The moment Meri and Kody Brown put an end to their marriage has finally occurred on Sister Wives.
Sunday’s episode saw Kody and Meri meeting with Robyn Brown about their plans for the family’s Coyote Pass property. But neither Kody, 54, nor Robyn, 45, were prepared for what Meri, 52, was about to say next: “I was up at the bed and breakfast this past weekend and it needs me.”
Meri had been spending an increased amount of time in Utah focusing on her bed and breakfast, Lizzie’s Heritage Inn, and her LuLaRoe clothing business. And while she still planned to keep her place in Flagstaff, Arizona, Meri now shared she “probably won’t be renewing my lease here” despite still intending to build a home on Coyote Pass.
Meri’s declaration led to the trio having a larger conversation about her future with Kody, to whom she’s been married for 32 years but has experienced grave hardship. The longtime pair then revealed to Robyn the details of their recent private conversation, during which they decided it’s best to “go on being friends” since Kody felt “romance … was not in this picture.”
“I’m trying to be as honest as I possibly can without being a jackass,” Kody said to both women, which was followed by Meri asking how Robyn felt about everything. “Maybe it’s fair that Robyn’s here. She’s been your advocate for seven years.”
Meri added: “I think she’s been my advocate for longer than that.”
“You want something that we can’t have together,” Kody said in response to Meri. “We can always have something else, but not that.”
Kody’s revelation led Robyn to instantly erupt with tears, ultimately choosing to walk away from the conversation for a beat. “I can see where they’re going with this and they’re both really calm, and that’s scaring me. I just don’t know how I’m supposed to sit here and watch them decide if this is what they’re going to do,” Robyn told the cameras.
Kody and Meri continued to talk amid Robyn’s brief absence. “I sit here feeling like it’s ridiculous to stay in a duty-bound marriage,” Kody said as Meri responded, “No, I don’t think it’s fair for either of us.”
The Brown family patriarch then noted that “the hardest thing is accepting that it’s not going to go back to a place that works for what you’re looking for,” leading Meri to express in a confessional how she didn’t like how Kody was “putting all this on me and he’s also not owning that he just doesn’t have the interest.”
However, to Kody, Meri said: “It doesn’t mean I’m not mad at you for not giving me what we promised each other.”
Upon Robyn’s return, she said she walked away because it was “painful” but she still wanted to be “supportive.” Meri then said the longtime pair essentially had “a breakup conversation.” Kody also added, “I’m glad we’ve gone this long so that we can be friends in the departure.”
As Robyn asked if Meri was “accepting” Kody’s proposal, Meri said, “What else am I supposed to do with it, Robyn? I’m not going to force somebody to be with me who doesn’t want to be with me. I’m not going to make somebody act how they don’t want to act.”
From Kody’s perspective, the “act” of “just performing my duty as a husband” is “easy.” But Meri countered, “I am not going to be a duty.”
“It wasn’t an act. It was performance. It was doing what I was supposed to. I’m sorry to call it an act,” said Kody as Meri added through laughter, “Nobody wants to be that. And I’ve experienced it and it’s not fun.”
Continuing further, Kody separately told the cameras: “I am willing to fake being in love with Meri, doing my duties as a husband, sort of putting up with things that frustrate me so deeply that I struggle to be around her.”
“I, if I need to, for the sake of whatever, I don’t know. I can fake through this. I don’t want to,” he added. “But if you’re going to insist, then we will. And she’s like, ‘I don’t want that.’”
After making Robyn understand why it’s not “fair” for Meri and Kody to stay together anymore, Meri hugged the pair before parting ways. Robyn — who now remains Kody’s only wife after Christine Brown and Janelle Brown also left the plural marriage — stayed behind to process everything.
Kody, meanwhile, reflected on the entire situation in one final confessional.
“This is goodbye,” he said. “It was a negotiation that was long overdue. I mean, it’s been maybe a wasted seven years for Meri. I have no idea. But we’ve agreed now and I hope she finds peace because I will.”
Sister Wives airs Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on TLC.
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