Previously on Sister Wives...
- Hi. - Hi.
- How's it going? - Good.
Long time no see.
- Yeah. - Are you gonna give me a hug?
I feel pathetically
that she commonly rejects me.
I... I do think I wanna stay separated.
- Really? You wanna stay separated? - Yeah, I do.
I think if he was dying to get back with me
he would've called the counselor, he would be actively pursuing that.
But there's no communication or conversation about that.
- Meri! - Hi.
In recent years, there's been a lot of, dare I say, drama.
- So, Robyn... - What's up?
...I have news.
Uh-oh. Good news or bad news?
I have not talked to Kody, Meri or Robyn for a long time.
But you have to know I would consider a plural marriage again.
- Independence. - Wait, you would consider--
I would consider plural marriage again.
- You really would? - Yeah.
Last week I went back to Flagstaff
and Janelle and I had a really in-depth conversation
about her relationship with Kody.
I'm more at peace when he's not around.
- Right now? - Yeah.
I need something different.
I need more of a companion.
Yeah, you do.
On one hand it would be so easy for Kody
to fix this relationship with Janelle.
However, it's relationship with the kids where Janelle's really frustrated.
You know, his relationship with her children is what the main problem is.
It's absolutely ridiculous. I mean, her situation...
is a lot harder than mine.
- Can I scramble them on this? - Yeah.
So, the entire family knows that I'm pregnant except for Ysabel,
so we're gonna go ahead and tell her.
Okay.
There is one other major surprise that I haven't told anyone yet.
I've never seen a sonogram of twins before ever, ever, ever.
I already love them. I already love them so much.
You're having frigging twins?
I cannot believe you're having twins!
They're just so cute,
and they actually got the two of them together
and they're all mushed.
They're all mushed so much.
I mean, you see one sonogram with one baby
and they already look super smashed.
I can't imagine that-- She's gonna get huge.
I mean, like, when you're pregnant...
She was pregnant it was out till here
but twins, that's gonna be like...
big. I don't even know. Anyway...
I was not surprised, actually.
When I... when the doctor told me,
"Hey, there's two things in here. We're gonna get a second opinion."
I was like, "Oh, okay."
And the doctor was like, "Yup. Sure enough. You're having twins."
And I was like, "Okay, sounds good."
Pretty much, and then I came home
to show, to tell Tony and I showed him the picture
- and he was like... - Yeah.
She's like, "Look, there's two blobs."
And I'm like, "What do you mean there's two blobs?"
So, she's like, "There's two of them."
And I'm like, "No, there's not."
- He just-- - There's two blobs?
He didn't quite understand.
Oh, man. I was, like, in brain lock.
I'm like, "What?
Why is there two?"
We don't really have any twins in...
that I know of, in my,
uh, family history.
It's probably Tony's side of the family.
Are you okay?
Tony has this look in his eyes like he is shocked.
I don't think he's looked at me in the eyes for four days.
Yes.
I was absolutely,
A, stressed out and B, taken aback.
It wa... It was mind-blowing.
And they're, like, not in our families. We're like...
"How did this happen?" Like...
They both better be mine. Like, what the heck?
The heck... How did we get two of them? I don't know.
I mean, Mykelti and Tony are gonna be great with twins.
They really honestly are.
I'm just really not concerned about it to be honest with you.
We did twins, too. Janelle had Gabe, I had Gwen.
They're, like, four days apart.
When I watched them by myself, you just figure it out.
You just figure it out.
And they're going to figure it out.
And they're gonna be completely fine.
Okay, so, uh, not too long ago
was mine and Kody's 32nd anniversary.
Leading up to it,
you know, I just wasn't even sure what to expect, honestly.
I feel like the past few years when we've gone out on our anniversary
really has just almost been more obligatory than anything else.
He hasn't even taken me out on my birthday.
So, he didn't actually call me or text me.
Um, midway through the day I thought, "Maybe I should just call him."
And so I did. I called him,
I'm like, "Hey." And he's like, "Hey."
And I said, "Happy anniversary." And he's, like,
"Oh, happy anniversary."
I'm like, "We should go out on a drive or...
go to dinner or something, what do you think?"
You know. He's like, "Mmm...
I'm watching the kids, let me check with Robyn."
When Meri called me to ask me if we were gonna do anything for her--
our anniversary, I just said, "Well, I'm watching the kids."
I needed a minute to...
like, think.
I needed a reason to be able to say no
in the event I just didn't think it was the right thing for me to do.
And I had to think about that.
So, anyway, so he called me back later
and he's like, "Okay, let's go out to dinner."
So, he came and he picked me up
and we went to dinner.
At one point he made some reference to
faking relationships or something like that
and I was like, "What do you mean, faking?"
And we were sitting across the table from each other
and he kinda gestured, like, with his fingers, you know,
like, between the two of us.
He's like, "Well, this."
And I said, "What do you mean? I'm not faking anything."
He's like, "I don't know why you even bothered
to call and say happy anniversary, Meri."
I'm like, "Uh, 'cause it's our anniversary."
He's like, "But we're not ma--"
and he paused and then he goes,
"But we're not living as a married couple."
I felt like in that moment...
that he stopped himself from saying, "Well, we're not married."
That was, like, a big realization to me.
That all this time, all these years, that's how he's felt about it.
But I haven't known that.
So, right before our 25th wedding anniversary which was seven years ago...
Meri and I were in such a bad place. We were fighting, we...
You know, it's the same time she was asking me to stop staying at her...
in her house, um...
and counseling wasn't working.
We were just in an angry place with each other.
It seemed like the love had been lost.
Through counseling and you know, recommendation of my other wives,
I was convinced maybe I should try and fix it.
It took me a long time. I wanted to see if it would work.
But it just... just didn't seem like it was going to work.
I felt I just had to give up.
Around that time, I did ask him
to just... can we just take a break?
And he keeps coming back to me saying I kicked him out,
I kicked him out, I kicked him out, I kicked him out,
and I didn't kick him out.
I didn't pack up his stuff,
I didn't tell him to never come back,
I didn't tell him that I didn't wanna see him again.
I never kicked him out.
He actually said to me,
"I have no desire, Meri,
to have a relationship with you."
He said, "Don't you understand, Meri,
this is never going to happen?
Your life is not one that I wanna insert myself into."
Like, I'll never forget those words.
Like, this is the first time he's ever said this to me.
Like, ever.
That was very, very painful for me.
And I felt my heart, like, really speeding up because I'm like...
But you promised, you know.
As a culture... polygamous culture,
you mostly have home births.
Especially, if it's a plural wife.
You just don't want hospitals to find out that you're a plural family
'cause they can come and take your kids away.
There's a whole big fear mentality about hospitals in the polygamous culture.
And so, I think because of that
my kids just always think there's, like, a little bit of fear
associated with the hospital, still.
Mykelti's pregnant with twins. Oh, my gosh.
It's so insanely exciting.
Oh, my gosh. I just can't wait.
Tony did not like the home birth last time.
I mean, it was pretty intense. It was really intense.
Good.
- She's coming. She's coming. - Good job.
She's coming. You're doing great.
- Those are great sounds. - Honey, yes.
Yes, let's get her out.
Good job. Let's get her out.
It was intense and Tony was not down with it.
He did not like it. When it was over, he was like,
"Babe, we're not doing that again."
And Mykelti's like, "It's fine."
He's like, "No, it's not.
It was too scary, it was too intense."
It wasn't. It was fine. It was normal.
So I'm just gonna tell you, whatever they decide to do, I'm 100% in favor of.
Yes!
They're going with Dr. Bean. Yes!
- I'm excited. - Okay.
Yeah, I'm very excited.
Dr. Bean is always excited.
Dr. Bean was the doctor I had when Truely was born.
I love that man. I just love that man.
Big breath.
- Hold your-- - Oh, excellent. Good. That's good.
- Push, push, push. - Yeah.
Big push, big push, big push. That's it, that's it, that's it, that's it.
Big push.
All right. Okay, relax, relax.
- She's here. - I felt her. I felt...
- Just set her right here. - Oh, my gosh.
I felt the whole thing.
I pushed six children out of my womb.
Five of them were at home,
and then Truely was at the hospital. I was so nervous.
I pushed for, like, five minutes.
I was 38 when I had Truely.
I just felt like there was a possibility something could go wrong.
But there was no complications in Truely's birth. None.
The other home births, though...
...that's where it was at.
You're doing great.
Here it comes.
There he is.
Oh, my goodness.
He looks like my little boys.
Push, push, push.
Oh, yeah.
- Oh, you sweet little boy. - [Madison] Oh, my God.
Oh, my goodness.
Good job.
