Sister Wives’ Kody Didn’t Know He Was in ‘Terrible Relationships’ With Christine, Janelle and Meri

Sister Wives star Kody Brown looked back on his marriages to exes Christine Brown, Janelle Brown and Meri Brown, admitting that the relationships were only good for sex.

“I was in terrible relationships but wasn’t willing to discard them, didn’t want to discard them,” Kody, 55, said in a confessional during the Sunday, October 20, episode of the TLC series. “[I] didn’t even know I was in terrible relationships.”

He then said that people in “bad” relationships don’t often know at the time. “You just think you’re in a normal relationship because all your friends have the same problem until you’re in a normal relationship that has deep emotional intimacy instead of the [butting heads],” Kody continued, seemingly referring to his last remaining marriage to wife Robyn Brown.

“Some people call it F&F. And the second word is fight. Or F&F and the first word is fight,” the patriarch continued while reflecting on his sex lives with his former wives. “That doesn’t create intimacy, that just creates orgasms.”

Despite admitting that his marriages with Christine, 52, Janelle, 55, and Meri, 53, were all unhealthy, he said that his marriage with Meri “was on the rocks” ever since they tied the knot in 1990.

“And how would I know that?” Kody continued about his first marriage. “Because I had such a better relationship with Janelle, with Christine, with Robyn and Janelle and Christine didn’t survive.”

The father of 18 added that he “should have gotten out of the relationship 25 years ago” instead of remaining with Meri for over 30 years.

Christine was the first of Kody’s wives to leave him in November 2021, while Janelle followed suit in December 2022. Meri and Kody also sparked split rumors in December 2022, though didn’t confirm their decision to separate until January 2023.

In recent episodes, fans watched Meri ask the church to be “released” from her marriage to Kody. After the request was granted during the October 13 episode, Meri explained why she wanted to move forward with the process.

“[It’s] basically the equivalent of a divorce,” Meri explained. “It was a very, very hard conversation … This is not what I wanted to do. This is not what I intended when I married Kody.”

She then noted that the “spiritual ceiling” of their relationship was “still intact” after she and Kody legally divorced in 2014 so that he could marry Robyn, 45. “When we marry, it is for eternity,” the reality star continued. “That’s the intention.”

After noting that she took her vows seriously, Meri explained that being “released” from the church meant that she and Kody were no longer kept “together for eternity.” She continued, “We are no longer married in any way, shape or form.”

Meri added that she was granted the release “on the grounds of abandonment,” and she acknowledged that Kody wouldn’t approve of the reasoning.

Kody later reflected on the reasoning during the October 20 episode. “They said they’d give Meri a release, a divorce on account of abandonment, and I just don’t believe that that’s true at all. She was never abandoned,” he insisted.