The truth came out during part 2 of the tense 'One-on-One' special with Sukanya Krishnan.
Meri Brown was incredibly upset with a member of her family during Sunday's episode of Sister Wives, and it wasn't just her ex, Kody Brown. During part 2 of the TLC show's One-on-One special with interviewer Sukanya Krishnan, Kody's ex, Christine Brown, reflects on Meri's reaction to Kody's new ring after he took off the family's claddagh ring that all of his wives had previously worn as a symbol of their spiritual marriage.
Christine laughs off the moment, calling it "so funny," and saying there's a "backstory," that she's not sure if it's her place to share. But Christine chooses to share the story anyway.
"So Kody and Meri had a wedding ring," Christine reveals, saying that this happened around the time Robyn Brown was joining the family. "He melted down the ring, saved the gold, saved the diamonds. Well, Meri found out, she's like, 'Well, where's my ring? You don't wear it anymore. He's like, 'Oh, I melted it down,' just like that."
Christine says that this hurtful decision on Kody's part prompted them all to go in on the claddagh rings together.
The TLC series notes that after the One-on-One special was taped, Meri discovered that Christine had shared this story without her consent and returned to the couch to emotionally give her side of the story.
"I am extremely frustrated right now," Meri says, sniffling and looking upset, adding, "That is my story to tell when, where and how I want to. And somebody else took it upon themselves to tell that story, and now I'm being forced to talk about it. I'm not happy about it. It was not Christine's business to tell."
Meri also took offense to the seemingly flippant way Christine relayed the story, noting, "She can laugh about it all she wants, but it was not her business to tell. If I wanted to have shared that story in the last 13 years in a public way, I would have done that."
Saying her hand was "forced" to discuss the topic thanks to Christine's comments, Meri shares that Kody said around the time he melted the ring that he no longer wanted her to "have claim on him."
"Who's to say that he didn't just melt down our whole relationship in that moment? Symbolically, that's what he did to me," Meri says. "It was a very, very painful situation."
As for the timing of this decision, Meri makes it clear that this happened long before her 2015 catfishing scandal in which she was caught talking online to a woman who she thought to be a man.
"This thing with Kody telling me that I didn't have any claim on him or on our marriage and him melting down like a symbol, like a very important symbol of our marriage, happened probably seven years prior to the catfishing," Meri says. "And I spent those seven years trying to, like, be in this relationship with Kody that he did not want to be in with me."
Meri also speculates that these type of moments might have been why she sought out friendship outside of the family in the catfishing situation, saying, "Because Lord knows I didn't have any [friends] in my own family."
Robyn Brown, Kody's only remaining wife, later claims in the One-on-One interviews that the melting of the ring happened before she joined the family.
Meri and Kody went public with their decision to "permanently terminate" their marriage in January. Christine and Janelle Brown had already split from the polygamist.
New episodes of the Sister Wives One-on-One special air Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on TLC.
RELATED CONTENT:
