Meri Brown says she ‘doesn’t regret’ marriage, divorce on 34th wedding anniversary

Meri Brown's marriage to Kody Brown may not have worked out, but she says she doesn't regret their time together.

The "Sister Wives" star reflected on her plural marriage and divorce in an emotional Instagram post this week on what would have been her and Kody's 34th wedding anniversary.

“So I’ve considered today whether or not I wanted to address this, and I’ve decided I will,” she wrote. “34 years ago today, I got married. 34 years ago was the start of this family that so many of you have come to love or, well, not so much. Yes, I know full well that we are a very polarizing topic.”

Meri said she "never anticipated a divorce" when she got married or "in the many years following." As heartbreaking as breakups can be, however, the reality star said she is choosing to maintain a positive attitude.

"I don’t regret my marriage, and I don’t regret my divorce," she wrote. "I look back on the years and see where I could have done better, where I did the best I could, where I didn’t live to my best potential, and where I loved as full as my heart could feel it. I look back and am grateful for the experiences and the lessons."

Meri, whose troubled relationship with Kody was chronicled on the last few seasons of "Sister Wives," described how her mindset has shifted since the dissolution of her marriage.

"For a long time, I had the narrative in my head that if I couldn’t make my marriage work, then I was a failure. But what if I flipped that narrative?" she wrote. "What if, instead, I looked at all the lessons I lived and realized that’s what made me who I am today?"

Rather than thinking of herself as a "failure," Meri said she now sees herself as "a strong woman going after her dreams," "a woman realizing dreams that she didn’t know she even had," and "a woman building her own table and surrounding it with people who want to share it with her."

Meri acknowledged that her wedding anniversary, April 21, "has been surrounded with a plethora of emotions through the years." Now, she finds it "ironic" that it's become a day that "has brought my life full circle."

"An April 21st will never pass without me remembering. Not with bitterness, not with anger, not with sadness or even grief. Just remembering my life and all the lessons and experiences in it," she wrote. "But more importantly, I will remember it as a day of a new start. A full circle moment. Because sometimes, life hands you a gift of the knowing you’re on the right track."

Meri was Kody's first wife. The couple announced their decision to end their marriage in January 2023.

“After more than a decade of working on our relationship in our own unique ways, we have made the decision to permanently terminate our marriage relationship,” they shared in a joint Instagram statement.

After marrying Meri, Kody went on to welcome three other wives to their plural marriage: Janelle, Christine and Robyn. In recent years, Kody's marriages to Janelle and Christine have ended and he only remains married to Robyn.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com