Sister Wives star Kody Brown was surprised to learn that his ex-wife Meri Brown had gone to the church to ask for a divorce.
“About 8 weeks ago, Meri told me she was going to go to Utah to meet with our church leaders, and basically request a divorce. It’s called a release in our church,” Kody, 55, said in a clip from the September 22 episode of Sister Wives.
The camera cut to a confessional with Meri, 53, who gave more details about the process.
“When each of us four ladies married Kody, it was through our church. Obviously, we all can’t be legally married, but it was what we called a covenant,” Meri explained. “So, I feel like it’s best to terminate that because we’re not moving forward with any marriage, and I don’t want to be sealed to him for eternity if he doesn’t want me. You know, I’m at a place like, ‘Let’s just separate this completely.’”
The mom of one continued, “When I was asking Kody how he felt about moving forward with the release, he was kind of resistant to it. You know, he said he didn’t want to acknowledge the authority of the church leaders.”
Kody then admitted, “The damage was done so badly that we’re not going to reconcile no matter what. So, however we’re made accountable to God, I don’t want to be held accountable to the church and all their BS. So,I’m going to let Meri go and do her thing because if I’m angry at her, it becomes a fight and I need her just to go away because it took forever for her to finally realize it’s been done and over for years.”
Meri went on to explain that she felt like she had been “in limbo” in her relationship with the Coyote Pass owner “for a decade.”
“I’m just not going to keep doing that, so I’m moving forward with this,” Meri concluded.
While Kody’s former wife Janelle Brown revealed in Sister Wives season 18 that she was looking into a release from him by the church, the process is a long one.
“Because we never were legally married, I can’t really say I’m divorced,” Janelle, 55, told People in a January interview. “I just say ‘I’m no longer with’ [him] when I explain it to outside people. I’m like, ‘I’m no longer with my partner.'”
Christine Brown, Kody’s third wife, didn’t ask the church for a release, which angered his fourth wife, Robyn Brown, at the time.
“Christine just saying she’s divorced is sort of invalidating our beliefs,” Robyn, 45, said during a confessional in a 2022 episode of the TLC series. “We are spiritually married to Kody by our church. If we want a divorce then we have to go get their approval. Usually they require counseling, lots and lots of meetings and technically, from my understanding, until Christine is physical with another man she’s not divorced. But I don’t know.”
However, it’s safe to say that Christine is now officially divorced from Kody considering she married David Woolley in 2023.
