Meri has been subjected to many embarrassing moments on Sister Wive by Kody and Robyn, and it looks like the pair might be doing so intentionally.
On Sister Wives, Kody Brown and Robyn Brown frequently treated Meri Brown in a deliberately degrading manner. During the first season of Sister Wives, Meri was the dominant woman in the Brown family when viewers first encountered her. The other women looked up to Meri because she was Kody’s first wife and the only one who was formally wed. However, Meri’s situation began to deteriorate when Kody requested a divorce so that he could wed Robyn, his new wife. A catfish scandal eventually centered on Meri years later. She had unknowingly struck up a friendship with catfishing offender Jackie Overton, posing as Sam Cooper.
Compromise-related voicemails and images that Meri had sent were later made public online. Kody publicly defended Meri, but he never seemed to forget the catfish incident. Kody’s sparse visits to her house and Meri’s revelation that they hadn’t had physical contact in over ten years only served to deepen her nightmare reality. They talked about wanting to make up with Kody all the time, but their hatred only grew worse. Eventually, on January 10, 2023, Meri and Kody made the decision to end their relationship.
Kody Gave Meri A Really Lame Christmas Gift
The relationship between Meri and Kody gradually deteriorated long before they announced the end of their marriage. Although Kody has consistently tried to avoid taking responsibility for his part in making Meri feel irrelevant and humiliated before she decided to move on from the marriage, his behavior towards her spoke volumes. Despite holding out hope that things might get better, the writing on the wall became more apparent to Meri during Christmas time when Kody showered Christine Brown with enormous gifts but didn’t get anything for Meri. What made it worse was Christine asking why Kody didn’t get Meri a gift.
Even if Kody made the excuse that Christine wanted to give Meri a gift voucher, it doesn’t change the fact that he went shopping and neglected to include his first wife. One of the Christmas traditions is to provide thoughtful gifts. Getting one of your wives many gifts while purposefully ignoring the other was just disrespectful and embarrassing to Kody, the spouse of multiple women. Withholding attention and love demonstrated Kody’s lack of concern for Meri, and his decision to skip Christmas shopping for her had a hidden message for his first wife.
Robyn Tells Meri Stuff That She Probably Knows Will Hurt Her
Robyn’s ability to play mediator while covertly fanning the flames of tension between Kody and his wives is one of her cunning talents that has been quite apparent in Sister Wives. Unsurprisingly, during a recent Sister Wives season 18 episode, Meri was the victim of yet another of Robyn’s tricks. Robyn opted to tell Kody met up with Christine’s kids Mykelti, Truely, and Ysabel Brown for a belated Christmas celebration despite making himself absent during the holiday season, even though she knew Meri felt upset over how Kody had consistently ignored her.
The fact that Kody could make time for them while ignoring his first wife would always be painful, and Meri couldn’t help but feel hurt. Robyn knew how damaging this information was, and she still decided to toy with Meri’s emotions. Robyn always pretends to be the peace-loving wife hurt by the breakdown of her polygamous lifestyle. However, her cruelty has been one of the catalysts behind Kody and Meri’s relationship breakdown.
The S’Mores Incident Was Brutal
The fractured relationship between Meri and Kody was evident to anyone who looked closely at the relationship dynamics between the two, but those problems became compounded during the COVID-19 period. Kody placed his family on a strict lockdown rule, which meant he spent extended periods away from Meri and her kids. However, outdoor events presented an opportunity for the family to get together, and the Browns took advantage of this by organizing a barbecue. Despite the fraught relationship between the duo, Kody surprised everyone by making a s’more for Meri.
Unfortunately, Kody’s motivations for making the s’more weren’t as good-intentioned as the gesture might have implied he was trying to mend fences with his previous wife. The first wife overheard Robyn encouraging Kody to prepare a s’more for Meri since she had overheard them talking. It was embarrassing that Kody hadn’t considered doing something for Meri until Robyn made the suggestion. In addition to showing that Kody doesn’t appreciate his first wife well enough to consider making that tiny gesture of his own free will, it also supports the idea that Robyn is his favorite.
Robyn Took Meri’s Legal Wife Title
When Kody started planning to marry Robyn as his fourth wife, he was determined to adopt her three kids from her previous marriage and raise them as his own. However, to do this, Kody needed to “legally restructure” his family by divorcing Meri, to whom he was legally married. At the time, the move presented no real danger to Meri and Kody’s relationship since Kody explained he decided this with his family’s support, including Meri. However, in hindsight, removing Meri as Kody’s legal wife was the first step for Robyn to displace her from the family entirely. From then on, Robyn became the favorite wife.
It might not have mattered much to Meri at first to give up her formal marriage title in order to appease Kody. She gradually lost power over family decisions, but she soon realized what she had lost. Meri hesitated to voice her opinion during a scene in which the wives were considering which Coyote Pass land lots to buy, despite Robyn asking her to do so as the first wife. Instead, she made the joke, “You’re the legal wife,” appearing to accept defeat and her diminished position. Meri made the proper decision to formally leave Kody after experiencing a great deal of humiliation, and it is encouraging to see her establishing a new route outside from the family.
Sister Wives airs Sundays at 10 p.m. EST on TLC.