Meri Brown, from the show Sister Wives, didn’t seem very impressed with her ex-husband Kody Brown’s apology.
After apologizing to his second and third wives, Janelle and Christine Brown, the family’s father figure continued his attempts to make amends by visiting Meri’s home in Utah, as shown on the December 28th episode of the TLC series.
Meri told Kody she was being cautious because she wasn’t sure what was happening or why, especially since their recent conversations hadn’t gone well.
Kody, who is still married to Robyn Brown, told his first wife that he wants her to move on with her life. He said it doesn’t seem like she’s doing so, judging by what her friends say about him.
When Meri told Kody to stop, he said he didn’t want to argue, explaining he was only there to apologize.
And nothing more.
You know, as someone who’s spent years observing relationships, I’ve seen this pattern so many times. It’s incredibly frustrating when you feel like you can’t truly be heard. I was really struck by something Meri shared – she said Kody has consistently shut down her attempts to express her feelings, either by interrupting or just preventing her from speaking at all. It’s a classic tactic that leaves the other person feeling completely silenced and unheard, and honestly, it’s a huge red flag in any relationship.
He apologized for everything he’d done, from telling her he didn’t love her to not appreciating her sense of humor.
But the more repentance he doled out, the less Meri believed.
She told the father of 18 to stop saying “sorry” so much. She explained that overusing the word makes it sound less genuine.
She told Kody that his actions proved the conversation didn’t feel genuine.
Even though they had separated over three years prior, she was happy to allow Kody his time to process things.
You know, when it comes to relationships, I always say giving someone room to be themselves is crucial. That’s where I’m at with this situation. I’m watching closely to see if his actions are truly sincere, and honestly, I’m still a little skeptical. But I’m willing to keep an open mind and see where things lead. It’s all about observation and giving it time, really.
She told Kody she’d rather have a discussion than just listen to his apologies.
As it became clear a real conversation wasn’t going to happen, Meri explained to the cameras that his refusal to talk confirmed it was all about him and his needs. She acknowledged that if he needed to feel that way, he was free to do so.
And he wanted it his way, meaning he wasn’t willing to indulge in any discussion of his children.
Meri told Kody she hoped he didn’t regret their relationship, considering how many children they have together. Kody immediately shut down that conversation, saying they weren’t allowed to discuss the kids.
Kody explained he didn’t want to discuss the topic, stating it was “a complete mess” and he preferred to avoid it.
Having reached an impasse, Meri walked away from their sitdown feeling less than impressed.
She acknowledged that people naturally change over time. She wasn’t expecting either of them to be the same as they were thirty years ago, but she did hope to see growth and improvement from him. She felt disappointed because she hadn’t observed that improvement in how he was dealing with the divorce, their shared property, or his relationship with their children, and that saddened her.
And that’s just one piece of what’s been revealed this season! I’ve been following all the updates, and honestly, the honesty from her and the other women has been incredible. I’ve gathered everything they’ve shared, so keep reading to get all the details.
Now that her divorce from Kody Brown is final, Janelle Brown shared in the season 20 premiere of Sister Wives that she’s taking a similar approach to Meri Brown.
Although they were married for 29 years, Kody and Christine were never legally married. Christine explained on the show’s premiere that she’d considered a ‘spiritual divorce’ for a long time but didn’t know it was possible. When Meri pursued one, Christine asked her who she needed to contact to do the same.
Janelle’s former sister wife—who had previously been released from their church due to feeling abandoned—was happy to help connect Janelle with other family members. Janelle explained, ‘She’s been really helpful in getting me back in touch with everyone.’
Madison Brush is still dealing with the fallout from her father’s actions. Despite being estranged from Kody, Madison—one of his six children with Janelle—shared on the September 28th episode that she continues to struggle with their separation.
The mother of four admitted she hopes her husband’s father will be present, and that she desires a resolution to their issues. She acknowledged her own role in the situation, but also expressed frustration as she continues to work on managing her expectations and avoiding disappointment.
She’s finding it difficult to accept him as he is. She explained that she’s working on understanding that he may not have known how to be there for her, and that he could be going through his own pain.
He also might not be willing to cede too much ground.
Kody expressed wanting to repair his relationships with Meri, Janelle, Christine Brown, and their kids, but feels it can only happen if they decide to try. He believes they’ve reached a standstill because any progress depends entirely on their willingness to heal.
Robyn Brown, Kody’s last remaining wife, says she always desired a family, not just a relationship with Kody himself. In the September 28th episode, she shared that she had received marriage proposals before, though not always formal ones. She explained that several men had told her they would marry her quickly if she’d have them.
