‘Sister Wives’ Star Meri Brown Was a ‘Not a Very Good Parent,’ Mykelti Brown Says

It wasn’t just about the candy. 

On Monday, Mykelti Brown opened up about her fraught dynamic with Sister Wives star Meri Brown during an appearance on the Pop Psych podcast. She explained that her tense relationship with her dad’s first wife grew out of Meri’s abrasive behavior toward many of the Brown children. Meri’s overreaction to an incident – discussed in Christine Brown’s recent memoir – when Mykelti came up a little short when trying to buy some candy was just one of many times when she felt target by her sister mom. 

Meri Brown has a ‘hard’ personality, Mykelti Brown says

In her recent memoir, Sister Wives star (and Mykelti’s mom) Christine Brown shared a story about what led to the falling out between her and Meri. She recounted a time when Mykelti and Meri’s child Leon went to the store to buy some candy. Mykelti was a few cents short, and the cashier made up the difference. Meri reacted badly, saying Mykelti had embarrassed the family. Christine responded by going full “mama bear” and telling Meri to stay away from her and her kids.  

The blow-up over candy was just one example of Meri’s poor parenting, according to Mykelti. 

“Meri’s personality is very hard. She has a very aggressive personality,” she shared. “Not physically but, like, ‘Go in, get it done.’ It doesn’t matter your age; it doesn’t matter your capabilities. It doesn’t matter when she asks, you go in and you get it done. If you complain, you get in big trouble. If you don’t do it exactly to her specifications, you get in big trouble. If you have questions about how to do it better, you get in trouble. If you didn’t do it in a timely manner, you get in trouble.” 

“She was very, very hard and she was very strict,” Mykelti continued. “She tended to pick on me a lot, more so than the other kids. I couldn’t tell you why.”

Mykelti does not have a relationship with ‘Sister Wives’ star

Meri’s “big emotional swings” had many of the Brown kids walking on eggshells, Mykelt said. 

​​“She just was not a very good parent,” Mykelti said. “She wasn’t a very good mom. She was not fun to be around in any sense of the word.”

As adults, a number of the Brown kids have cut Meri out of their lives almost entirely. 

“[M]ost of my siblings chose not to have a very big relationship with her,” Mykelti said. “But I wouldn’t say all of them. A lot of them will still try and talk to her, have a relationship with her, work on things.”

But Mykelti isn’t one to forgive and forget, she said.

“At the end of the day, she’s human and she’s trying to figure it out. But because of how she treated me when I was younger I will never have a relationship with her,” she said. “However, I don’t think she’s a bad person. I think that she’s made mistakes. She still deserves happiness at the end of it. I’m just never going to have a relationship with her.”

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