Get in. Get in, Mommy.
Oh, there we go!
Oh, yeah!
I highly recommend home births.
Having a midwife... An experienced midwife
is absolutely, phenomenally important and necessary.
But the recovery's amazing. You get to just stay home.
You can just stay in your bed and it's so nice.
We're talking about how we have been a part
and not been in the same homes...
As a culture, polygamous culture
you mostly have home births, especially, if it's a plural wife.
Because in some cases they don't put the husband's name even down on anything
and so, you just don't want hospitals to find out that you're a plural family
'cause they can come and take your kids away.
There's a whole big fear mentality about hospitals in the polygamous culture.
And so, I think because of that
my kids just always think there's, like, a little bit of fear
associated with the hospital, still.
It's interesting. Christine and I share very different perspectives
on hospitals and the medical system.
She grew up with a great fear of going to the hospital
because of exposing their plural family.
I didn't grow up in this faith.
My family is not polygamous.
Kody put his name on all my children's birth certificates.
It's not something I thought about
'cause I didn't grow up with that fear.
And here, I've got Mykelti who's super close to Robyn
and she's super close to me.
It puts a lot of pressure on her.
A big pressure on her just 'cause she is
kind of the bridge between both of us, you know,
with Janelle and I and our kids
and then Robyn and Kody and their kids.
Mykelti loves both.
So, I think it's awesome.
Oh, my gosh! Twins!
Truely's 12. She's 12 this year.
After the divorce and stuff like that
there seems to be a little undertone
like, "Can I trust?" from my kids.
No, Maddie stopped reaching out to me.
Okay, I'm gonna check on the chicken one more time.
Okay.
Okay, I won your jack, I'm sorry. I looked. I'm sorry.
I cheated. I'm sorry.
How's the chicken?
Uh, I think it's done. I hope it's not burnt.
The back sides of these are looking bad.
Truely's in town with Ysabel today.
So, we're gonna go ahead and have a little birthday party for Truely.
Truely's 12. She's 12 this year.
Last year before she turns into a teenager. It's always scary, right?
All righty, come on, let's eat.
It's so nice to have, like, a family experience in a party.
I miss this. I miss this and it's...
I know it's not all of us but it's a little bit of us
and that's something, you know.
I always want Truely to feel safe and comfortable in my home.
I want any of the kids to feel safe and comfortable in my home.
And she seems like she's having a good time.
Ysabel seems like she's enjoying herself, too.
- Oh, wow. It's done. - [Dr. Bean] Okay.
- I felt her. I felt... - [nurse] Just set her right there.
Oh, my gosh, I felt the whole thing.
We went public when Christine was pregnant with Truely.
Uh, she was born and right after that,
uh, Kody and I got married.
So, it's been this kind of sweet experience where
Truely doesn't have any memories
without me and my kids.
And that's kinda cool.
Sweet. Yeah.
Ysabel lives in North Carolina with Maddie and Caleb.
She has a job and she's just living for her.
Everyone, gather up. We're gonna have blessing and we're gonna eat.
There's one thing that I'm constantly concerned about,
which is sort of this gloomy cloud hanging over us most of the time.
'Cause after the divorce and stuff like that
there seems to be a little bit of a...
it's a nuance, it's a... it's a little undertone
of sort of a strain.
Like, "Do I trust? Can I trust?"
from my kids. Um...
Truely seems perfectly fine.
Ysabel seems to be uncomfortable a lot of the times.
Well, now, everybody gets half a piece
'cause we already brought six.
My relationship with my dad
it's never, like, 100% solid.
And with the divorce right now everything's rocky
'cause nobody knows what to do in a divorce.
And then, and a divorce with a polygamous family
even more so nobody knows what to do.
There's a lot of pain from divorce and the separation of family.
And as a result, there's just what seems to be a mild strain.
My phone calls are pretty weak,
I think we're just... we're just processing through some stuff.
For the goals that I had in my life,
this situation is very, very disappointing.
My goal from the beginning was that my family would be under one roof.
So, and here we go.
- There's the house. - Wow.
- That's a big house. - It is a big house.
I don't know. I wonder if some other failures in peril marriage
were my part in expecting too much from the family, with this one-family idea.
We might have been more successful had we been in different homes.
With the kids kind of, growing up like they were cousins.
We wrote this idea for ourselves.
We even withdrew family commitment celebration,
where we wrote our mission statement.
