‘Sister Wives’: Meri Brown Refuses to Give up on Kody Brown Marriage Despite Being Miserable

Sister Wives star Meri Brown still wants to give her relationship with husband Kody Brown a chance, even though the two are not on good terms with one another. In a February episode, Meri said their marriage was “dead,” and during the most recent episode, Kody said he rarely sees his first of four wives. However, Meri, 50, told PEOPLE recently she still wants to work out their issues.

“I think that all relationships, you know, have issues that they have to work through. And I think that’s just kind of where we’re at right now,” Meri told the magazine last month, before the Season 10 premiere. “For me personally, I’m not one that’s going to give up. I’m just going to keep at it, you know? Ebb and flows in the relationship… I think that’s just kind of normal.” She and Kody, 52, are now “in a place where we’re just figuring out where we are and, you know, what is happening.”

The March 21 episode covered the family’s situation during the coronavirus pandemic. All four of Kody’s wives are now living in different homes in Flagstaff, Arizona. In a confessional, Meri said Kody rarely visits her, and he said separately that they only see each other “once in a blue moon.” He said they even “quit dating.”

“There’s just been nothing going on between me and Meri,” he told cameras. “She interacts with the family for the holidays and the birthdays, we get together once in a while, I see Meri once in a blue moon, but we quit dating and that’s just probably because I quit calling her to say, ‘Let’s go do something.’”

Meri and Kody’s relationship has been strained for a long time. In the Feb. 28 episode, Meri even said the relationship between the two was “gone,” adding, “It’s dead. It’s over.” In an interview with Us Weekly earlier this month, Kody said the two have “been in a very dark place for a very long time,” adding, “It’s been more about trying to get ourselves out of this hole that we dug ourselves into.”

Kody went on to say it was difficult for plural marriage to end. “In plural marriage, I don’t feel like I’ve got the right to say, ‘This is over, this is ending,’” Kody told Us Weekly. “I have dominion over my own body and where I’m at, but I’m not in a place where, like, I can say, ‘Hey, I’m divorcing you.’ I can’t do that.” However, Kody said any of his wives could leave him. “Nobody’s going to be a prisoner here,” he said.

Kody and Meri married in 1990. Janelle Brown joined the family as Kody’s second wife in 1993, Christine Brown followed in 1994. In 2010, Robyn joined as Kody’s fourth wife. In 2014, Meri agreed to divorce Kody so he could legally marry Robyn in 2014. Kody believes he is in a spiritual union with his four wives. The family also includes 18 children, three children-in-law, and three grandchildren. Sister Wives airs Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on TLC.