Meri Brown gets emotional about her move to Utah in Us Weekly’s exclusive Sister Wives clip — but she fears Kody Brown won’t have the same reaction.
“I just don’t like change and it’s scary,” Meri, 52, confesses to Robyn Brown in a sneak peek of the Sunday, October 1, episode of the TLC series. “I also know that you’re the only one who cares about it too.”
Meri explains that she “feared” how Robyn, 44, would respond to her choice to move her clothing brand to Utah, but admits she’s aware of what Kody, 54, might think.
“I know [that] Kody is just not going to give a crap,” Meri claims in the clip, which was filmed early this year. “I just don’t want it to look like what I think it’ll be perceived as. I think he’ll be like, ‘Well, see, told you so, she’s the one that’s leaving.’”
Meri then senses Robyn’s hesitation about the move, telling the cameras, “She’s very well aware of where mine and Kody’s relationship stands. So she’s like, ‘Hmm, are we sure?’”
During their conversation, Meri tells Robyn the move “stresses me out on a lot of levels,” but insists that she’s not walking away from the family entirely. She vows to Robyn that she’s “gonna have a house” in Arizona but split time between Flagstaff and her late mom’s bed and breakfast in Utah.
“I’m gonna have an address. I’m gonna be here. I’m gonna sleep there. I just will also be up there,” Meri swears, to which Robyn replies, “I just want you around. Always have.”
While Robyn is supportive of Meri’s choice, she expresses concerns over the situation during a confessional. “Is she just going to keep putting more pieces of herself there that will eventually take her there all the way?” Robyn asks the cameras.
Robyn’s skepticism about Meri eventually leaving the plural family turned out to be warranted. After years of ups and downs, Meri and Kody released a joint statement in January confirming that their romantic relationship had ended. (The exes share one child, Leon, now 28.)
“After more than a decade of working on our relationship in our own unique ways, we have made the decision to permanently terminate our marriage relationship,” they wrote at the time. “During this process, we are committed to kindness and respect toward each other and to all members of our family, and we are also committed to the continued healing of any and all relationships within the family so that we can move forward with forgiveness, grace, and love.
The pair legally wed in 1990, making Meri Kody’s first wife. Christine Brown and Janelle Brown spiritually married Kody in 1993 and 1994, respectively. Kody divorced Meri in 2014 to legally marry Robyn and adopt her three children from a prior relationship but stayed in a spiritual union with Meri.
The Brown family began to fall apart in November 2021 when Christine, 51, announced her split from Kody after more than 25 years together. Janelle, 54, followed in December 2022, confirming that she had separated from the patriarch.
Sister Wives airs on TLC Sundays at 10 p.m. ET.
