In the Sister Wives 2012 memoir Becoming Sister Wives: The Story of an Unconventional Marriage, Christine wrote about the “devastating argument” with her sister wife, Meri Brown, that “shattered” her relationship. Christine believed Meri was ‘taking her frustrations out’ on her kids by over-disciplining them.
Christine’s kids, Paedon and Gwendlyn, remember Meri being a ‘mean’ mom
On January 11, Christine’s son, Paedon Brown, did a three-hour-long interview live on Youtube with John Yates. A viewer asked Paedon about Meri coming off as “abrasive and kind of mean.” Paedon said those words weren’t enough to describe Meri’s behavior as a stepmom. “Meri was not nice… Abrasive is not enough of a word to explain what Meri was to a few of us children specifically,” he claimed.
Paedon claimed that Meri’s behavior “moved past verbal,” insinuating that she had gotten physical with the kids. He claimed the line between Meri being mean verbally and being physically abusive “basically stopped existing.”
On January 16, Christine’s daughter, Gwendlyn Brown, addressed Paedon’s allegations against Meri in a comment on her Patreon account (via Reddit). One of Gwendlyn’s patrons asked her about the claims and if Meri treated specific kids differently. Gwendlyn allegedly only witnessed Meri being “violent” once with her sister Mykelti Padron.
“Meri had a moment where she was rude and scary, but I don’t remember her getting physical with anyone except for Mykelti, and that was only once. And I believe that everyone deserves a second chance,” Gwendlyn wrote.
Gwendlyn explained more about her experience with Meri as a stepmom. “She was scary as a kid, but she never attacked me, and I only saw her violent once. That was all a long time ago,” she said.
Janelle Brown’s daughter, Madison Brown, also said that Meri was “abusive” and a “monster” in now-deleted tweets from 2019.
Christine describes the fight about Meri’s harsh parenting
As written in the Becoming Sister Wives memoir, Christine tried to explain her perspective on her argument that led to their falling out in 2009. Christine thought Meri was unfair in disciplining her five children Aspyn, Mykelti, Paedon, Gwendlyn, and Ysabel. She felt like Meri was “taking her frustrations out” on her kids.
“About a year before I became pregnant with Truely, I had a devastating argument with Meri. For a while, I’d been feeling that she was too tough on my kids. While I understand that all children need discipline, I often felt that she went too far when it came to my children. It seem to me that she was taking her frustrations out on my kids in particular. As a result of this, many of them were wary of her and were afraid to cross her accidentally.”
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Christine Brown
Admittedly, Christine said she wasn’t always the best at expressing her frustrations and ended up blowing up on Meri instead of having a conversation with her. She revealed in the memoir:
“I let this situation go on too long, and I let my emotions well up. Instead of talking to Meri calmly and explaining what I’d observed her doing and how she might fix her behavior, I exploded. I yelled and screamed and told her to stop talking to my kids and to stop interfering in their lives. Since I’m afraid of confrontation, I always allow stuff to build up till it’s too later. So instead of trying to work it out with Meri, I just shut her out.”
Christine Brown
Christine said her relationship with Meri is not ‘safe’
After that fight, Christine and Meri’s sister wives relationship was never the same. She said they “stayed out of each other’s way.” She said they would never hang out as friends after that but had learned to maintain “a level of cordiality,” but the “warmth was gone.”
“To this day, we are still working on becoming closer again. It has been a slow process of starting to feel comfortable with being open and honest with each other. We have had to learn how to immediately tell one another if we feel offended by something. We still do not have the wonderfully close relationship we used to share. i know e will continue working on it though. My relationship with Meri is very important to me. I’m certain she feels the same way about me.”
Christine Brown
During the season 17 Sister Wives One-on-One reunion, Christine said she didn’t feel like she could ever have a friendship with Meri. After she decided to divorce Kody, she didn’t feel the need to have a relationship with Meri. She said it wasn’t “safe” for her.
How to get help: In the U.S., call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or text START to 88788.
