‘Sister Wives’: Robyn Brown Says She ‘Doesn’t Want To Be In This Family’ Without Meri Brown
Robyn Brown and Meri Brown of TLC’s Sister Wives became fast friends when they first met. Kody’s fourth and first wives had a special bond almost immediately after meeting at a church party. When Robyn joined the family, she and Meri said they felt a deep spiritual connection to each other.
Over the years, their relationship became strained, especially after Meri and Kody legally divorced so he could marry Robyn and adopt her three children from a previous marriage. On the new season of Sister Wives, it became clear that Robyn and Meri’s tension hadn’t subsided during a fight about the division of the Brown family’s land in Arizona.
On the Mar. 8 episode of Sister Wives, “A Breaking Point,” Robyn and Meri met to try to heal their relationship and make amends after their disagreement. They took a moment to reflect on their changing bond as sister wives over the years.
Robyn and Meri met to hash out their argument about Coyote Pass
When the Browns headed out to Coyote Pass (the Brown family’s Flagstaff real estate) to discuss moving onto the property, both Robyn and Meri claimed to have gotten the “last choice” in terms of their part of the land.
Each sister wife argued they’d been told the exact same story by Kody, making them feel like they didn’t really have a voice. Robyn finally stormed off, followed by Meri, after plenty of back-and-forth and bickering between the two.
On the latest episode, Robyn headed over to Meri’s house to hash things out. “Meri and I had a miscommunication,” the Sister Wives star explained. “Meri’s called me over to her house today to just discuss it, and I guess, just communicate some more about it.”
Meri added, “Kody told Robyn and I that we were both getting the same property. It became this weird conflict between Robyn and I.”
Kody’s first wife launched into the conversation by saying she felt they’d simply misunderstood each other. “I need you to know, Robyn, that I had no issue with you at all,” Meri said.
“I had no issue with you either,” Robyn replied, looking relieved. “I drove away going, this isn’t about that piece of property at all.” She added that she would have been happy with any part of Coyote Pass.
Meri and Robyn agreed that they had simply wanted to feel heard
Both wives agreed that the issue was more about feeling heard and valued by the family, and especially by Kody. Meri said that Kody had taken her to Coyote Pass and told her, “Christine wants this property, Janelle wants this property, Robyn will be over there, and Meri, I’ll put you way back there in the trees. That’s exactly what he told me.”
“So he had told both of us that the other person had chosen, but actually neither one of us had really chosen,” Robyn explained to TLC producers, adding that these kinds of miscommunications weren’t uncommon in polygamous marriages.
The sister wives joked about their bickering and Robyn’s storming off. “When you walked off, the only thing that went through my mind was, after you left, I’m like, well, I need to go find a rental too, so I guess I’ll leave too,” Meri laughed.
The sister wives reflected on their changing bond
With the argument settled and the tension somewhat dissipated, Meri and Robyn reflected on the ways their relationship had changed over the years.
“When I first came into the family, Meri and I really hit it off,” Robyn said. But things changed, she remembered, when she was pregnant with Ariella, her second child with Kody.
Meri agreed, telling Sister Wives producers that she had pulled away from Robyn in particular when her relationship with Kody was first falling apart.
“There was a time a few years ago, when I was in this really dark place, and I distanced myself from anybody and everybody,” Meri said. “My relationship with Robyn became very strained. But she and I are actively taking a role with each other to heal that.”
Kody’s youngest wife said she knew that Meri still had major issues with their husband. But Robyn wanted emotional intimacy with Meri no matter what. “I think everybody kind of knows that Meri and Kody have their issues, and they’ve kind of had them for a while,” Robyn said. “But I don’t want to be in this family without her.”
Meri, too, reiterated that she was in it for the long haul with her sister wives, as much as with Kody. “It’s no secret that there are struggles in the family with relationships,” she said. “There’s no secret that there’s a big struggle with Kody and I. It doesn’t mean that I’m looking for an out and I don’t want to live on the property.”
