Who would have thought all those years ago when we first met the Sister Wives that this family would take us on such a roller coaster ride of emotions and drama?
Well, we probably all thought that — it was a reality show about a man with multiple wives and over a dozen kids, so there was never really a chance that it would be drama-free.
But still, the Browns have given us more reality show gold than we ever could have dreamed of, thanks in large part to Meri and her catfish.
That was a few years ago, but the family is still dealing with the issues it raised — issues like all the ones that exist in Meri’s marriage to Kody.
There have been rumors upon rumors that their marriage is over, that she’s leaving the family, that they want her to leave …
But are things actually looking up for them?!
Struggles Kody and Meri have been having problems for a long, long time. Like, all the way back to the very first season of Sister Wives.
Problems with Polygamy Back then, Meri struggled with the idea of Kody getting a fourth wife — the first season was based on him getting engaged and married to Robyn, in case you forgot.
More Sadness She’s also always had a hard time dealing with the fact that she was never able to have another child after giving birth to her daughter while Kody’s other wives have had oodles and oodles of kids.
Uh … In one especially memorable moment from that first season, Meri had a private conversation with Kody about how she sometimes resented the fact that he had other wives at all. She asked him how he would feel if she had multiple husbands, and he told her the thought was disgusting. Because hypocrisy.
More Problems (TLC) As the years went on, Meri still expressed how difficult it was for her at times to share her husband, and she and Kody argued about whether or not to begin fertility treatments to see if they could have more children together. But for the most part, things went on as normal.
One and Done Meri eventually decided against having any sort of fertility treatments, and she made peace with not having anymore children as Kody went on to have a few more with Robyn.
Divorced But then in 2015 Kody and Meri got divorced. Well, legally — since Meri was the first sister wife, she was the only one actually married to Kody, but the family agreed that he should marry Robyn instead so he could have legal rights to the children she had from a previous marriage.
The Beginning of the End (Getty) It made sense for Kody to be married to Robyn instead, especially since they all believe in “spiritual marriages” over legal ones, but at the same time it also made sense that Meri would be a little hurt by the divorce. Regardless of the reasoning, it’s still a divorce, right?
Bad Decisions So after the divorce, Meri was obviously feeling a little vulnerable … and that’s how she found herself talking to another man online.
Catfished Things got pretty flirty between Meri and this guy. She sent him pictures, they talked about meeting up, and they definitely got attached to each other … the only problem was that Meri was actually being catfished. Oh, and also that she was still spiritually married to Kody.
Pulling Together (TLC) It was obviously a super awkward situation since Meri was essentially upset that she’d been deceived by a shady woman instead of getting close to some hunky dude, but still, her family stood by her side and began coming down on catfishing instead of getting at the real issue, which was that Meri was pretty much having an emotional affair.
Hypocrisy? (Getty) Which, to be clear, is fair — she’s had to share her husband with three other women for years, and she’s also been unhappy for years, so if talking to some guy helped her finally find happiness, then that’s not all bad, you know? But in their religion, women only have one spouse. Kody’s not looking for any brother husbands.
Weird (Getty) So for a while the Browns were in this strange place where nobody knew what to say or do or how to feel about everything. We saw lots of footage of Kody and Meri arguing or just being uncomfortable around each other.
Sister Wives Out (Getty) There have also been rumors for a couple of years now that one, some, or all of Kody’s wives were planning on leaving him. It hasn’t been great, honestly.
Things are Changing? But in the latest season of Sister Wives, it looked like things were starting to turn around a bit. Meri made it clear that she wanted to go back to the close relationship she once had with Kody, but Kody … well, he wasn’t exactly into it.
Not a Great Sign (TLC) He even admitted that he doesn’t want to be intimate with her anymore. After revealing that, she insinuated that he didn’t wasn’t interested in working on their relationship at all.
Divorced for Real? So considering all that, no one would be too surprised if they ended up splitting up for good, right?
Nope! Meri shared this photo yesterday, and in the caption she explained that “Kody flew out to Chicago on my last day of #LuLaRoe leadership so we could spend our anniversary together yesterday. How sweet was that?!”
“Happiness” She added “28 years and still here!”, along with hashtags like “living my why,” “28 years,” “anniversary,” and “happiness.”
Looking Good! Flying from Las Vegas to Chicago for a wedding anniversary after your divorce? Not too bad, right? Maybe there’s hope for these two crazy kids after all!