Thank you so much for being here. I'm...
Um...
I'm touched.
We developed the idea of writing
a family-mission statement over a year and a half ago.
And we withdrew some serious processes trying to get it right.
The Kody Brown family.
"We embrace the spirit of abundance
in affection, time, opportunity, peace, wealth, prosperity, wisdom, and love."
"We teach, allow, and promote the value of making conscious and responsible choices
in all aspects of our lives."
"As sister wives and husband..."
"we embrace one another with a covenant...
of eternal nature."
"Our bodies being the temples for our spirit
are the greatest physical assets given by our maker."
"We intentionally organize fun parties, gatherings, and special events
to honor and celebrate individuals and achievements."
We've just shredded that mission statement.
It's just like, what is happened with our family is very sad to me.
It's just one of those things that's happened. I have to move on.
But there is sort of this, strange place that I'm in,
where it feels odd to sort of been...
I'm trying to redefine my life.
You know, if I was in Utah, I'd almost be too embarrassed to show my head at church.
Because of just the struggles my family has had.
Lots of shame.
So we... We don't have a church here in Flagstaff either.
We haven't established any connection religiously in Flagstaff.
When you have your purity,
and you give it to your husband and your wife when you're married,
then you have a lot of happiness and a lot of blessings.
I've always been a man of faith.
But I have struggled for a long time,
because I'm a polygamist.
I'm not a fit in my old religion.
And we're in...
Let me use a term. No pun intended, we're in limbo.
By the power vested in me,
as a steward of the almighty God,
in the name of the eternal Messiah,
I pronounce you husband and wife.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Ghost. Amen.
No. Um...
I do not know what happened.
But during the break-up with Christine...
um, Maddie stopped reaching out to me.
Might have been COVID or...
I have no idea what was going on, but she...
she quit reaching out to me.
Maddie doesn't call him, because of his behavior lately.
She's like...
"I don't... I don't know what to do with him.
I don't know who this guy is."
So, she has to consider her children.
She has to consider the stability of what they
see or perceive as a grandfather.
There's a lot of things that play here.
It's not just Maddie, not calling him.
Make a wish.
- No... - Let's see if you blow it out--
My kids have really missed their siblings.
And there seems to be this weird wall...
that I can't penetrate.
And we can't quite figure out why it's there.
It looks to me...
It feels to me like broken family.
I can't...
I can't fix it.
My own optimism or something
wants me to just say, well, it's meant to be this way now.
And you know, these people
that are here together can work out the relationship. It's time.
And they can work out the relationship with me.
And, it's complicated.
The relationship doesn't end in my family.
But something about it has ended.
And it's an ending.
And that's sort of sad.
Hey.
- Hey, Mom. - Oh, hey. Okay. Awesome.
'Cause I wanna plant these pota-- our tomatoes today.
- Can you lift it after it's full? - Yeah.
Okay. I'm gonna bring the rest in.
I went ahead and got big plants, 'cause we're like a week late.
For my birthday this year,
the boys and all my kids contributed to building this planter boxes
for me in Garrison's yard.
And ta-da.
'Cause you know I love basil. Check it out.
- Well, that's a big one. - It's multiple.
It should keep us in basil all summer.
I live in an apartment now. I love gardening.
It's just a sanity thing for me.
So, they built me a little space to garden.
So, I'm gonna be putting just a few plants in, in Garrison's yard.
So, I think this will be enough zucchini and tomatoes for just us.
- And then... - Definitely have zucchini and tomatoes for us.
- May be even for our neighbors. - Can you pull that, at all?
- Pull this now? - I'll get the clip... I'll get the clippers.
I can't pull it out. I don't think.
Can you at least chop it off?
- Yeah, I can cut it down here at the root. - Okay.
So, a month ago, Kody and I went out for my birthday.
I was glad he called.
I didn't have anything going on that evening.
I wasn't expecting reconciliation. I didn't want it.
So we went out. We had a good time, but we haven't really gone out since then.
I want it to be easy tonight.
- Oh, you don't wanna talk about anything? - No.
- Wanna be... - Let's just be easy.
We're not seeking it out.
I'm not hoping he's gonna call me.
I don't think he even really thinks about me very much, to be honest with you.
He's got his... He's got a whole life going on over at Robyn's house.
You know, I just think it's nothing. It's just... It's... It's...
I mean, we're friendly when we have to be.
But, there's no connection really.
