“Sister Wives” star Meri Brown is reflecting on a tremendously difficult time in her marriage to Kody Brown. During TLC’s season 20 “One-on-One: Part 3” special on Jan. 25, Meri opened up about her fertility journey compared to her sister wives.
Meri welcomed one child, Leon, in 1995, while her sister wives Janelle Brown and Christine Brown each went on to have six children with Kody. When Kody later married his fourth wife, Robyn Brown, the family continued to grow, with the couple welcoming two children together and Kody legally adopting Robyn’s three children from a previous marriage.
Meri Brown Gets Candid About Fertility Struggles as Her Sister Wives Had Children
GettyMeri Brown opened up about what it was like to struggle with fertility as her sister wives had many children with Kody Brown. During the Jan. 25 episode of season 20’s “One-on-One: Part 3,” Meri shared, “There were definitely times in my life that I didn’t feel like anything that I could do was right,” adding, “Like, I couldn’t even have a baby.”
Meri was Kody’s first wife, with the two having wed in 1990. However, by the time they welcomed their first and only child, Leon, in 1995, Kody and his other wives would already have welcomed children, with Janelle Brown welcoming her son Logan in 1994, while Christine Brown’s first child, Aspyn, was also born in 1995, but months before Leon was born.
Both Janelle and Christine would then welcome five more children each. As the Brown family grew, Meri shared that she felt as if “something was wrong with me.”
She continued, “I don’t think that any of them thought I was wrong, necessarily, for having feelings and emotions. But I don’t know how empathetic they were with it. You know, watching them have babies when I couldn’t, that’s a huge challenge.”
“It’s one thing to watch my sisters or friends or whatever have babies when I want them. It’s a whole other level to watch my husband have them with other people,” she added.
Meri Revealed Janelle Brown & Kody Brown Planned to Get Married on Her Birthday
During the same episode, Meri shared more insight into her relationship with Janelle, sharing that Janelle was once her sister-in-law after marrying Meri’s brother. Despite the complexity of that history, Janelle remained close to Meri’s parents after her separation, and over time, a connection grew into her being spiritually welcomed into a plural marriage with Kody and Meri.
However, what upset Meri most of all was Janelle and Kody’s lack of respect towards her when she learned that they wanted to get married on her birthday.
“Kody and Janelle fail to recognize that possibly some of the issues that I had in polygamy could have stemmed from the fact that, oh, they wanted to get married on my birthday,” she shared.
According to Meri, Kody’s mom made Janelle and Kody delay their wedding a few days, though Meri said the situation, and what she felt was a lack of compassion, deeply upset her.
“They were like, ‘It doesn’t matter. We’ll just celebrate it a different day.’ Like, excuse me. It does matter,” she said.
Meri would go on to share that not only did that put a strain on her relationship with Janelle from the very start, but she didn’t forget that Janelle was once married to her brother.
“And they forget that their might have been some emotions involved with the fact that she used to be married to my brother?” Meri shared.