Honestly, when she told me what she wanted, it was so clear! She said, and I’ll never forget it, ‘I was totally ready to be in a plural marriage!’ And the craziest part? She told me if Kody hadn’t already been with Meri, Janelle, and Christine, she would’ve said yes to him too! It’s just… everything would have been different if he’d been available. I just know it!
Kody explained that, despite not planning to be exclusive, he and his current wife had become a monogamous couple, playfully declaring, “It’s just you and me now.”
Though he admittedly had one concern.
Kody hinted to Robyn that he desired more intimacy in their relationship. In a private interview, he explained his perspective: he believes polygamy allows a man to have everything he wants, while monogamy often leaves him feeling unfulfilled.
Meri is actively dating and has a clear idea of what she wants in a partner. She’s looking for a tall man who enjoys traveling – a big priority for her, as she loves road trips. And importantly, he must be a dog person, not a cat person, she shared recently.
And she definitely needs someone who won’t scare easily.
She described a difficult dating experience where a man ended the conversation as soon as he learned she practiced polygamy. He told her he wasn’t interested in continuing the conversation and wasn’t open to that lifestyle, which she found very hurtful. She felt rejected simply because of her beliefs about relationships.
Meri explained that it was the first time she truly understood that some people would be unwilling to connect with her because of who she was.
Janelle believes she was the only one in her large family who really wanted to settle on Coyote Pass.
On the October 3rd episode of the show, Janelle revealed she never really envisioned the entire family living on the 14-acre Coyote Pass property they bought before moving to Flagstaff, Arizona in 2018. She discussed the disagreements within the family regarding the land.
Although Kody’s second wife thought living there could work—she said it was a nice property and worth considering—she believed Kody and his other wives were only briefly interested in the idea.
She explained that no one was eager to live in that location, especially not Christine. Meri would have agreed to move if everyone else had, too.
Janelle observed that Kody and Robyn’s former property, a two-acre home with five bedrooms which they recently sold for $1.7 million, felt unfinished despite being mostly built.
Janelle explained that despite everyone’s initial excitement about dividing the land into four pieces, she quickly realized after moving to Flagstaff that it wouldn’t work out.
Kody believes he knows why his relationships with most of his adult children are strained – with the exception of Robyn’s oldest kids, Dayton, Aurora, and Breanna.
I’ve noticed things have been really difficult with my adult children lately, and honestly, it breaks my heart. It feels like there’s a lot of hurtful back-and-forth, little jabs and unspoken things, and it’s really damaged the trust we all have in each other. It’s created a lot of tension and made it hard to feel close to them.
And these days, not many of his grown kids are on Team Kody.
Even though Mykelti Padron, one of Christine’s six children, had seemed the most publicly supportive of her father, she shared her perspective on the family split several months after moving to North Carolina with her husband, Tony Padron, and their three children.
She believes that if he simply took responsibility for his actions, at least some of his children might try to reconnect with him. During a fan Q&A in October 2024, shared on Instagram (@withoutacrystalball), she explained that instead of blaming his children, his other wife, their parents, or rumors, a simple apology and willingness to discuss his mistakes – like saying, ‘I understand I messed up. I’m sorry. Can we talk?’ – would make a huge difference.
When Coyote Pass was sold in April 2025, Janelle and Meri finalized their separation from Kody and received a financial benefit. Previously, Christine had transferred her share of the land to keep the money from selling her house in Arizona.
On the October 5th episode, Janelle playfully told Meri it felt like saying, “Goodbye, and I don’t expect to see you again.”
But she certainly wouldn’t have waved off an even nicer present.
If she had been legally married to Kody, she said she would have expected to receive half of his possessions, as she would have been entitled to it.
Kody and Robyn Brown decided to give up on their plans for Coyote Pass after they found a new house they preferred. They had been trying for months to sell the large property, and Kody explained on a recent episode that selling Coyote Pass only became possible when they discovered they really wanted a different home, which cost $2.1 million.
The father of eighteen children is also looking forward to leaving behind painful memories from their old house. He explained, “We’ve gone through a lot of difficult times here, and we’re hoping for a fresh start – a completely new chapter in our lives.”
Kody believed that loving multiple wives meant he had more love to give, but he admits he didn’t spread his attention evenly among them. As he explained on the October 19th episode, he found it hard to fully commit to each wife individually, and felt they didn’t always fully commit to him or to one another either. He questioned whether everyone was truly dedicated to the idea of plural marriage as a whole.
Looking back, he thinks one mistake was giving Robyn a lavish lifestyle – a $1.65 million, five-bedroom house – while his other wives had more modest living situations. He admitted he doesn’t understand why his marriages to Meri, Janelle, and Christine failed, but believes the house created jealousy. He felt he’d gone to great lengths to provide for Robyn, and his other wives struggled with that disparity.