So, I got two tomatoes and three zucchini.
- So it's just gonna be no... - Even with just,
these two, we're gonna have more tomatoes than we need.
And, 'cause Gwen told me she's not coming, right?
Yeah, Gwen's not moving in.
- Um... - I get it.
It might have been like, a lot for her to live with her brothers.
Yeah, plus she never had to live with me and Garrison either.
She always only had to do with Paedon.
Believe it or not, Gabriel is my gardener.
He really loves doing it.
I planted, um, for a couple of years.
And, Gabriel was always my one who was out there helpin' me.
We, then look for bugs.
And try to problem-solve the gardens.
So, he loves it.
He's like my gardening kid.
You guys haven't seen... I don't think you guys
have seen your dad for a while, right?
- Nope. - Have you heard from him?
Nope.
No, my kids have not talked to their dad.
They generally ignore him.
Because, they're like, "What's the point of having a conversation with him?"
I remember him saying something along the lines of,
he only cares about his minor children or something like that.
So...
What I said to Gabriel, once you are out of my--
like, graduated from high school,
my obligation to you shifts.
It's an obligation of mutual respect.
If the relationship goes bad, then it's like, go get your own place.
We're all grown adults...
that don't need a father figure anymore.
You don't belong in my home, if you can't respect me.
Remember, it's my home. It's not yours.
I think Kody is getting exactly what he puts into the relationship.
You know what? I bought a second kind of potting soil.
Let's try the other tomato in it.
And see if it makes a difference, as an experiment.
Since this garden is kind of a new concept for us
- in this little urban space. - Okay.
So you know, I haven't really spoken to Robyn or Meri
since that conversation how Robyn spoke to, about a year ago.
I've gone 18 months
being persecuted by my own family,
for trying to protect them.
- It does not leave... - My heart is broken.
Christine left because of this.
- I just survived a really, really dark place. - I understand that.
You don't give a [bleep] though. Look at you.
- Dismissing it. - Okay.
- Would you ever have any empathy for me? - Please don't leave.
- Can we just get talking first? - When you're in pain,
- I try to understand you. - Kody...
Can we please keep talking, Janelle, please?
Janelle, this is a really bad idea for you to walk off on this one.
I haven't sought them out. They haven't sought me out.
Robyn and I never really had--
We could be... We were great team players.
We could work together for the good of the family.
But I never connected with her on a friend level.
She's ten years younger than I am.
Her kids were younger than mine.
We just didn't even like the same things.
Or you know, I mean, we just weren't similar.
But we could be great team players for the sake of the family.
Meri and I have always had personality differences.
And that's okay.
But I don't need to really seek her out now.
There's gotta be some sort of a joke
about how many sister wives does it take to assemble a tree.
- Do you see how there's a little notch? - Yeah.
And there's a little thing.
Look, I still have family with Christine.
We still see each other. The kids are interacting.
It feels very normal when we're together.
It feels like old times,
without all the periphery drama.
Yeah, I mean, right now, I feel like that's my family.
I feel like that's where I find family.
You know, I don't know, there's something
very peaceful for me about gardening.
You put the plants in.
You water them. They grow.
'Kay, well, this will be our experiment with the different soil
for this zucchini.
I don't know. Something about being there with the living plant, the living things,
just kind of brings my stress level down,
like 15 notches or something, you know.
At some point, I would really like to put some greenhouses on the property.
And actually run more of a small scale operation.
That's kind of my, second generation of my life,
or the second part of my life or something. I...
I would love to be engaged full time in the growing of plants.
Yeah. I mean, at this point I'll be really happy
if we can even freaking pay off the property.
'Cause I'm just getting crickets or I'm getting the runaround
when I still ask about it.
We're gonna get the property paid off.
I mean, Janelle sits and pesters me about it all the time.
She's...
asking, asking, asking, pestering.
But not really helping.
I mean, the clock is ticking. The loan comes due in a year.
I hope they're not stupid enough to let it slip away.
After all, we've put so much money in it.
Robyn and I still intend to build there.
Anything is possible at this point.
I don't recognize these people
who used to be-- I used to be a family with,
as far as their priorities and thought processes.
I'm gonna cry.
Why are you crying in this moment?
Are you not excited to ride a bike?
Truely still does not know how to ride a bike.
She had a disastrous...
first attempt.
We're not letting go today.
- That's for another day. - Okay. If you're not ready, we won't let go today.
