Meri Brown is sharing new details surrounding her decision to terminate her three-decades-long marriage to Kody Brown.
The businesswoman, 53, candidly discussed the couple's spiritual separation as she met with friends Jenn and Brandi during the Sunday, Dec. 15, episode of Sister Wives,
Meri, who legally divorced Kody, 55, in 2014, noted that “within the week, he goes, 'Why did you do it so fast?' …He's like, 'I don't understand why you did it so fast?'”
But she found his comments to be “insulting” because he had “no interest” in maintaining their marriage, noting that this was “the only other option.”
The reality star then revealed she had texted him after she received the official termination of their marriage through their church. “I texted him and he called me within 20 minutes,” she revealed.
“It was a good text. …Do you want to hear it?” Meri continued, before going to retrieve her phone. Upon returning to her seat among her friends on the couch, she began reading the message.
“I said this. I'm gonna read it back. 'Hi Kody, just wanted to follow up from the text I sent a couple weeks ago. Just wanted to let you know that I had a conversation with the leadership in Utah today and The official release was granted. I will always love and respect you. I hope you will truly have peace now. about me. this.'”
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Meri revealed in a recent season 19 episode that she opted to terminate her marriage through the family's church, explaining that she was “granted what is called in our church, a release, which is basically the equivalent of a divorce.”
“It was a very, very hard conversation, hard in meaning heartbreaking because this is not what I wanted to do. This is not what I intended when I married Kody,” she continued. “Back in 2014, Kody and I did do a legal divorce, and for me, that whole process was purely for the fact that he could then marry Robyn (Brown) legally and then adopt her three older kids. But our spiritual marriage, our “The spiritual ceiling was still intact.”
In a recent conversation with PEOPLE, Meri — who officially announced the couple's separation in January 2023 months after his marriages with Christine Brown and Janelle Brown dissolved — said that the now exes are ” friendly and kind with each other” when in the same space.
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“I don't think that it's inauthentic at all. It's just not at a place that we're calling each other and texting and being like, 'Hey, friend, how's it going? What are you doing today?'” she explained. . “It's not that kind of a relationship, but when we are in each other's space, when we do need to interact. It's totally fine.”
“I'm very comfortable with him. It's not awkward as far as that goes, but we're just not friends. Certainly not friends. You know what I mean? I'm happy with it,” she added.
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Sister Wives airs Sundays at 10 pm ET on TLC.