Sister Wives: Inside Meri And Christine Brown's Tense Relationship

Kody Brown of TLC's "Sister Wives" went from being in a plural marriage to a suddenly monogamous one. 

In November 2021, Christine Brown announced that she was leaving Kody, according to Us Weekly, and the decision seemed to spur on some other breakups. Kody was upset about Christine's decision and didn't hold back, claiming that she played games with him. In December 2022, Meri Brown then announced that she was leaving Kody after the two tried to work on their relationship. In the same month, Janelle Brown dropped the news that she and Kody had been separated for months. This leaves Kody with his fourth wife, the only wife left, Robyn Brown.

But the story of "Sister Wives" isn't just a story of four women and a husband; it's also the story of the women in relationship to each other. It is, after all, telling that "sister" comes before "wives" in the title. Christine, Meri, Janelle, and Robyn also have lives that are woven together, with children who've grown up side by side, and have built a small world of their own, despite the setbacks and legal troubles they've faced as a group. With so much change, it makes sense that some of these relationships have also taken a hit, particularly the one between Meri and Christine.

Christine Brown and Meri Brown have lost their spark. In a TLC "Sister Wives" special in December 2022, both Christine and Meri discussed the end of their friendship, which was largely spurred on because Christine left Kody Brown. "I felt very betrayed by her," Meri began, "and that she was leaving me too because she's always said, 'I didn't just want the man. I want the sister wives.'"

Meri talked about her past with Christine and what things used to be like. "I know what kind of relationship we've had in the past," she reminisced. "It's been fun. It's not been super, super deep but it's been a lot of fun. I miss that. I've missed that for a lot of years with her." Meri admitted that something changed irrevocably along the way but she's not exactly sure what happened.

Things have been tough between the two women for a while. In 2019, an episode of "Sister Wives" captured Meri and Christine having a series of difficult conversations that spanned back as far as 2017. "You bring a lot of baggage when you come in the room," Christine told Meri. "And I don't know what to do with it." In hindsight, Christine admitted that she was too aggressive. Meri admitted later that she didn't feel safe during that conversation. So it looks like the writing has been on the wall for a while.

During a special episode of "Sister Wives" from December 2022, Meri Brown said that her relationship with former sister-wife Christine Brown deteriorated over time. "I ended the friendship," Christine said bluntly. "I ended the relationship. I did. It wasn't safe for me anymore and I ended it. I just told her straight up, 'No, we're not going to be friends because I don't trust you.'" Christine said that she and Meri tried to repair things while they were in Las Vegas, but she claimed that Meri put her down a lot in public and wasn't nice to her. "I just never knew who to expect," Christine said of Meri.

During an episode of "Sister Wives" from 2019, Kody Brown also jumped in to note how different the relationship became between Christine and Meri. "Christine and Meri used to have a really fun, frolick, goof-off kind of relationship," he said. "It used to drive me nuts because they'd always be goofing off when we were trying to do stuff. A lot has changed since then. It's a little different. Everybody's dealing with trust issues." Kody added that the trust issues have to do with letting their guards down and being vulnerable.

It looks like things have really changed for the Brown clan, especially for Meri and Christine, but for the larger unit. Marriages have dissolved and people have moved on, so it's not like it was back in the heyday of "Sister Wives."