View source for Meri Brown

{{Infobox
|image= File:Meri-February22.jpg
|name= Meri Caroline Barber
|birthday= {{Birth date and age|1971|1|16}}
|parents= William James "Bill" Barber, Jr. (father)(deceased)<br>Bonnie Barber (mother)(deceased)
|siblings= Teresa Barber Kunz (sister)<br>Adam Barber (brother)<br>Marc William Barber (brother)<br>Several others
|spouses= {{marriage|[[Kody Brown]]|1990|2023|Divorced}}
|children= [[Leon Brown]]<br>[[Brown Family|7 sons and 10 daughters from sister wives]]
|grandchildren= 
|instagram= [https://www.instagram.com/therealmeribrown/ @therealmeribrown]
}}'''Meri Caroline [[Brown Family|Brown]]''' (née '''Barber''') (born January 16, 1971) was the first wife of [[Kody Brown]]. They were legally married from 1990 until 2014, when Kody divorced Meri in order to marry [[Robyn Brown|Robyn]] and adopt her three children. 

==Early life==
Meri Caroline Barber was born on January 16, 1971 in Alameda, California, to William James Barber, Jr. (1942-2007) and Bonnie Barber (née Ahlstrom). Her father was a polygamist and had five wives. She has 25 siblings.

Her mother passed away on March 26, 2021.

==Personal life==
Meri first met [[Kody Brown]] in 1989 when one of his sisters introduced them. The two hit it off, and were engaged on December 24, 1989. They were legally married on April 21, 1990.

When Meri married Kody, she planned for them to have eight children together. Unfortunately, she struggled to get pregnant for unknown reasons (she was told she has 'unexplained infertility'). She has only been able to get pregnant twice during their marriage; once in 1994, which resulted in the birth of [[Mariah Brown|Mariah Lian]] (now Leon), and once again around 2007 which ended in miscarriage.

They announced that they were officially ending their relationship on January 10, 2023.

Due to recent family allegations regarding abuse, Meri  Brown now frequently deletes unfavorable comments  and blocks users on her social media accounts.

{{Family tree/Meri's kids}}

===Sisterwives===
Meri's friend [[Janelle Brown|Janelle Schriever]] spiritually married Kody on January 20, 1993.

Kody spiritually married [[Christine Brown|Christine Allred]] on March 25, 1994.

Kody spiritually married [[Robyn Brown|Robyn Sullivan]] on May 22, 2010. They were legally married in December of 2014.

===Divorce===
In December of 2014, Meri was legally divorced from her husband so he could legally marry Robyn in order to adopt her three children. She and Kody remained spiritually married, until announcing that they were officially ending their relationship in January 2023  

<blockquote>''"It's an end of something that we had had, in a way, for 24-and a half years," Meri said in a statement. "But at the same time, I know it's not, because I have eternity with him; I have an eternity with the family. I know it's not the end."''</blockquote>

[[Category:Brown family]]
[[Category:Wives]]