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Sister Wives fans have watched as the Brown Family battles over how to best use the land they purchased in Flagstaff, Arizona. While the family appears to be at odds with one another, family followers can’t help but notice that Kody Brown seems especially frustrated with his first wife, Meri Brown. The couple’s relationship has been troubled for some time. While many believe they simply never recovered from a catfishing scandal back in 2015, it looks like trouble was brewing long before the indiscretion came to light.

Meri Was involved in a catfishing scandal back in 2015

Back in March 2015, Meri began an online relationship with someone who claimed to be named Sam Cooper, according to In Touch. The relationship, which carried on for six months, moved from Twitter to text, and Meri even tried to meet up with the potential suitor in person, but something always seemed to come up.

Meri’s prince charming wasn’t a man named Sam. Instead, it was a woman named Jackie Overton. When Meri found out she was carrying on a relationship with Jackie, not Sam, she ended things. Jackie was out for vengeance from the moment the relationship ended, and publicly shared messages she exchanged with Meri.

Things between Meri and her family never got back to normal

After the catfishing scandal, Meri’s relationship with her family never seemed to recover. The mother of one was embarrassed by the situation, and Kody took the issue pretty hard. While the duo did attend counseling together, it seemingly didn’t help, and their relationship has never returned to normal.

The relationship between Meri and her sister wives has also been seriously harmed. The entire Brown family seems to question Meri’s motivations for just about everything she does. Frankly, no one in the Brown family seems to trust Meri. When the family moved to Flagstaff, Kody and his wives seemed concerned that Meri wouldn’t be joining them. When Meri wanted to open a bed and breakfast in Utah, the family questioned whether it was her way of separating from the family.

While it would be easy to suggest the catfishing scandal has led to mistrust within the Brown family, it doesn’t look like that is the case. At the very least, it’s not the only reason the Browns are skeptical of Meri’s commitment to the plural lifestyle. It looks like their lack of trust in Meri stretches back for years.

The catfishing scandal is just the tip of the iceberg

While the catfishing scandal has been blamed for many of the problems between Meri and her husband and sister wives, from the sounds of it, things may have been pretty rocky even before that. Kody has suggested, on more than one occasion, that Meri has mistreated her sister wives for years.

The Brown family of 'Sister Wives'
Robyn Brown, Meri Brown, Kody Brown, Christine Brown and Janelle Brown | Ethan Miller/Getty Images

In a recent episode, he claims she’s been playing this “game” since day one. While he didn’t elaborate, it seems that Kody is suggesting there have been problems with Meri for decades, or, at the very least, for several years before the catfishing scandal was exposed. What the reason behind those issues is, however, remains unknown.

Family followers have long surmised that several of the wives are not suited for a polygamist lifestyle, a theory that Kody, himself, has backed up. While Meri, Christine, and Robyn were all raised within alternative families, none seem to be well-suited to sharing a husband. Each appears to fall victim to jealousy often. Janelle, on the other hand, did not grow up within the lifestyle, but, for one reason or another, appears to be the most genuinely suited to life as a plural wife. She, however, has even suggested it’s not a comfortable lifestyle. Janelle claimed the first 20 years of her marriage were unhappy.

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