In a truly head-scratching move, Kody Brown, the patriarch of the Sister Wives family, divorced his one legal wife, Meri, in February 2015. Why? So he could legally marry one of his other wives, Robyn. As TMZ (and a basic understanding of marriage law) explains, Brown is only allowed to be legally married to one wife at a time. His decision was reportedly driven by his desire to adopt Robyn's three children from a previous marriage to ensure they "have security within the family, such as insurance and access to other benefits." For her part, Meri — who was legally married to Kody for more than 20 years — took the decision in stride.
"It's about the kids; it's about the unity of the family," she said during a Sister Wives reunion special (via People). Still, she remained honest about the emotional impact the divorce had on her. "I'm not gonna lie: I've got that mixed emotion going on," she said. "It's an end of something that we had had, in a way, for 24 and a half years. But at the same time, I know it's not [the end], because I have eternity with him; I have eternity with the family. I know it's not the end."
Regular watchers of the show know that the last part of Meri's statement hasn't aged particularly well, considering her subsequent estrangement from Kody and the rest of the family, which we'll get to momentarily.
