Kody Brown admits that marrying Meri Brown was a mistake.
Off camera, we know that Kody and Meri have split.
On camera, Sister Wives viewers are watching their marriage officially end this season.
After 33 years of Kody stringing Meri along, she decided enough was enough, and she pulled the plug on their marriage in Season 18.
In Sunday night’s episode, The Year of Release, Meri revealed that she had received an official “release” from her church to formally end her marriage to Kody.
“I was granted what is called in our church a release, which is basically the equivalent of a divorce,” Meri shared.
Meri formally ends her spiritual marriage to Kody
Kody confessed that he was “absolutely relieved” that it was done, albeit sad and heartbreaking.
Kody’s other exes, Christine and Janelle Brown, were happy for Meri after she finally broke herself from their marriage after years of Kody stringing her along.
Meri and Kody first married in 1990, legally becoming husband and wife. In 2014, they divorced legally, and their marriage became solely spiritual.
Meri offered to divorce Kody so that he could marry his fourth wife, Robyn, who remains his sole wife to this day.
But in hindsight, Kody says that making Meri his wife was the wrong decision.
Kody says Meri was the ‘wrong person’ to marry
At the end of Sunday night’s episode, Sister Wives viewers were shown a snippet of next week’s episode.
In the preview, Kody is seen pulling up to Meri’s driveway in his truck as his confessional voiceover plays.
Kody confesses, “You know what really sucks? It’s not divorce that sucks. It’s marrying the wrong person.”
In the next scene, Kody and Meri are seated across from each other in her living room and have a heart-to-heart conversation.
“What sucks is marrying the wrong person and not having the decency to tell her until 32 years later,” Meri says during a solo confessional, seemingly in response to Kody’s statement.
During his own solo confessional, Kody says, “I wish I wouldn’t have ever married her.”
Meri and Kody’s relationship woes have played out on Sister Wives for years
Kody and Meri’s marriage had been in trouble for many years, but in 2015, things came to a head.
Meri got romantically involved with someone online during a particularly rough patch in their marriage.
At the time, Meri had just legally divorced Kody, and he had legally wed Robyn and adopted her three kids, Dayton, Aurora, and Breanna.
Meri was spending her time conversing with a person she believed was a man named Sam Cooper.
However, “Sam” was actually a woman named Jackie Overton, posing as a man online.
Meri and “Sam” maintained their intimate online relationship for six months, during which time “Sam” urged Meri to leave Kody.
The catfishing incident became a turning point in Meri and Kody’s marriage and something Kody never fully forgave Meri for.
Still, Meri kept on trucking, trying to get Kody to give her the love and affection she so desperately desired.
But Kody wasn’t willing to put in the effort; instead, he focused on his marriage to Robyn while his other marriages began to crumble.
Sister Wives were relieved last year when Meri announced that she finally kicked Kody to the curb after years of holding onto hope and dreaming of a marriage she would never have.
Meri and Kody issued matching statements on Instagram, telling their followers they decided to “permanently terminate” their marriage relationship, committing themselves to kindness and respect toward each other.
Season 19 of Sister Wives airs on Sundays at 10/9c on TLC.