Inside ‘Sister Wives’ Stars Kody and Meri’s Relationship Amid Christine Split: ‘She Hasn’t Been Treated Well’

No give or take? Sister Wives fans were shocked to learn that third wife Christine Brown left husband Kody Brown and not his first wife, Meri Brown, as Kody and Meri have openly shared their marital struggles on their TLC show. An insider exclusively reveals to In Touch where Meri and Kody’s marriage stands now amid his split from Christine.

“When he met Meri, he thought he loved Meri but after marrying her, she showed another side to her,” the source dishes. “She’s very aggressive and has become very independent. She hasn’t been treated well by Kody.”

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It seems Kody’s relationship with Meri, 50, has not improved in the midst of his marital problems with Christine, 49. Kody, 52, and Meri wed legally and spiritually in April 1990. He went on to spiritually wed second wife Janelle Brown in January 1993, spiritually married third wife Christine in March 1994 and married fourth wife Robyn Brown in a spiritual ceremony in May 2010. In 2014, Kody legally divorced Meri but they remained in a spiritual marriage as he went on to legally wed Robyn, 43, so he could legally adopt her three children from a previous marriage.

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Around the time of Kody and Meri’s legal divorce, they started to experience issues in their relationship. Their problems were exacerbated by Meri’s 2015 cyber affair with a man whom she believed was named “Sam Cooper.” Her online lover turned out to be a catfish, and their real identity was a woman named Jackie Overton. However, Kody insisted that his issues with Meri are “deeper” than her catfish scandal during an April 2020 episode of the family’s long-running reality TV series.

“The catfishing was really just a wake-up call for Meri and I,” he admitted. “Our problem ran much deeper than that and it’s probably why we led up to why the catfishing ever happened.”

As for Kody and Christine, the cracks in their relationship started to show on season 15 of Sister Wives. After she declared she couldn’t “do marriage with Kody” any longer on the finale, the couple spark split rumors. Just two weeks after In Touch confirmed Christine moved back to the Brown family’s former home state of Utah, they each announced their breakup via Instagram on November 2.