Uh, we gonna go learn in the parking lot?
- Or right here? - No, right here.
We gonna go and live in the parking lot. That's what I heard.
It's just been a busy week.
Mykelti told us earlier that she's pregnant with twins.
Truely had a birthday party in Flagstaff.
For her birthday, she asked me to give her a bike.
So she's ready to learn how to ride a bike now.
It's a big deal.
Oh, do I need to wear a helmet?
Do I need to wear a helmet to teach her?
Paedon, you don't need to...
No, you don't need to wear a helmet to teach her how to ride a bike.
You sure about that?
Okay, look.
Truely still doesn't know how to ride a bike.
She had a disastrous... first attempt,
with Kody and it was... terrible.
I heard all about it.
- Do you want to practice on soils instead? - No.
You know I don't wanna do this.
There's no crying in baseball, sweetheart.
This isn't baseball. This is--
This is bike riding. It's easier than baseball.
I really struggled with Truely.
She wasn't really connecting to the experience.
She didn't really wanna do it.
And I'm trying to push her.
You know, it's like, sometimes you gotta push a child as a parent.
Listen. I love her.
And, that wasn't our favorite experience together.
I'm gonna cry.
Why are you crying in this moment?
Are you not excited to ride a bike?
- No. - Why?
Because I wish that I learned when I was five.
You're fine. Things happen sometimes.
Just recently, I talked to her about riding a bike again.
So I'm like, you're 12.
I think that you riding a bike would be, you know, a good thing.
And she is ready to try and ride a bike again.
'Kay, look at me in my eyeballs.
We just need you to move forward using the, um, pedals.
- Forwards. Not backwards. - I know how to use a pedal.
Just sounds super scary.
Having to balance on two wheels, she's like, that doesn't sound natural.
- I'm too short for this. - You're not.
I think it'll take five days to learn how to ride a bike.
Most likely more.
I'm gonna be realistic here. Most likely more.
We're not letting go.
- You're not... - Keep pedaling.
Nicely done, Truely.
- You're turning. - Nice to see you turn.
Truely has an amazing support system here in Utah.
It's everything that I wanted for her to have.
She's surrounded with people that just love her.
And loves spending time with her all the time.
It's everything that I hoped to give her.
It's what I've been able to give her. Which is amazing.
We're not letting go today. That's for another day.
Okay. If you're not ready, we won't let go today. It's fine.
Hey, you're not gonna fall.
I know that. I know that.
Her falling off a bike...
is going to happen.
There's no way to get around this.
Put your foot down.
- Hold me. - Put your foot down.
I... That's what I'm do--
Stop. I'm right here.
She's fine.
And this is not me forcing her.
This is me backing her up.
You let go.
- No. I don't think... - Yep. Just like this.
This is what I want you to do.
- No. I don't think-- - You're not even gonna use the pedal.
- Truely... - You got this.
Once Truely says she's done,
then I'm gonna let her be done.
I want you to stay on your feet.
Sit down and walk.
Yeah, I'm still on my toes.
- You're doing great. - Keep going.
I'm not gonna force her beyond her comfort.
That was already done.
Been there, done that. We're not gonna do that today.
Nope. I need to be taller.
Let's wait until I'm taller to ride this.
- No, Truely. You can do this. - No, you got this.
- Let's wait until I'm taller. - You're doing it.
- One more year. - Yesterday, you said tomorrow.
We only have to wait one more year. And then I'll be taller.
Guys, we only have to wait one more year and then I'm tall.
Yeah, then you'll be 13.
- Believe in yourself. - You got this.
- One more year and then I'm taller. - 'Kay. Everybody,
Truely needs less voices.
- Okay. - She just needs to do it.
That is literally the nicest way I've ever heard anybody say shut up.
None of us doubt Mitch.
When Mitch opens his mouth,
we all respect what Mitch has to say.
Because Mitch doesn't talk that much.
Yeah, pedal slower. You're just speeding it up.
'Kay.
You're doing great. You wanna take a break for a bit?
Yeah.
Dang it.
Okay. So let's just have a real conversation with me for just a minute.
You... I can't tell you. You progressed so much.
We saw it.
And you progressed tons. You can...
- You did great. - Thanks, Mum.
That was a great effort, love. I loved it.
- Thank you, Mum. - Was Mitch's help... How was Mitch's help?
- It was good. Thanks, Mitch. - Was it?
