No relationship is perfect — and the stars of Sister Wives aren’t afraid to admit it.
After more than 20 years of marriage, Kody and Meri Brown have worked their way out of more than one major rough patch. The couple tied the knot in April 1990 before Kody introduced three more wives — Janelle, Christine and Robyn Brown — into their family. Their unique home life drew nationwide attention when their TLC reality series debuted in September 2010.
“We have chosen to live in a plural family for many reasons, above all we have a testimony that this is what God wants us to do, and that it will make us better people,” Kody wrote in a 2011 blog post on his family’s website. “We value family above all else.”
Two years later, the Browns sued the state of Utah over its criminal polygamy laws after being investigated for possible prosecution. The case was eventually dismissed by the U.S. Court of Appeals in 2016 — but the concept of a plural family has sparked plenty of criticism from the show’s audience.
Things between Kody and his spouses took a big turn in September 2014 when he divorced Meri in an effort to “legally restructure” their brood. Three months later, Kody officially wed Robyn so that he could adopt her children from her first marriage.
Kody and Meri’s relationship hit a breaking point after their divorce, despite their desire to remain “spiritually married.” During a season 15 episode of Sister Wives, the pair hashed things out in an emotional therapy session, during which Meri said their romance is “dead” and “over.”
The Wyoming native told Us Weekly exclusively in February 2021 he and Meri hadn’t been on the same page for some time. However, he didn’t think he could ever officially end things on his own.
“In plural marriage, I don’t feel like I’ve got the right to say, ‘This is over, this is ending,'” he said at the time. “I have dominion over my own body and where I’m at but I’m not in a place where, like, I can say, ‘Hey, I’m divorcing you.’ I can’t do that. … There’s other double standards that we have in the family that we sort of tolerate. And that other double standard is I don’t get to leave, but they can.”
Scroll down for an in-depth look at all of Kody and Meri’s ups and downs.
The twosome tied the knot in April 1990, less than six months after Kody proposed. "Meri was so cute and sweet when I met her that I had a hard time suppressing my hopelessly romantic nature," Kody wrote in the family's 2012 memoir, Becoming Sister Wives: The Story of an Unconventional Marriage, adding that he believed Meri was his soulmate.
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Meri introduced Kody to Janelle Brown (née Schriever) before the pair got "spiritually married" in January 1993. Kody and his second wife share six children: daughters Madison and Savanah and sons Logan, Hunter, Garrison and Gabriel.
Courtesy Janelle Brown/Instagram; Courtesy Meri Brown/Instagram
Four years into his legal marriage with Meri, Kody entered another "spiritual marriage" with his third wife, Christine. They later welcomed six kids: son Paedon and daughters Aspyn, Mykelti, Gwendlyn, Ysabel and Truely.
Courtesy Christine Brown/Instagram
Meri and Kody welcomed their first child together, daughter Mariah, in July 1995 after struggling to conceive for several years.
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After Mariah's birth, the couple tried for baby No. 2 but Meri ultimately suffered a miscarriage at 10 weeks. She looked back on the heartbreaking loss during a 2012 episode of the TLC reality show. "I completely assumed that after I had Mariah, it would be very easy for me to conceive again," Meri said at the time. "And that just didn't happen. So, after years of a rollercoaster, we had finally backed off. ... I was so frustrated and so angry. I didn’t understand why, after another 12 years of trying, and then, it was just taken away from us. I didn't understand that. It was really hard."
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In September 2010, the Brown family took over the TLC spotlight with the premiere of their reality series. Season 1 introduced Kody's fourth wife, Robyn, the first new spouse to enter the family in more than 15 years.
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Kody and Meri got divorced in September 2014, allowing him to legally marry Robyn in order to adopt her three children from her previous relationship: David, Aurora and Breanna. "We have chosen to legally restructure our family," the Browns said in a statement to Us at the time. "We made this decision together as a family. We are grateful to our family, friends and fans for all their love and support."
During one dramatic Sister Wives episode, Kody revealed that he felt "deceived into a relationship that was very different than what I expected" with his first marriage.
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Two years after her divorce shook up the family dynamic, Meri pursued an online relationship — but things weren't as they seemed. "At the very beginning, this person was fun, funny, just good conversation," Meri later explained during a June 2016 episode of the TLC show after she got catfished by her crush. "At first, it was kind of cool just to have that companionship, I guess. I cared about who I thought she was portraying him to be because I have a trusting heart and a loving heart. ... The feelings that I had were confusing."
At the time, Kody said he felt "lost" in the situation. "Meri and I were struggling enough. It was very hard to communicate," he recalled.
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During a January 2017 episode of Sister Wives, Meri and Kody struggled to come to terms with their daughter's sexual orientation after she came out as gay. "I'm still in a state of processing this," Kody told the cameras, saying the moment felt like a bomb being dropped. In a confessional, Meri admitted, "This is a little unexpected. I did not see this coming. ... Kind of surprises me that she's known for so long and hasn't said anything to us."
TLC; Courtesy Mariah Brown/Instagram
Meri's dream of opening her own inn caused an uproar during season 13 of Sister Wives, when Kody claimed the effort was "self-indulgent." At the time, Meri said her venture wasn't out of a desire "to be alone and independent in the business world or anything like that. It was just something that I needed to get done." Though the rest of the Browns were skeptical that the bed & breakfast would pay off, Meri hoped they would come around. "I know they support it, and I think that if I needed help with [the inn] they would be right there," she said.
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In an emotional Instagram Story during the 2019 holidays, Meri looked back on her past miscarriage while sending support to other women who've gone through the same struggle. "I woke up this morning thinking about how it would be to have my 12-year-old boy with me at Christmas this year," she wrote at the time. "Never thought I'd get the news today that a sweet little mom I know and love would be saying goodbye to her own sweet baby today too. #MiscarriageSucks." Kody previously admitted during a 2012 episode of Sister Wives that their infertility journey took them both to a "dark place."
Courtesy Meri Brown/Instagram
During a 2020 episode of the unscripted series, Kody and Meri decided it was "time for us to actually take the temperature of our relationship" with the help of a professional.
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Six years after her divorce — and amid a particularly rocky patch in her relationship — Meri reassured fans that she and Kody were in it for the long haul. "Let's just clarify something here. I love this man. 💙," she wrote via Instagram in December 2020. "I don't owe anyone an explanation but I'll do it anyway. ... My relationship with him is MY relationship with him. Sure we've had ups and downs through the years (I mean, isn't that somewhat normal?) High highs and low lows. ... But here's my truth. I love him. I love my family. I'm committed. I have 30 years in this. We struggle. We communicate. ... I'm not going anywhere."
Courtesy Meri Brown/Instagram
After Kody said during a February 2021 episode that his relationship with Meri lacked "value," she revealed exclusively to Us that she didn't feel the same. “I did not agree with that statement then, nor do I now because I think there is value to it,” she said at the time. “It’s always hard looking back over, you know, some of the not so good and not so graceful moments of the show. ... There is always improvement to be made, but I am at peace where I am. I’m happy in my life."
TLC; Puddle Monkey Prods/Kobal/Shutterstock
During a March 2021 episode of Sister Wives, Kody revealed that his marriage to Meri started to "dissolve" in 2015 after her catfishing scandal, and it never recovered. While he admitted, "I feel more friendly with Meri than I have felt in six or more years," he also noted, "It doesn't mean I've got any romantic inclinations within our marriage."
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