“Sister Wives”' Janelle Says Meri Began Developing 'Interest Outside of the Family' After Becoming an Empty Nester

Janelle Brown opened up about Meri's departure from the family on a recent podcast episode

Janelle Brown is opening up about the disconnect between her family and Meri Brown.

Appearing on the Reality Life with Kate Casey podcast, the Sister Wives star, 55, was asked whether Meri, 53, had always been disconnected from the larger family, or if that was something that happened over time. "I mean, she and Robyn were always pretty close," Janelle shares.

"I do think when Leon left the house and she was an empty nester before we were, she started to develop a lot more interest outside of the family," she continues, referring to Meri's child Leon. "Because yeah, she had time."

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Related: Sister Wives: Kody Tells Meri 'I Actually Like You Now' After Split but He's Unsure How to 'Define' Their New Bond (Exclusive)

"But I know she and Robyn were always pretty close to a lot of things," Janelle says of Meri's relationship with Kody Brown's only remaining wife, Robyn Brown.

"So I don't know if she was separate. I mean, she and Kody had been estranged for many, many years."

Christine Brown, 51, was the first of the sister wives to leave their plural marriage to Kody, 55. A year later in December 2022, Kody announced his separation from second wife Janelle. A month after that, the end of his union with Meri was confirmed in January after the pair's relationship had been platonic for years.

Robyn, 46, is now his only remaining wife.

On a recent episode of Sister Wives, Meri opened up about where she's at in her relationship with Kody. "I feel very peaceful about our situation, he doesn't. Some of the things that he's saying are really, really, really mean," Meri told cameras of Kody.

"He clearly has a lot of internal [feelings] that he still needs to work on here."

In their conversation, Kody told Meri, "Where we are now is... I actually like you now," as she joked, "Gods be praised."

Kody insisted, "Well, I didn't for six years at all," as Meri said she thinks "it was more than that," adding: "Be honest with yourself."