Even before the current season of Sister Wives began airing in September, it was clear that none of Kody Brown‘s splits from his wives had been amicable, but this week’s new episode really drives that point home. According to Meri Brown, Kody totally ghosted her when she asked to make their divorce official in the eyes of the church — apparently, he couldn’t even respond to her text message.
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Meri initially left Kody two years ago.
It wasn’t until January 2023 that the couple shared a statement about their breakup on social media, revealing that, like Christine and Jenelle, Meri had chosen to walk away from their polygamous marriage.
“After more than a decade of working on our relationship in our own unique ways, we have made the decision to permanently terminate our marriage relationship,” they said at the time.
Their divorce didn't require a legal process, though.
Since a legal marriage can only exist between two people at a time in the US, Kody and Meri were once legally married. They divorced in 2014 so that he could legally marry Robyn and be able to adopt her children from her previous marriage. That divorce was only meant to be a breakup on paper, though — and now, Kody and Meri are done for real.
However, in the eyes of their church, that requires an additional step, and as she explained on Sister Wives this week, Meri wanted to check in with Kody when she decided to take that step.
Meri decided to officially terminate her marriage to Kody through the church.
But before doing so, she texted Kody to find out if he had “any input,” but she never heard back.
“He never responded to my text,” she told the TLC cameras.
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Meri met with church leaders in Utah to make their split official.
As Meri explained on the show, their marriages are meant to last for “eternity,” no matter what’s going on between them, so asking for a “release” from Kody from the church was the required step. The release was granted “on the grounds of abandonment.”
“It was a very, very hard conversation,” she said, adding, “This is not what I wanted to do. This is not what I intended when I married Kody.”
Kody said he was 'absolutely relieved' that all ties had been cut between him and Meri.
Despite ghosting Meri’s text, he told the cameras that he was glad their breakup was official.
“It’s sad. It’s heartbreaking. But I am relieved that it’s done,” he said. “I had moved on a long time ago, but let’s just be honest here, I was afraid of what she’d do if I ripped off that Band-Aid. Because Meri was never loyal to me, ever.”