Christine found it difficult to relax around Kody. As she explained in an October 26th interview, he was a very demanding husband with many specific needs and preferences, including what he ate and how he maintained his appearance.
Bottom line, she noted, “It was a lot.”
Janelle isn’t eager to jump into another relationship after her breakup with Kody. She confessed to Christine and her husband, David Woolley, that being with Kody was exhausting, and she believes relationships in general require a lot of effort.
That’s why she’s pushing back against David’s suggestions she join FarmersOnly. She explained to the cameras, ‘David just doesn’t accept that I’m not interested in dating. I keep telling him, ‘No, no, no!”
Kody was usually careful about remembering which wife he was talking to. Christine explained on the November 2nd episode that he almost never miscalled someone. She described how painful it would be to hear another wife’s name during a private moment, and said that, thankfully, it never happened.
Though there were some close calls.
I often found myself doing that,” Kody confessed. “I definitely have, and I sometimes even initiated the conflicts before changing my approach.
To hear Christine tell it, she felt quite stabbed in the kidney by her former sister wife.
She told David on the November 2nd episode that she felt deeply betrayed by Robyn, explaining she’d lost all trust in her. She shared that she used to tell Robyn private things, but those confidences would somehow get her into trouble with Kody, making him angry. Because of this, she stopped sharing anything personal with Robyn.
But Robyn insisted she was just trying to play marriage counselor.
Christine often told me she wished Kody could see things from her perspective and understand what she was going through. I was a bit naive and thought I could help them resolve it, but now I realize it would have been better if I hadn’t gotten involved at all.
Meri used to be flattered by the idea that Kody favored her among his former wives, but when he tried to chat over video about selling their house in Arizona, she wasn’t interested in being friendly.
He reflected on a conversation with Janelle, recalling that things used to be good with Meri – he specifically remembered helping her move to Parowan, Utah, and it being a positive experience. However, he noted that their relationship has become strained and awkward since then.
Meri maintained she was solely concentrating on work, especially after hearing comments Kody had made on camera in earlier seasons.
I had to be firm and set clear limits with him,” she said. “It’s frustrating when he acts like everything is okay on these video calls, pretending nothing happened after some of the hurtful things he’s said about me and my friends. I won’t tolerate that behavior.
Christine happily said yes when David proposed last year, but her ex-husband believes he should have been consulted beforehand.
Kody explained that his youngest daughter, Truely, lives with David, and he feels he should get to know him better.
In fact, he mused, he “should have had the right, even, to discriminate David.”
Janelle was happy to get her part of Coyote Pass back and wasn’t upset about the money she’d already given Robyn and Kody towards their house in Arizona.
She explained on the November 2nd episode that her children think she should try to recover the money she invested in Robyn’s house, but she anticipates a difficult legal battle to do so.
She explained that trying to get money from Kody is difficult, because he always has a long list of excuses for why he doesn’t owe it.
He felt he’d already fulfilled his obligation. “Janelle helped us buy our house, and I paid her back in January,” he explained. “After that, in January or February, she told me everything was settled and I didn’t owe her anything. She said it was more than fair.”
Should Kody still be interested in having his love multiplied, there’s no shortage of options.
He told Robyn on November 2nd that he’d received another email from a woman inquiring about plural marriage.
Okay, so get this – one of my former wives was actually scolding me for leaving plural marriage! Can you believe the nerve? But then, things got…weird. She basically offered to, like, join our family, get to know me and Robyn, and become another wife! She was totally calling me out on my choices, and then…asking to be part of things. It’s just…a lot, you know?
Robyn didn’t immediately reject the idea. She later confessed that for a moment, she actually considered it, thinking it might be what she’d always dreamed of, and wondered if it would be a good fit.
Ultimately, though, it was a no.
Honestly, I was really bothered that they contacted Kody directly. It just doesn’t seem right to approach him like that! The way things work is you go through the other wives first – that’s just the respectful thing to do, and it feels like they skipped a really important step.
Kody admits his strained relationship with his child is a major family issue, but he needs to make significant changes to improve things.
I was really surprised to hear Janelle talking about Maddie’s fourth pregnancy on the show recently. She revealed that Maddie didn’t even bother telling Kody she was expecting! Janelle just said he’d find out eventually, because they really haven’t been in contact for years – she estimated two or three years, which is just… wow. It’s a tough situation, and it really shows how strained things are between Maddie and her dad.