Thanks, Mitch. Yeah, it was good.
To be completely honest, I really thought that she would ride a bike today.
As you think walking back and forth,
like when Mitch was walking with you back and forth,
- then you got acclimated to the bike. Did that help? - Yeah.
- Awesome.
What do you think we can do to work on,
like, just more, next time we do this?
What do you think would be the best thing we could do?
I don't wanna go too far
on the... on the road.
Because it slopes down.
- Oh, okay. - And I don't wanna fall.
- Sure. Sure. - I hope I don't fall.
Well, everyone falls.
It happens. Everyone falls when they learn how to ride a bike.
You just get up again.
She'll learn how to ride a bike.
You know, it's... And it's just more about having that support anyway.
Be able to get her and understand her.
And she's got that here.
Let's go. We're done.
- Thanks, everyone. - Let's go inside.
- Good job, Truely. That was awesome. - Good job, kid.
- Thanks. - Let's go inside.
In our religious background,
and when he and I got married,
we married with the intention of forever.
I feel like that he's like, well, I'm just not interested.
You can stick around if you want.
But I'm like, but why would I want to do that...
eternally?
So, not too long ago, was mine and Kody's 32nd anniversary.
And so, he did pick me up and we went to dinner.
He actually said to me...
"I have no desire, Meri,
to have a relationship with you."
Early in our marriage,
I had a lot of doubt.
Like...
Are you always going to love me, kind of, emotions.
You know what I mean?
And he used to be very, very good
at reassuring me.
No, Meri. You are my person.
I love you. I'm in love with you.
I will love you forever.
The fact that we loved each other
and the fact that we made this commitment to each other,
I thought that that would mean something to him.
- Hi. - Hi.
Beautiful.
He has said to me,
"I never loved you,
and I never felt like that about you.
Like, I was trying to affirm it."
That was his words, "I was just trying to affirm it."
It's like, that's a bunch of [bleep].
Ask anybody that we know.
Ask anybody who saw us,
in our early years,
even ten years ago.
And they would know that that was just a bunch of crap
that he's spewing to...
maybe to try to justify
how he feels now.
In our...
religious background,
and when he and I got married,
we married with the intention of forever.
Literally was an eternal covenant.
And...
I feel like that he's like, well, I'm just not interested.
You can stick around if you want.
But I'm like, but why would I want to do that...
eternally?
Be with somebody who really just
has changed his mind about me.
Like, our marriage is...
like, done. Like, you can stick around,
and you can come visit,
me and Robyn and the kids if you want. But...
we're never gonna have a marriage relationship anymore.
So, I feel like I always had a pretty good relationship with Robyn.
And I freaking love her kids.
I have every intention
to still keep a good relationship with those kids.
You know.
As long as...
she and Kody are willing to let me, you know.
But I said to him, "Well, why don't we, because our life is public.
like...
why don't we just be real open and honest about this?"
And that we should discuss this, and that we should...
like...
really be open about our story with this,
and he said, "No, I don't want to do that."
He said, "I just have so much criticism,
I don't want to be open or vocal about it.
Let's just keep this between us."
I'm not gonna go the rest of my life hiding the fact that...
this is the way that our relationship is.
And hiding the fact that you said to me,
you don't wanna ever have a relationship with me.
This is my story too.
And I have the right to tell my story.
Happy anniversary to me.
Weird.
Basically to me, I see two options.
Continue living like I have for the past eight years or so,
which is a freaking amazing, badass, independent person,
that is officially married to somebody.
But not emotionally, right?
And I can keep doing that.
Or, I can terminate it.
I can take the steps to move forward to be done with it.
And that doesn't sit well with my values.
Because I didn't marry Kody
and make this eternal covenant,
just to be like, mmm, it's not working for us.
I think I'll peace out.
And right now, I don't know what to do about it.
I have no idea what to do about it.
Next time on Sister Wives...
Welcome to my party.
In a way, this feels like,
a declaration of independence,
for this new life that she's got.
I love being single.
I'm dating a bit.
Just fun.
You know, so Kody wants to come over and see the new apartment
that I've moved in to.
At this point, I don't really see Kody in the equation.
I look into this apartment, I'm like,
it's really obvious to me, I'm never gonna live in it.
I'm not even welcome here.
That's why it's so awkward.
We really haven't had
any sort of marriage for like, eight years.
I don't know what the future looks like.
Screw him. He's not worth it.