On the outside looking in. Christine Brown wishes she could do more when it comes to husband Kody Brown‘s roller-coaster relationship with first wife Meri Brown.
“It’s been really, really sad,” the Sister Wives star, 48, told Us Weekly exclusively on Thursday, March 18. “I know that she still has so much hope and she still is as positive as she can be. She’s super-duper strong. … Every relationship goes through hard times, but it’s super heartbreaking to watch.”
Christine entered a spiritual union with Kody, 52, in March 1994. At that point, the Wyoming native was already legally wedded to Meri, 50, and in another spiritual marriage with second wife Janelle Brown. The TLC personalities went through a major change in their family structure in September 2014, when Kody decided to divorce Meri in order to legally marry his fourth wife, Robyn Brown, and adopt her three kids. (Despite their divorce, Kody and Meri are still spiritually bonded.)
Fans of Sister Wives have watched Kody’s romance with his first wife seemingly fizzle out in recent years — and Christine wishes the pair would get back on the same page.
“My heart breaks for them,” she explained. “I think she really wants something different. … It’s been a hard thing to watch, a hard thing to witness and be part of, knowing you’re not part of it.”
Though they’re one big, blended family, Christine doesn’t “know a lot of the ins and outs” of her husband’s relationships with his other wives. “Kody is very private, and I don’t go snooping around like that,” she told Us, adding that most of what she’s learned about Kody and Meri’s ups and downs has been from watching the reality show.
“I had no idea, you know, so that is shocking,” she said “It’s been really hard, and I pray for them. … I don’t know what to do though. I feel like my hands are tied somewhat because he does keep things separate.”
During a February episode of the TLC series, Meri confessed that her relationship with Kody was “done” and “over.” The salesperson later revealed in an interview with Us that he and the Lizzie’s Heritage Inn owner had been “in a very dark place” for quite some time.
“It’s been more about trying to get ourselves out of this hole that we dug ourselves into,” Kody explained. “I hope time heals things. I hope that some communication heals things. It’s been a long time and it’s been very difficult.”
While Kody claimed that there was no “value” in the first of his four marriages, Meri disagreed. “I can’t control what he thinks or feels. All I can do is show up as the best version of me,” she told Us earlier this month, noting that her comment about being “done” with Kody was taken out of context. “It was not me saying, ‘This is over, I’m done.’ What it was, was me saying where we were and what had happened was done and over, and now we need to figure out a new normal for us [and] figure us out.”
All she really expects of her husband is that he’s “going to stick through” their partnership — even when times get tough.
“In my very, very dark time in my life that has been documented on the show, about six years ago, I went through a time where I was considering what I wanted to do,” Meri explained earlier this month. “I was considering all options and what that would look like. … Even through that, I made the decision to stay. This is my family. At that point, six years ago, my decision was to stay and figure it out. This is where I made the commitment. And this is where I am.”
Sister Wives airs on TLC Sundays at 10 p.m. ET.
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi
