Mykelti Brown is once again opening up about the abuse she says she and her siblings suffered as kids at the hands of Meri Brown.
The Sister Wives star recently did an interview with the Cults to Consciousness podcast, in which she went into more detail about how scared she and her siblings were of Meri when they were kids. Mykelti talked about how the Brown kids would often “cower” when Meri was in charge, and how they all learned not to speak up about the alleged abuse, due to their dad Kody and his other wives usually brushing it off.
While Mykelti has spoken about her dislike for Meri on her Patreon account in the past, she used this interview to really rip her wetbar-enthusiast former “mom” for being awful to her and her siblings.
“I do not like Meri. She is my dad’s first wife. I do not like her… she was mean growing up,” Mykelti said, adding that Meri “still is” mean to this day.
“I don’t care what she looks like on the show,” Mykelti said. “She was aggressive. She was manipulative. She was the favorite wife, and she got the favorite wife privileges and perks.”
Mykelti said that the Brown kids were afraid when Meri was watching them.
“All of us kids were cowering and we were all scared,” she said. “We were all like, ‘OK, whatever you say, Meri. Just don’t hurt me, don’t be mean to me. Don’t yell at me.'”
Mykelti went on to describe what would happen when Meri didn’t get what she wanted.
“She had this, like, scream she would do [when] she wasn’t getting her way and it was, like, pure loud and angry and just scary,” Mykelti stated. “It was like what you would imagine a freaking dragon screaming at a little child. Think about that.”
Mykelti went on to say that, when Meri was in charge of caring for the Brown kids, they all got “severely disciplined, talked down to, grounded…” but wouldn’t speak up about it. She claimed that the kids learned not to tell the other parents because they would blame the kid or explain that Meri was doing what she thought was right.
“They didn’t talk about it [and say], ‘No, no, that’s not OK for any parent to do that,'” she said, adding that her dad often brushed off the alleged abuse.
“If Meri had hurt me and I told my dad that Meri had hurt me, he would be like, ‘Oh, you’re fine. She was probably just taking care of what she needed to,'” she said.
Mykelti said she rarely told the other adults in the family what Meri had allegedly done, although some of the other Brown kids did speak up.
“A couple of my other siblings were stronger, they would stand up,” she said. “They would say something, but nothing would change. So it got to the point where we just stopped saying something. Until we got older and then we got bigger, stronger, tougher, and knew this wasn’t OK. That’s when it stopped.”
Mykelti— whose mom is Kody’s third wife Christine— stated that, as a general rule in the family, only the kid’s biological mom (and Kody) were supposed to impose severe discipline on their kids. However, that is not how if often worked out.
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“There were so many kids and there was so much chaos, and all the moms had a part-time or full-time job,” she said. “… So a lot of things just didn’t get talked about until they got exploded.”
Mykelti added that severe discipline of a kid was often left to “the parent that was watching the children at the time.”
Mykelti said that when her family began filming for ‘Sister Wives,’ the kids were told not to talk about things like Meri’s behavior.
“It was stressful because we had to put up a fake front,” she said. “All of us kids did.”
Mykelti is not the only Brown child to speak out against Meri. In 2019, Madison Brown tweeted about growing up with an “abusive human” who was a “monster.” (She didn’t, however, name Meri.)
In 2023, Mykelti’s brother Paedon confirmed that Madison’s tweets were, in fact, about Meri. That same year, Paedon gave an interview in which he credited Kody’s fourth (and now only) wife Robyn with alerting the other adults in the family to Meri’s alleged abuse, claiming that Robyn, “probably saved several of our lives … Definitely saved Mykelti’s life.” He also stated that Meri’s alleged abuse of Kody’s kids was not just verbal.
Mykelti and Paedon’s sister Gwendlyn also spoke out in 2023 about Meri allegedly putting her hands on Mykelti, noting that it only happened once, but that Meri “had moments where she was rude and scary” with Mykelti and other kids in the family.
Earlier this year, Mykelti stated on her Patreon that Meri “was not a good person to [her]” and claimed that her decision to talk negatively about Meri online is her way of getting revenge.
“I have not had good moments with Meri,” she said on Patreon. “She was an awful person to me growing up so I probably need to have my revenge arc of her, and this is the best way that I can do it: speak publicly negatively about her. So, maybe I haven’t healed or moved on either, that’s what this is.”
Mykelti also stated in an interview in February that the Browns were very unhappy that Mykelti had spoken on her Patreon about Meri’s alleged abuse, as they were afraid that it would cause TLC to cancel ‘Sister Wives,’ among other things.
“At the beginning of our Patreon, I [said] a word that Meri did to us kids and because of that word, it caused a ton of backlash and a ton of negative stuff and we got in, like, severe trouble [with] family [and] other people,” Mykelti said during an appearance on The Sarah Fraser Show in February. “Like, it was like, ‘Don’t say that word, ‘cause the word can completely end the entire show, it could end all of our income, it could make investigations happen, because that word in 2024 means something different than it did in 2009 [or] in the 2000s … ,’”
Meri has never publicly addressed Mykelti’s claims of abuse.
You can watch Mykelti’s full interview with Cults to Consciousness below.
