Meri Brown became Kody Brown’s first wife in 1990, but a lot has changed since then.
The Sister Wives stars became polygamists in 1993 when they welcomed Janelle Brown into their marriage.
In 1994, Christine Brown became Kody’s third wife, and Robyn followed suit in 2010.
However, as Sister Wives viewers know, Meri and Kody are no longer together. The TLC stars announced their marriage termination in matching Instagram posts in January 2023.
There were multiple reasons for Meri and Kody’s split. Some may argue that Meri’s catfishing incident played a major role, while others are convinced that Robyn entering the marriage and causing jealousy drove a wedge between Kody and his other three wives.
During Sunday night’s episode of Sister Wives, Meri opened up about what she felt drove the family apart. And unlike Kody – who blamed the family’s demise on going public with their lifestyle – Meri thinks a clash of personalities is to blame.
Meri Brown confesses on Sister Wives: Kody ‘100 percent regrets marrying me’
“I don’t think that the fact that our family has kind of fallen apart like it has is because of polygamy,” Meri confessed. “I think it’s because of personalities.”
That’s when Meri added that she also believes that Kody now regrets some of his marriages, including hers.
“I think that he regrets marrying Christine. I don’t know where he is with Janelle. But I do believe 100 percent that he regrets marrying me,” Meri admitted.
Kody may not have outwardly expressed his regret, but Meri’s insinuation certainly makes sense. After years of trying to juggle four wives and 18 children, Kody discovered that he wasn’t cut out for the polygamous lifestyle.
Meri encouraged Kody to marry Robyn
When he and Meri got hitched, they fully intended to bring other wives into their marriage. Meri grew up in a plural family, and Kody was called to the lifestyle as a young adult.
In fact, Meri is the one who introduced Robyn to Kody and suggested they start courting. Meri and Robyn initially shared a close sister wife relationship, but they’ve grown apart over the years.
Despite Kody making it clear on multiple occasions that he was no longer interested in a romantic relationship with Meri, she continued to hold onto hope.
After months of claiming that she wasn’t going anywhere, Meri finally had a change of heart, as evidenced by her and Kody’s split.
Janelle stated this season that she believes Kody no longer wanted to be a plural husband, so his tactic was to push his other wives away, leaving him in a monogamous relationship with Robyn, his sole legal wife.
And she might be right – many Sister Wives fans have speculated for years that it was Kody’s plan all along to end up with his favorite wife, Robyn, so perhaps he got what he wanted after all.
Sister Wives airs on Sundays at 10/9c on TLC.