Janelle didn’t just want a relationship with Kody; she wanted to be part of the whole family. Meri recalled that when Janelle married Kody three years into his marriage with her—and after a short marriage to Meri’s brother—Janelle seemed very considerate. “She acted like she was trying to be sensitive to my feelings and include me,” Meri said on the November 9th episode. “There were a lot of feelings surrounding it all.”
Meri admitted they were navigating the challenges of plural marriage, and she felt a mix of jealousy and other feelings during that time. She also shared that it made her feel valued that her wife was willing to work through it with her.
Meri doesn’t back down easily. However, things became complicated when the family agreed to sell Coyote Pass, the 14-acre property they bought after relocating to Arizona.
During the November 16th episode, Meri said the problem seemed to be about making sure the correct people were listed as owners on the properties. She added that she didn’t understand why the paperwork couldn’t have simply been signed and finalized.
She was also puzzled by another of Kody’s moves.
She explained, clearly upset, that he was blaming her for the delays and claiming she was the cause of the problem. She said this was because they wanted her to sign a confidentiality agreement, which she refused to do, and she questioned their motives for trying to silence her.
To hear Robyn tell it, though, their discussions were nothing to howl about.
Meri and I have always been able to talk openly and honestly with each other. I was simply trying to understand what she needed, and I always want what’s best for her.
Christine says having more money has actually made life easier. As a mother of six, she clearly remembers the stress of not having enough money for even basic things like groceries.
She explained that it’s really awkward when you get to the register and realize you’ve spent more money than you have. You might be able to write a check, but it would probably bounce, forcing you to return some items.
Other times they had to walk back plans to pay for certain essentials.
Meri explained that they used to have regular meetings – either weekly or monthly – to decide which bill was the most urgent to pay.
Robyn was determined to ensure everyone received a fair share of the money from the sale of Coyote Pass. As she explained on the November 23rd episode, she pushed hard for an equal split of the profits between herself, Kody, Janelle, and Meri, and admitted to having significant disagreements with Kody to achieve that outcome. She described herself as taking on the difficult role of advocating for fairness in the situation.
Ultimately, Kody explained that when the 14-acre property was sold in April 2025, they decided to simply divide the proceeds equally – giving each person 25 percent.
Janelle didn’t directly say Kody had a mid-life crisis, but she explained in the November 23rd episode that his behavior changed after he turned a significant age.
Oh my gosh, it was right around the time Kody turned 50, and things just…changed. Janelle said he started going on and on about how he was the one holding everything together, and how he’d finally found his soulmate with Robyn. It was like, suddenly keeping up with all four of us wives was just…too much for him. Honestly, it felt like he was blaming us for him not being able to handle things anymore!
But Kody took issue with the idea that he didn’t put in the work.
He firmly stated that he’d always stepped up and fulfilled his duties within the family. He consistently gave his all, but felt that effort wasn’t reciprocated by other family members.
He joked that with three divorces looming, it felt like they were all going through menopause together. He explained that men can experience hormonal changes too, and he likely lost motivation because his testosterone levels dropped, making it difficult to stay engaged.
When Janelle Brown’s mother, Sheryl Usher, found out her daughter was considering plural marriage, she initially tried to intervene, believing it was a dangerous cult. As Janelle explained, her mom “came to save me from the polygamists.” However, in a surprising turn of events, Sheryl ended up marrying Kody Brown’s father, Winn Brown, just three months before Janelle and Kody tied the knot in October 1992.
Their marriage definitely added a layer of complexity to the family. Janelle admitted she initially worried about how to explain it, but she accepted it. “It felt strange at first,” she said, “but ultimately it was good to have another person on my side.”
Ysabel Brown says she wishes she’d had more one-on-one time with her father, Kody. On a recent episode of the show, she explained that she and her dad aren’t particularly close.
Honestly, watching my mom with Ysabel is just… amazing. Ysabel said it best – my mom is both the mom and the dad, and she’s absolutely incredible at filling both roles! And David, my stepdad? He’s awesome too, seriously. They make such a great team, it’s just… perfect. I’m so lucky to have them both!
Despite their difficulties, Ysabel didn’t say her relationship with Kody was broken. “He’s still my dad, and I love him,” she explained.
Though Janelle still feels the family had something special, that spark wasn’t apparent early on.
Janelle felt hurt that her ex-husband didn’t always support her, particularly early in their relationship, and often seemed to side with others instead. Combined with existing issues like jealousy and insecurity they were trying to overcome, it created a difficult dynamic.
Janelle Brown became pregnant with her first child, Logan, less than a year after marrying Kody, and around the time he was frequently away for work. She recalls that his limited presence at home led her to prioritize avoiding conflict, and she felt she lost touch with who she was as an individual.
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