RELATED STORY: ‘Sister Wives’ Star Mykelti Brown Reveals What the “Final Straw” Was That Made Her Stop Talking to Her Dad Kody & His Wife Robyn
(Photos: TLC; Instagram; X)
17 Responses
Sorry but I’m TIRED of hearing Mykelti constantly bring this up….Why not start with your bio mom Christine? Christine has made harsh comments about Mykelti throughout the episodes…She rode how she dressed…She called her a “simple ditzy girl” etc etc….Christine should of disciplined her own child….Not relied on Meri too…it’s obvious that Christine and Jenelle were the more care-free parents….Robyn even made comments while trying to acclimate her kids…I think that’s why Robyn kept her kids more separated as well….She saw the behavior of Jenelle and Christine’s kids and was like nope….not happening…Why does Mykelti never ask Christine, Jenelle, Kody WHY they never stepped in IF there was so much abuse??? Mykelti has always been attending seeking and Robyn watered that seed…Robyn used her as babysitter and Mykelti can’t even see it- she was USED….Polygamy as a whole is ABUSIVE….Why not be mad at more parents???? Meri wasn’t the only parent she had, Meri was the only parent that gave attention to her eventho it was negative….Mykelti acted out for attention….There were so many kids how can any of them feel special???? I feel for Logan the most…He was parentified and was playing dad since a young age….Yet he did what someone that truly was mistreated would do— walk away….He went on away from SW…Mykelti cant…She keeps looking for $$$ off the gravy train….Her and her chess player hubby need to get real careers….SW drama is dying down and becoming slowly irrelevant
Why do I think Mykelti is the Amy Duggar in the Brown family? Attention seekers, any way they can get it.
Girl, you two need to go get jobs.
Does Mykelti even agree that the polygamy lifestyle is a form of abuse? I cannot even imagine sharing a husband with other women and children. I cannot even imagine explaining the lifestyle and keeping it private yet having your life put before the world. Tell me that wasn’t a form of abuse by all 4 adults. And by the way, Mykelti even tried to get Tony to agree to live polygamy! Grow up Mykelti and raise your children without making a buck off them and your former life.
It also drives away young men from areas without support. It has a whole load of follow on consequences, the sexes are pretty evenly divided. The power differentials etc.
Enough all ready!!! We have heard these accusation over and over. Mykelti is only trying to stay relevant. All her stories are the same.
Time for you to move on.
Incoming all the people who dismiss abuse claims bc Mykelti is “annoying” or meri was just being “strict”. If this was Robyn or Kody people would be drooling over it. Meri is so fake and I love when Mykelti publicly pulls on her mask.
Seriously that wasn’t abuse freaking grow up and actually understand abuse, it was teaching you to become a adult, look up real abuse then come crying
This is extremely and harmfully false.
You should look into the meaning of abuse. Studies have proven that mental/emotional abuse is far more damaging psychologically than physical abuse.
Oh bs. You dont think people being punched, kicked, stabbed, shoved into walls, through furniture and windows arent also being yelled at?
Don’t to the suffering olympics. Its trashy, but all abuse comes in different flavors, levels, etc and victims are all different.
What a trashy comment
What? Huh? Make some sense please. I made a comment about studies done by professionals. Then you say “you don’t think people being assaulted don’t also get yelled at?” Then call me trashy? You make as much sense as a grizzly bear in the pacific. Bye Felicia!
Reposting without link and a couple revisions.
Yeah my first major was Psych, ive taken college levels stats as required for the degree as well as law n economics, and know how to critically read studies. I have been taken by COS and lived with kids who were abused to the point authorities stepped in. There is literally a study for everything.
You think there aren’t ten studies saying the opposite?
Again , do you think physical abuse occurs in a vacuum without verbal and emotional? Are you twelve and yet to experience actual abuse? Do you know how to critically evaluate studies methodology , its statistics? Whre are the peer reviewed critiques of you ONE study.
Where is the study links so we can find peer reviewed critques?
By the way, grizzly bears live in the west, primarily the PNW and all over alaska. The range along the pacific. So yeah…
It’s strange how Mykelti makes these claims of abuse and “severe discipline” yet she never makes it clear what she’s actually talking about. Then she back-tracks for her lack of clarity, claiming she was told that she can’t actually SAY what Meri did, other than scream and yell. If Mykelti thinks that screaming and yelling are considered abuse these days, she’s got a lot to learn. I see parents screaming and yelling at their kids in stores, on the street, at other peoples homes, in the school pick-up line, in restaurants. Just about
everywhere. People mostly consider it normal these days. I don’t like it and I don’t consider it normal for a parent to do this, but apparently I’m in the minority of this way of thinking. I don’t doubt that Mykelti and the other kids were afraid of Meri. I can certainly see her as the type to scream and maybe slap, spank, pull hair or something of that nature. And I believe that TLC didn’t want to know about it. Or Cody for that matter. But shame on the other mothers for blowing off this behavior of Meri’s. If they were decent, loving mothers, they would’ve put a stop to it. But they obviously cared more about Cody and the pay checks for the show than their children’s fears and well-being. As I said before, since Mykelti isn’t being upfront about what this severe discipline involved, she’s going to have a hard time being able to heal and move forward because people are going to be inclined to think she’s exaggerating.
No one wants to hear about this anymore- it’s been stated over and over now. The internet isn’t your therapist.
Oh ok
I am sure Mary was hell to live and I believe they were mistreated by her BUT, Mykelti needs a hobby. She is trying to make every last penny of her 12 minutes of fame. Don’t you have some hair to clean up in your home, curls and others.