Christine Brown is opening up about when — and why — she ended her friendship with former sister wife Meri Brown.
In her new book, Sister Wife: A Memoir of Faith, Family and Finding Freedom, Christine, 53, revealed she and Meri, 54, “fell out” nearly a decade after Christine’s spiritual marriage to Kody Brown began in 1994. The plural family had recently moved to Lehi, Utah, at the time, where Christine became a teacher.
“I didn’t trust that [Meri] would be kind to me, particularly in front of other people,” Christine wrote. “She said demeaning things about me when she was with her family — in front of me. My weight. My intelligence. My parenting skills. We could be laughing and telling stories but then she’d throw a painful dart and I would feel myself deflate.”
Christine admitted that she “debated” including the pair’s past drama in her memoir, which hit shelves Tuesday, September 2, because “we’ve all changed so much since those early years” as Kody’s sister wives.
Sister Wives’ Meri Sheds Light on ‘Nonexistent’ Relationship With Christine
According to Christine, there was a hierarchy between the women, with Meri treated as “the top wife in our polygamy pyramid.” (Similar claims have been made in recent years about Kody’s fourth — and currently only — wife, Robyn Brown.)
Christine went on to recall an incident that occurred when her daughter Mykelti, now 29, was around 8 years old. Mykelti had gone to the store and was “maybe 10 cents short” when she arrived at the checkout counter. The cashier “spotted her the dime,” but when Meri heard about what happened from her child, Leon, now 30, she allegedly “lost her mind.”
Meri was apparently “mad that Mykelti had embarrassed her in front of the cashier” and “yelled” at Christine’s daughter, who “couldn’t understand what she had done wrong.”
The incident with Mykelti marked a turning point for Christine. “That was the day, after a series of too many similar experiences, I ended my friendship with Meri,” she wrote. “I’d had enough and my mama bear came roaring. ‘Don’t talk to my kids,’ I yelled. ‘I don’t want you near them. I don’t want you to come downstairs anymore. Our relationship is done!’”
Where Do Sister Wives’ Meri, Janelle, Christine, Robyn Stand With Each Other?
Christine shares six children with Kody, who she was in a spiritual union with for more than 25 years before ending their marriage in 2021. She married David Woolley in 2023.
Meri, for her part, was Kody’s first wife. The twosome were legally married from 1990 to 2014, when they divorced so Kody could become Robyn’s lawful husband and adopt her kids from a previous relationship. Meri and Kody stayed in a spiritual marriage but confirmed their split in 2023. (Kody is also separated from wife Janelle Brown.)
As the plural family’s dynamic shifted, Meri exclusively opened up to Us Weekly in December 2024 about where she stood with Christine.
“I wish her all the best. We have had a lot of life together. We’ve had a lot of fun in our past, but our paths just don’t align right now,” Meri told Us, calling her relationship with Christine “nonexistent” at the time. “They may crisscross here and there throughout our lives, [but] we’re not living parallel lives anymore.”
