Not holding back! The Brown family seemed ready to explode when they sat down with Sukanya Krishnan for a three-part tell-all interview detailing where their relationships stand now and more.
Kody Brown and his three wives, Meri Brown, Janelle Brown and Robyn Brown, got real about their recent ups and downs during TLC’s Sister Wives: One on One special. The first episode, which aired on Sunday, January 30, included interviews with Kody’s estranged wife, Christine Brown, who announced in November 2021 that she and the Wyoming native, 53, separated after 25 years together.
The polygamist family, who are the stars of Sister Wives, discussed a variety of topics throughout the first episode, including whether the coronavirus pandemic played a part in their family’s fractured dynamic.
“It basically took that rug that we were shoving everything under and just everything was shown,” Robyn, 43, said on the Sunday special. “I’m just like, ‘Can we come back from this?’ I’m trying. I want to.”
Meri, for her part, addressed how her relationship with Kody has shifted over the years after bringing in the three other wives. The California native, 51, was the first to marry Kody in 1990. They welcomed daughter Mariah, now 26, five years later.
The patriarch of the family entered a spiritual union with Janelle, 52, in 1993. The couple share six children: sons Logan, 27, Hunter, 24, Robert, 23, and Gabriel, 21, and daughters Maddie, 26, and Savannah, 17.
Kody became spiritually married to Christine, 49, in 1994. The now-estranged duo share six kids: son Paedon, 23 and daughters Aspyn, 26, Mykelti, 25, Gwendlyn, 20, Ysabel, 18, and Truely, 11.
Meri’s place within the family shifted once again when Kody divorced her in order to legally marry Robyn in 2014. The pair share two children of their own: Solomon, 10, and Ariella, 6. Robyn is also mother of son David, 21, and daughters Aurora, 18, and Breanna, 16, from a previous relationship. The trio were legally adopted by Kody following his split from Meri.
“We were very much in love,” Meri recalled of her early romance with Kody during the tell-all. “When Janelle came into the picture, it was a struggle for me. Of course, there’s jealousy. I didn’t know how to handle it.”
She noted that “all three of us had different ideals going into how it would be” in the beginning. Meri confessed that she “had a harder time when Christine came,” adding, “It was definitely a roller coaster relationship.”
Meri and Kody’s rocky relationship has been a major story line throughout season 16 of the TLC series — and the pair didn’t mince words during their discussions with Krishnan on Sunday. In fact, all of the wives weighed in on Meri’s romance with Kody, in addition to talking about Christine’s exit, COVID-19 drama and more.
Scroll down for the biggest revelations from the first episode of Sister Wives: One on One: