'Sister Wives': Meri Brown says Kody's approach to marriage is 'disturbing'
After years of trying to work on her marriage, Meri Brown says she's frustrated that Kody won't reciprocate the effort in an upcoming episode of "Sister Wives."
The reality star, 51, sits down with Kody, Robyn and Janelle for a family meeting in the new episode and the group discusses the status of their plural marriage, now that Christine has departed for Utah.
In an exclusive clip shared with TODAY.com, Meri points out that Kody was so heartbroken about his divorce with Christine yet refuses to mend their relationship.
"It’s interesting hearing him talking about this and the parallels that (are) happening with him and Christine and me and him," she says in a confessional. "It's kind of disturbing because some of the things that he's frustrated about with Christine, he did to me. He wants to work on it with Christine but not me."
Back in the family meeting, Robyn speaks up and says, “If people are just tired of trying and they don’t want to work it out, then I need to know."
Meri addresses Robyn directly at this point and makes her intentions clear.
"Robyn, I think that you and I have had enough conversations about this that you know exactly where I am. And I am still here because I'm still trying. Six years later, I'm still here. Ten years, 15, 20 years later, I'm still here. It's what I want," she says.
What Meri doesn't say, but alludes to, is the 2015 catfishing scandal that created a rift in her marriage. She entered into an online relationship with a person she thought was a man, but was in fact a female fan.
In the past, Kody has said that he felt their marriage “dissolved” after the catfishing incident.
Meri, in a past Season 17 episode, said their relationship further dissolved when she asked if they could take a break amid tension. “I said, ‘Can we just get through some of this stuff? Can we just take a break?” she said. “He has interpreted that as I kicked him out and he’s never come back.”
In a confessional, Meri vents about Robyn's lack of reaction to her statement. "Like I'm here, Robyn, I'm here. And there's silence," she says.
Meanwhile, Robyn explains why she was so quiet in her own confessional.
"I love that Meri is saying that she wants to work stuff out as a family. But I'm purposely just not saying anything because I don't want it to intimidate Kody and Janelle and make them feel like they have to conform so that we can really get to the bottom of maybe some issues," she says.
In his own confessional, Kody comments on the meeting and seems bored by the conversation.
"I’m exhausted. Like, who cares? If you’re not with me, you’re against me. Eff off, you know? I'm just like that way," he says. "Ironically, Meri’s trying to support me and I don't want to be in a relationship with her anymore."
Back in the meeting, Robyn asks Janelle to share her perspective. Kody's second wife addresses him candidly.
"I do think you, Kody, focus like you’re like, ’Oh my God, nobody wanted to be together.’ And to be honest with you, I really don’t know if I wanna do the work," she says. "It basically feels like I'm being forced to choose between my children and this group. I don’t feel like my children are welcome."
In last week's episode, Janelle shed some light on the dynamics between Kody and several of their children, namely their sons Gabe and Garrison.
“Kody and my boys are very estranged. He doesn’t even want to see their point of view. He’s like, ‘You’ve offended me. You’ve offended those that are close to me (aka Robyn). You guys have to come ... and apologize and grovel.’ You know, my boys are just not gonna do that,” she said.
Gabriel, in his own interview, said he hadn't spoken to his father since he forget his birthday.
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
