As Season 19 of Sister Wives rolls on, Kody Brown’s former wives continue to reveal previously unknown details about the Brown family, many involving the TLC stars’ finances and how, in many cases, funds were dispersed unfairly among the four wives and their respective children.
On Sunday’s episode, Meri Brown– who officially ended her spiritual union with Kody in January 2023– spoke to her BFF Jenn Sullivan about the Brown “family fund,” which Kody and this then-four wives reportedly contributed to regularly at one point.
“ … our funds were all together and those family funds that I helped with went to the kids’ college [tuition], went to property,” Meri told Jenn. “It went to everything. We had a family fund.”
Despite contributing an equal amount to the “family fund,” which was used to purchase the family’s Coyote Pass property in Arizona, Meri claimed that Kody admitted to her that he never intended for her to receive a fair share of the land, claiming she was “not entitled to an equal portion” because she only has one child. (Kody’s other ex-wives, Janelle and Christine, each had six kids with him, while his current wife, Robyn, has five.)
“He’s like, ‘Well, you don’t need as much because you don’t have as many kids,’” Meri recalled. (As fans of ‘Sister Wives’ know, Meri and Kody share one child together– Leon, who came out as transgender and queer in June 2022 and uses they/them pronouns.)
In addition to Kody attempting to slight her in the Coyote Pass dispute, Meri went on to reveal that money from the “family fund” had also been used in the past to cover “the majority of the kids’” college tuitions, but not Leon’s.
“I paid for Leon’s college,” Meri claimed, adding that she also single-handedly covered Leon’s car payments in the past, suggesting that other kids in the family had vehicles that were paid for through the “family fund.”
“I really don’t know how much of the family fund actually paid for other kids’ school or cars, but I know that my kiddo’s school was not taken care of from the family fund,” Meri said.
Since last appearing on ’Sister Wives,’ Leon married their longtime partner Audrey Kris, who is also transgender. The couple secretly tied the knot in October 2022 and currently reside in Colorado. While Meri maintains a close relationship with Leon, it’s been reported that Kody and Leon have been estranged since Leon’s gender-affirming top surgery. (Leon revealed on social media in January 2023 that they had undergone the procedure.)
While Leon’s relationship with Kody is reportedly non-existent, they seem to maintain a good relationship with many other family members, including Kody’s ex-wives Christine and Janelle, as well as many of their siblings. Both Leon and Audrey were in attendance for Christine’s 2023 wedding to David Woolley– an event that neither Meri nor Kody were invited to attend.
When asked about the alleged unfair use of “family fund” money on Sunday’s episode, Kody argued that there were 18 kids in the Brown family, before going on to accuse Meri of “complaining.”
“ … You know, that’s just water under the bridge,” he insisted. “I don’t even want to discuss it. Meri can do all the complaining about whatever happened that she wants.”
As for Meri, she argued during the episode that she did not receive alimony after her split from Kody, nor was she “looking for that”; however, because she “put a lot into this marriage emotionally, financially [and] personally,” she believes she’s entitled to a fair deal regarding Coyote Pass.
“ … I think it’s fair [I get] the property investment,” she said. “I think it’s fair that I walk away with that at least.”
After Sunday’s episode aired, clips of earlier ‘Sister Wives’ episodes started popping up on social media showing that Meri was, indeed, told that the family wouldn’t pay for her child’s college expenses, even though other kids in the family had the family’s financial backing.
In one clip, posted to TikTok by the user @AyCarumbaTLC, Kody and the Sister Wives were discussing how much of the family’s finances each of the college-aged kids were using. Janelle’s son, Logan, had his on-campus college paid for, as well as his car, while the family fund was also paying for Christine’s daughter Aspyn to live on-campus at her college and have a car. During the episode, Kody suggested that Meri pay out of her pocket— rather than the family’s pocket– for Leon to go to the college she wanted to go to (which, to be fair, was about four times the cost of Logan’s college.)
@aycarambatlc Meri put into the family fund as much if not more but when she needed the support for her daughter or her Airbnb she was told no! You only have one child and you get nothing. #meribrown #janellebrown #sisterwives #christinebrown #robynbrown #sisterwivestiktok #kodybrown #sisterwivestlc ♬ original sound – AyCarambaTLC
New episodes of ‘Sister Wives’ air Sundays on TLC.
RELATED STORY: Ysabel Brown Says She Believes Stepdad David Woolley Proposed to Her Mom Christine Brown “Too Soon”
(Photos: TLC; Instagram)
3 Responses
What should have happened is they should have paid the same amount towards Leon’s college as they did for Logan and Aspyn. If $6500 was the amount then that is what you get and anything above that you have to cover with student loans or Meri could pay if she wanted.
Agreed. That absolutely was the fair way of doing things.
To be honest, I don’t think it’s unfair that Meri had less space as a mom of one with her kid living out of state. Her massive Vegas house never made sense. Or the stupid must-have wet bar!
But as far as the “divorce” then I think the normal rules should apply and the assets should be split according to the laws of the state, just like for everyone else.