Going back to the beginning! Kody Brown started off his married life with Meri Brown (née Barber), whom he wed in 1990.
The Sister Wives stars expanded their family in 1993 when Kody spiritually wed Janelle Brown. One year later, the Wyoming native spiritually married Christine Brown.
In July 1995, Meri and Kody became parents to Leon. After trying to have a second child, the bed and breakfast owner suffered a miscarriage, which she later spoke about on a 2012 episode of the TLC series.
“After years of a rollercoaster, we had finally backed off. … I was so frustrated and so angry,” she said of the heartbreak at the time. “I didn’t understand why, after another 12 years of trying, and then, it was just taken away from us. I didn’t understand that. It was really hard.”
Meri and Kody remained legally married for two decades before they divorced in order to restructure the family. In 2014, the former firearms salesman legally wed fourth wife Robyn Brown and adopted her children, Dayton, Aurora and Breanna, whom she shares with her first husband.
While Meri remained in a spiritual relationship with her spouse in the years that followed, their dynamic never seemed to fully recover. The pair’s ups and downs played out on Sister Wives, and Kody exclusively told Us Weekly in February 2021 that he and Meri had been “in a very dark place for a very long time.”
During season 17’s Sister Wives: One-on-One special — which aired in three parts in December 2022 and January 2023 — Kody confessed that he almost reconciled completely with Meri after their 30th anniversary in April 2020.
The hope of a fix, however, was short-lived and the pair’s relationship continued to fracture. Meri confirmed in December 2022 on the tell-all special that Kody had made the “decision” that they were no longer married.
The following month, the exes shared a joint statement to clarify why they had chosen to part ways at this time. “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 via social media in January 2023. “During this process, we are committed to kindness and respect toward each other and to all members of our family.”
Meri and Kody’s split announcement was the third breakup the patriarch faced starting in 2021. Christine, who shares six kids with the TV personality, started the ball rolling when she publicly revealed in November of that year that she and Kody had broken up.
Janelle, for her part, confirmed in December 2022 that she and the businessman had been “separated for several months” after butting heads over their six children and Kody’s COVID-19 rules. Kody remains married to Robyn, with whom he shares two children.
Scroll down for a complete breakdown of Kody and Meri’s family unit: