During the latest episode of Sister Wives, Meri Brown opened up about feeling like the third wheel while spending time with Kody Brown and Robyn Brown.
During the episode, which aired on Sunday, September 10, and was filmed in December 2022, Meri, 52, celebrated Christmas Eve with Kody, 54, and Robyn, 44.
“It’s probably very awkward for Meri. This is mine and Robyn’s house,” Kody said of the festivities during a confessional. “Robyn and I always have to tone down our romantic tension completely.”
Robyn added during her own confessional: “I know that it’s different for Meri and Kody. Out of respect for her and out of love for her, I’m careful.”
Despite Kody and Robyn’s efforts, Meri still felt out of place. “Kody doesn’t hide things well and I’m well aware. It’s kind of like being the other woman,” she said with a laugh.
Meri and Kody were legally married from 1990 to 2014 and continued to be spiritually married for years after that. Their rocky relationship has played out on the Sister Wives over the years. During the season 17 finale of the TLC series, which aired in December 2022, Kody said, “I don’t want to be in a relationship with [Meri] anymore.”
In January, the duo released a joint statement saying that they’d decided to “permanently terminate” their marriage. The exes share one child: Leon, 28, who announced in June 2022 that they are transgender and use they/them pronouns.
While Kody celebrated with Meri and Robyn during Sunday’s episode, his exes Janelle Brown and Christine Brown had their own Christmas get together at a vacation rental.
“For the last 30 years, I’ve celebrated Christmas as a family,” Janelle, 54, said during a confessional, noting that it felt “peaceful” and “joyful” to change things up this year. She spent Christmas Day with just her sons Garrison, 24, and Gabe, 21, and daughter Savannah, 18, all of whom she shares with Kody. Their son Hunter, 26, arrived at the rental later. (Janelle and Kody also share son Logan, 29, and daughter Maddie, 27.)
Janelle, who confirmed that she and Kody had “been separated for several months” during the December 2022 Sister Wives: One-on-One special, also opened up about telling her children that her and Kody’s relationship was on the rocks.
“I kind of told the kids their dad and I had had a really bad fight that we probably weren’t coming back from,” she told cameras. “My kids weren’t surprised, they’ve observed our relationship for several years and thought maybe it was time for me to do something different, find something better.”
Christine, 51, meanwhile, arrived at the vacation rental later, where she stayed for several days. “Just having everybody in the same place again, it already feels festive,” she said during the episode.
Christine, who spiritually married Kody in 1995, decided to end the relationship and relocate to Utah in November 2021. That March, she exclusively told Us Weekly that she felt like she’d lost her voice in the family.
“Anytime we’ve had major decisions, I go through a time where I’m like, ‘Does my opinion really even matter here?’ That’s when we struggle the most … is when I feel like I don’t really have a say or I don’t really have an opinion,” she said at the time.
Kody expressed sadness over the end of their marriage during an October 2022 episode of Sister Wives.
“I’m living in a delusional world where I’m wishing Christine didn’t leave. I’m struggling with sort of a state of regret and frustration,” he said in a confessional. “It’s a weird thing to be getting left. It’s made me question getting into plural marriage. Question my faith. The message we had to the world about functional polygamy seems so dysfunctional now.”
During Sunday’s episode, Kody opened up about celebrating the holidays without Janelle and Christine.
“Tomorrow’s gonna be Christmas, and we’ll be super focused on who’s here and who we love and stuff like that. But I’m coming at this with a deficit. My bank account of love has been just [emptied],” he said. “My heart has just been ripped to pieces. And I’m not yet in that place that I keep praying I can get to where I’m just accepting what has happened and where we’re at.”
Kody shares daughters Aspen, 28, Mykelti, 27, Gwendolyn, 21, Ysabel, 20, and Truely, 13, and son Paedon, 25 with Christine. He and Robyn share son Solomon, 11, and daughter Ariella, 7. Kody also adopted Robyn’s three children from a previous marriage: son Dayton, 21, and daughters Aurora, 21, and Breanna, 19.
Sister Wives airs Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on TLC, MAX, and Discovery+.
