Meri Brown, 52, isn’t thrilled with the way the polygamous Brown clan fell apart so quickly. The reality TV star admitted she’s “very sad” after three of Kody Brown‘s four marriages dissolved in a matter of just over a year. “It’s very disappointing to me,” the first wife of the Brown patriarch told PEOPLE for an interview published on November 15. “And also, I get that we’re all unique individuals and we want the best for ourselves. And if the best for ourselves is not within the same family structure that we built and that we’ve had for so long, it is what it is, and I just want everybody to be happy with where they are.”
The Sister Wives star also admitted to being blindsided by the collapse of the family, which consists of 18 children across Kody’s marriages to Meri, Christine Brown, Robyn Brown, and Janelle Brown. Only his relationship with Robyn, his legal wife, remains currently intact.
“So no, I didn’t ever see this coming,” the TLC personality confessed. “I really didn’t. But I really truly just want everybody to be in a peaceful place with themselves.” Christine led the exodus, announcing her split two years ago, in November of 2021. Janelle and Meri followed in late 2022.
And Meri divulged that she also didn’t expect her own union with Kody to go south. “It was not something that I ever saw happening in my marriage, especially when we got married 33 years ago,” she told the outlet. “You don’t think that that’s ever going to happen. And as we built the family, you just don’t think that what is going to happen is going to happen. You don’t know. You have no idea.”
The mom of one says she tried to save the relationship before finally pulling the plug on the “spiritual marriage” near the end of 2022. “I did everything in my power that I could do,” she said. “And if I would’ve walked away any sooner, there would’ve always been a question in my mind of did I do everything that I can do? But I’m very confident knowing that I did everything that I could do, and I’m very at peace with the timing of it and how it all played out.”