Sister Wives star Meri Brown had her husband all to herself until Janelle Brown came along, and their monogamous marriage became plural. Meri always knew the man she married planned to take on more wives. But hearing his plan, and living his plan became two different things.
The first wife of Kody Brown wasn’t always as she seems today. Meri tends to be quiet and reserved about her feelings for her co-wives. While she seems to let loose in cryptic messages, she never mentions the name of any of her family members.
Sister Wives: Meri Brown has Cryptic Messages Down to a Science
When Meri Brown seems to slam someone in the family, the fans are pretty good at surmising who she’s referencing. But still, she never names who she’s targeting in her veiled messages. That way, the Sister Wives matriarch never incriminates herself.
That type of messaging might cause a stir within the family. Especially if someone should recognize themselves in her unnamed message. But how can you openly address this if Meri Brown doesn’t target any of the other Sister Wives by name?
It sure is one way to get your grievances out there for everyone to see. By not naming a name, she doesn’t have to answer to anyone. Some Sister Wives enthusiasts might call this creative. But others may find it passive-aggressive. Either way, Meri Brown seems to like to post these messages anyway.
New York Times Best Seller Brings It All Out
While Kody Brown’s first wife Meri tends to leave the source of her anger a mystery today, there was a time when she opened up more. That was back when the Sister Wives wrote their New York Times best seller, an achievement they all seem proud of still today.
Becoming Sister Wives: The Story of an Unconventional Marriage had quite a few jaw-dropping admittances by the Brown adults. In that memoir, Meri talked about her angst toward some of the other spouses.
Janelle seemed to take the brunt of Meri’s anger early on. Janelle Brown also told her side of the story as well. From what she and Janelle said about the other Sister Wives spouses, it’s hard to imagine they made it through their trials at all.
Before Janelle Brown arrived on the scene, Meri had Kody all to herself. There was no schedule, she had every night with her husband tucked in alongside her. Evenings were spent curled up together watching TV.
Wherever the Sister Wives husband and wife went, they were a duo. They weren’t a threesome, foursome, or fivesome. And… from what Meri says, she was deeply in love with her husband, who is now her shared husband – with Janelle Brown one of four wives.
Sister Wives: Janelle Brown Enters the Picture
When Janelle arrived as the second of the Sister Wives spouses, they evolved from a duo to a trio. And it was not easy. One of Kody Brown’s steadfast rules of not showing affection to one wife with the others around was made from the start. So curling up to watch television together became a thing of the past.
Meri, still a smitten young wife, now had one side of her bed cold every other night. Dinners out were no longer as a couple but as a trio with Janelle along with them. Still, Janelle Brown didn’t cause too much jealousy for Meri. That would come later when Christine Brown joined the Sister Wives family.
Janelle wasn’t someone looking for fireworks. Janelle and Kody hit it off in a more cerebral way. Their interests were similar and that made for some interesting conversations between he and Janelle. It sounds like this Sister Wives union was a love of Kody and Janelle Brown’s minds.
Meri admits that Janelle never felt like competition in the romance department. But some kind of romance had to happen along the way, as Kody and Janelle Brown have six kids together. They weren’t created by osmosis.
Meri’s Domain Invaded – Janelle Like a Ship Without a Port
Meri and Janelle Brown really paved the way for their growing plural marriage. As two wives sharing one husband, there was a lot to figure out. Meri Brown was no longer the only woman of the household. The Sister Wives household was born starting with adding Janelle.
Back then, Janelle came into a home, set up entirely by another woman. The second wife felt she could do nothing right at all. From cooking to cleaning, Janelle Brown felt Meri wanted things done her way.
Meri desperately wanted a baby, but it was Janelle Brown who gave Kody his first offspring. That added to the animosity brewing in the young plural marriage household. There came a time when Janelle could no longer handle Meri and she packed and left.
So, it’s clear that anger bubbled up when the Sister Wives were younger. Even today, the viewers of the TLC reality series can see the residual effects among the wives.
