Yahoo Finance “Sister Wives”' Meri Denies Catfish Scandal Was 'Defining,' Even as Kody Is Still 'Extremely Angry' (Exclusive)
Meri Brown tells PEOPLE it's "very inaccurate" that her 2015 catfish incident "broke the marriage" she had with Kody Brown
Meri Brown has long moved on from the catfishing scandal that shook her marriage — but not everyone has.
Kody Brown admitted he’s still “extremely angry” about the situation on Sunday’s Sister Wives Look Back: How We Started special. “The experience of Meri’s catfish makes me extremely angry,” he said, eight year later. “Cause she’s in full denial of what actually happened."
According to Meri, “Everybody thought that I was leaving the family, and I was having an affair. And I wasn’t." It's a point of contention for Kody to this day: “She had an online affair, which she now denies because she was a victim.”
Related: Meri Brown Revisits Catfishing Scandal, Meets a Fellow Victim in 'Sister Wives' Season Premiere
Meri, 52, and Kody, 54, see the end of their marriage very differently. The Lizzie’s Heritage Inn owner tells PEOPLE it wasn’t as “defining” as the reality TV show made it seem.
“I'm going to clarify something here, and this is what a lot of people really misunderstand, and that is the fact that a lot of people look at the catfishing as a defining moment of the demise of our marriage or even the family,” she said. “And it's really not, because there was a lot of things that were happening for years prior.”
She added, “[Looking] at that moment as the thing that broke the marriage is very inaccurate.”
Related: 'Sister Wives' ' Meri Brown Shares Cryptic Post After Kody Brown Split: 'I Am Not for Everyone'
In 2015, Meri struck up an online relationship with someone she thought was a man — but it was actually a woman deceiving her.
Meri told PEOPLE at the time: “During an emotional and vulnerable time earlier this year, I began speaking with someone online who turned out to be not who they said they were. I never met this person and I regret being drawn into this situation, but I hope because of it I can help others who find themselves in similar circumstances.”
In previous seasons of the show, Kody said the catfishing scandal started to “dissolve” their marriage to the point that he eventually relegated his relationship with Meri to a platonic one.
At the end of 2022, Meri and Kody announced their separation after 33 years of marriage. Kody’s plural marriage relationships with Janelle and Christine Brown have also ended. He remains in a now-monogamous relationship with Robyn Brown.
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Sister Wives airs Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on TLC.
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