All week TLC teased episode 5 of Season 18 with Meri confessing to Robyn that she had a “secret.” It turns out that Meri’s secret wasn’t shocking at all, but it revealed a sad truth about the Brown family’s life.
Meri explained that there was a time when Meri was on a downswing in her relationship with Kody, and he tried to tell her that he was with her more than he was with Janelle or Christine. Meri decided to start keeping track of when Kody was with her, and she found that she saw him less than a third of the time.
“The only thing it did, honestly, was prove to me that I was right and made me more mad at him,” Meri says.
Robyn claims that she has the same secret.
Robyn says there was only a month or two in Vegas when Christine was complaining about Kody not spending much time at her house. This is when Robyn started tracking the time and says she found the same thing: “he wasn’t with me as much.”
Kody adds some details to this narrative. He took one month in Vegas to spend more time with Christine to see if it would make her quit complaining. He spent 25 days out of the month with her, and he found that it did make her stop complaining, but it was only a test to see if it could make her happier.
Kody says that his experiment did work in making Christine happier, but the other wives barely got any time with him. “It was ridiculous,” he says.
Christine remembers thinking that maybe Kody had plans to “balance out his schedule” for the month that he spent more time with her. Unfortunately for her, though, things just returned to how they were after the month was over.
Christine even implied that Kody sent time with Robyn about 25 days out of the month during his regular schedule because “he was not at Janelle’s house either. We all know he wasn’t at Meri’s house.”
The fact that he wasn’t spending time with Meri at all during this time is one of the reasons why Robyn could say this was a “secret.” Meri must have been completely out of the loop during Kody’s experiment with Christine.
Robyn then says that she feels like Kody has always “been really good with his schedule” and doesn’t understand why Christine would complain about not seeing him.
Janelle says that Kody was “often at Robyn’s house” in Vegas, and Kody doesn’t deny it. However, he explains that he spent more time at Robyn’s house because she gave him an office space there. He doesn’t consider the time he spent in this office as extra time with Robyn herself.
An unfair Christmas
Apparently this Christmas hasn’t been the only Christmas where Kody gave unfair treatment.
Meri shared with Robyn on particular Christmas where Kody completely devalued her by lavishing Christine with gifts while giving her nothing. Eventually Janelle asked Kody if he needed to get something out of her room, and he returned with an unwrapped hoodie for Meri.
Kody doesn’t remember that Christmas, but sees it as an opportunity for the women to hold things against him.
Christine does remember this Christimas in Wyoming where she got a lot of presents, but Meri didn’t get anything. Christie asked Kody about it, and he told Christine that she had a gift certificate for Meri. “You still need to get her something, she’s your wife,” Christine recalls telling him.
