Sister Wives: Kody Brown Treated Meri Poorly In Their Marriage (And How She’s Fighting Back Now)

Sister Wives’s Kody was a cute and romantic husband to Meri until his spiritual calling led to him marrying three more women and falling out of love.

•  Meri Brown was Kody’s first and longest-lasting wife, but he treated her poorly in their plural marriage. They officially split in January 2023.
•  Kody divorced Meri in 2014 to legally marry Robyn and ensure custody of her children. He prioritized his other wives over Meri.
•  Meri and Kody’s relationship deteriorated after he married Robyn, and their lack of intimacy and a catfishing scandal contributed to their separation. Meri did not want a fake relationship with Kody.

Sister Wives star Meri Brown was Kody Brown’s first wife but also the one he treated most poorly in their plural marriage. Kody and Meri’s relationship started in 1989 and ended for good three decades later when they released a joint statement confirming their split in January 2023. The news came after Christine Brown left Kody in November 2021 and Janelle Brown confirmed her separation from Kody in December 2022. Meri claimed she didn’t have a say in their separation. Kody had already made the decision that they’d split. While she did tease an interest in reconciliation, Meri called Kody’s approach to marriage “disturbing.”

Meri was the only wife to be legally married to Kody until 2014 when he divorced her. Kody and Meri met through their religion. Meri became friends with Kody’s sister when the Brown family began attending Meri’s church. She met Kody in October 1989 when Kody’s sister introduced them. Kody, who had just returned from a mission trip, was 21 years old and Meri was 18. Interestingly, it was Meri who was raised in a polygamist family. Kody’s father did not practice polygamy until Kody was a teenager. Kody and Meri got engaged just two months later, in December 1989, and got married in four months.

Kody Divorced Meri To Legally Marry Robyn

Kody, 22, married a 19-year-old Meri in April 1990. Their marriage was monogamous for three years. Kody had grown up in a traditional Mormon family which didn’t entertain the idea of polygamy. His father, William Winn Brown, felt called to the lifestyle and Kody had a “divine calling” himself to practice it. Meri shared Kody’s beliefs because she was raised in a polygamist lifestyle herself. Kody’s treatment of Meri was a big motivating factor in Christine and Janelle’s decision to join their plural marriage. Christine was 18 when she met Kody and Meri. She thought they were “cute” and noticed “everybody wanted to be around them.”

Kody was sweet and charming with Meri. Christine saw how well Kody treated Meri and immediately wanted to “sign up” for that. Janelle, too, was interested in becoming a plural wife for a man who knew how to manage his family. When Janelle entered the family, Kody and Meri were in love. “They were always together, they were connected,” Janelle recalled. Kody became a polygamist when Janelle entered their marriage in 1993. Christine, also raised in a polygamous family, became Kody’s third wife in 1994. Then came Robyn, who also grew up in a polygamous lifestyle. Robyn entered into the plural family nearly two decades after Kody married his third wife.

Meri was Kody’s only legal wife until 2014 when she legally divorced Kody so that he could legally marry Robyn. Kody had an overwhelming desire to legally take custody of the family’s newest members, Dayton, Aurora, and Breanna, so he decided to make Robyn his legal bride instead. The legal adoption ensured that if something were to happen to Robyn, her three children would remain in the Brown family and not be passed back to their biological dad. Kody and Meri considered themselves to be spiritually married from 2014 to 2023.