‘Sister Wives’ Recap: Meri Brown Says Her Marriage to Kody Is ‘Over’ After His Comments on Their Anniversary

Meri Brown had to face some heartbreaking truths on Sunday’s episode of Sister Wives. Kody Brown‘s estranged first wife has been clinging to the idea that she and her husband might romantically reconcile, but Kody made things all too clear as they celebrated their 32nd wedding anniversary. 

During the episode, Meri mentioned that Kody hadn’t reached out for their wedding anniversary and hadn’t acknowledged her birthday either, so she decided to call him instead. She seemingly caught Kody off guard, asking him if he wanted to do something to mark the occasion. He shared that he was watching his and wife Robyn Brown‘s kids and asked to call Meri back. 

“When Meri called me and asked me if we’re going to do anything for her, our anniversary, I just said, ‘Well, I’m watching the kids,’” Kody explains in his confessional interview. “I needed a minute, like, think I needed a reason to be able to say no to the event. I just didn’t think it was the right thing for me to do, and I had to think about that.”

Eventually, Kody agreed to the anniversary date, but things did not go how Meri envisioned. 

“At one point he made some reference to faking relationships or something like that, and I was like, ‘What do you mean faking?’” Meri later recalls. “And we were sitting across the table from each other, and he kind of gestured, like, with his fingers, you know, like between the two of us, he’s like, well, this.”

Meri says she told Kody that she wasn’t faking anything with their relationship and he replied, “I don’t know why you even bother to call and say happy anniversary, Meri.”

She said that Kody then said, “We’re not meh…,” before pausing. “And then he goes, but we’re not living as a married couple. I felt like in that moment that he stopped himself from saying, ‘Well, we’re not married.’ And that was like a big realization to me that all this time, all these years, that’s how he’s felt about it. But I haven’t known that.”

Meri went on to rehash some of her past back and forth issues with Kody, saying that following her 2015 catfishing scandal, she asked him to take some space, and Kody felt that was Meri kicking him out. 

“I never kicked him out,” she insisted. 

Of their ill-fated anniversary meal, Meri added, “He actually said to me, ‘I have no desire, Meri, to have a relationship with you.’ He said, ‘Don’t you understand, Meri, this is never going to happen. Your life is not one that I want to insert myself into.’ Like, I’ll never forget those words. This is the first time he’s ever said this to me.”

Calling the conversation “very, very painful,” Meri said she felt Kody “promised” to be with her eternally. 

Meri later said the Kody told her he “never loved” her or felt a romantic connection to her. 

“That’s a bunch of bull,” Meri said of Kody’s claims. “Ask anybody that we know. Ask anybody who saw us in our early years, even 10 years ago, and they would know that that was just a bunch of crap that he’s spewing to maybe to try to justify how he feels now.” 

She added that Kody is no longer interested in her, but isn’t willing to be the one to officially break their “eternal covenant.” 

“You can stick around if you want, but I’m like, ‘But why would I want to do that eternally be with somebody who really just has changed his mind about me?’”

Meri even goes so far as to say, “Our marriage is done,” claiming her ex is insinuating, “You can stick around and you can come visit me and Robyn and the kids if you want, but we’re never going to have a marriage relationship anymore.”

Meri also claimed that Kody didn’t want to go public with the end of their marriage. 

“He said, ‘No, I don’t want to do that. I just have so much criticism. I don’t want to be open and vocal about it. Let’s just keep this between us,’” Meri claimed, adding, “I’m not going to go the rest of my life hiding the fact that this is the way that our relationship is and hiding the fact that you said to me you don’t want to ever have a relationship with me. This is my story too, and I have the right to tell my story.”

Meri notes that she can “terminate” her marriage to Kody, but expresses, “That doesn’t sit well with my values. Because I didn’t marry Kody and make this eternal covenant just to be like, ‘It’s not working for us. I think I’ll peace out.’ And right now I don’t know what to do about it.”

As for things with Janelle, they aren’t much better. The couple remains separated with Janelle saying in this week’s episode, “We’re friendly when we have to be but there’s no connection really.”

Christine Brown was the first of Kody’s wives to leave him in 2021. The footage for this season of Sister Wives was shot in early to mid-2022 as Janelle has separated from Kody. In January 2023, Meri and Kody both announced that they had “permanently terminated” their marriage after years of estrangement. 

Meri and Kody legally married in 1990 and divorced in 2014 so that Kody could marry Robyn Brown and adopt her kids from a previous marriage. After that, Meri remained spiritually married to Kody prior to their January announcement. She and Kody share child Leon Brown, who came out as transgender in 2022. 

Kody’s only remaining marriage is to Robyn Brown. 

Sister Wives airs Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on TLC. 

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