from a previous marriage. However, Kody’s first wife maintained that she still viewed herself as married to Kody despite their years of estrangement.
“I got a phone call from the church leader who said we’ve given Meri a release,” Kody shared during the episode. “And they said a few other things that I don’t want to necessarily disclose that sort of upset me.”
Meri then revealed what those “upsetting” statements were.
“They did say that it was on the grounds of abandonment,” Meri said. “And I know he doesn’t like that word because he doesn’t feel like he abandoned me. I feel like he did.”
However, Kody explained why he opted to stay in his marriage to Meri despite their lengthy estrangement, noting it was based in Robyn’s desire for the former couple to stay together.
“Robyn felt that if I waited on God that things could change for mine and Meri’s relationship,” Kody claimed. “And that was advice that I took and I waited. And as time went on, I realized that it was never really going to work. And I’m sorry to Meri for that. I wish I would have figured it out sooner.”
The father of 18 also claimed that he stayed in the marriage out of fear.
“Oh, I’m absolutely relieved that it’s done. It’s sad. It’s heartbreaking, but I’m relieved that it’s done,” Kody said of his first marriage. “I had moved on a long time ago. But let’s just be honest here. I was afraid of what she would do if I ripped off that Band-Aid. It’s because Meri was never loyal to me, ever. That’s what I’ve been worried about. It’s just kind of reputation, because when you get divorced, your reputation is trashed.”
TLCIn 2015, Meri was the victim of a catfishing scandal, in which it was discovered she was talking online to a woman whom she thought was a man—and that person ended up releasing their messages amidst her marriage to Kody. In the fallout that ensued, Kody and Meri ended up choosing to no longer live together despite remaining married for nearly another decade.
“It’s really just sad that Kody’s talking about our marriage the way that he’s talking about it,” Meri said in her confessional. “It feels like the narrative has changed with him, but the things that he’s saying about me to other people and that people are believing are not true.”
New episodes of Sister Wives air Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on TLC.