Adiba

Was there ever any description of Meri’s apartment and how big it was? The house looks as if each side is equal in square footage from the outside, but that could be an illusion.

Well, Mady seems a lot like her mother in the video, imo. The reason Mady is able to monetize her TikTok is because she and her siblings were on TV for years. People are interested in her because of her famous family, not because she herself is so compelling. As such, she should accept the fact that there’s going to be curiosity. She doesn’t have to answer any questions, of course, but her seeming righteous indignation at questions is off-putting. Wanna make money off your fame (and not any skill or talent)? Then one should accept that there’s going to be interest in the source of that fame, both positive and negative.

I understand what you’re saying— it’s two different things that have gotten combined. Meri was a victim of catfishing, and she was guilty of having an emotional affair. In the past, I had some compassion for Meri because of the catfish incident—she was lonely and had an empty nest. Kody was busy (mostly with Robyn) and I had the feeling that when he was at Meri’s he wasn’t exactly present. Meri did lie about it and wrongly involved Leon, but she was scammed by a sick person, imo.

Right? Couldn’t Kody at least have built a covered paved pathway so that the kids would be somewhat protected in bad weather? Or Kody could’ve decreed that the kids would be permitted once a day to go back at forth thru Meri’s at set times? It seems thatMeri wanted it both ways—to be listened to and respected as a “bonus mom” but not the inconvenience, noise, mess, etc. of actually being a mother to all of those kids.

I’ve posted before how I’d love to go to Utah to see some of the natural beauty there—but I wouldn’t stay at Lizzie’s for $50/ night, much less what Meri is charging! I could go to the Caribbean and stay in a beautiful resort, take a Cunard transatlantic cruise, go to NYC and stay in a nice hotel while taking in a couple of Broadway shows, go back to Hawaii, etc. for the same amount of money. Why anyone would want to spend that money to hang out in a dusty old in with Meri is beyond me.

Gwen said that he last kid that was hit by Kody was her, so I doubt Ysabel, Savannah and Truely were ever hit, spanked, “swatted, “ etc. I would bet that Robyn’s kids were never physically punished by Kody (I don’t know about by Jessop). I think the truth in that family regarding corporal punishment of the children is more complicated than yes they were or no they weren’t. And the term “abuse” can have different meanings to different people— not just the legal definition.

Or home to Kody? I don’t know how accepting Kody would be if one of his male kids came out as queer or trans.

I think it was three weeks long. I seem to remember Robyn posting about it. Paedon said that he hoped Dayton could find his freedom from Robyn one day and that he likes Dayton and thinks he’s a great guy.

I’ve never really cared for Leon’s personality and what I perceive as their righteous, pretentious, “look at me, I’m so special/ better-than-you” attitude— but they look like a bigger version of their little sister Ari here. Not my aesthetic, but to each their own—as long as they’re happy.

I’m a little confused as to Gwen’s motivation here— did she just want the recaps deleted so as to keep the content more exclusive to paying subscribers? Did Ysabel ask Gwen to do so, and why? Gwen’s own content is still out the asfaik. It makes no sense to me. Is the original video with Ysabel by Myketi and Tony still available?

Harry Markopolis (the math whiz who first determined it was a fraud) called it an “affinity con” because one tends to trust others more if they are part of their community or group. A lot of Madoff’s clients were through word-of-mouth testimonials from other investors who were already getting great returns.

Right, Paedon never said the word “abuse.” He never said she spanked or hit them, specifically. I personally think she did on at least a couple of occasions for him to be that vocal about Meri, but ymmv. I had a teacher, a nun, in 4th grade that seemed to have it out for me. I hated her, she made my life miserable. I still feel to this day that she was abusive to me. But guess what? Some of my old classmates that I am still in touch with didn’t have that experience at all— they just thought she was strict. I was not a bad kid, and I got good grades— to this day, I am a mature grandparent and I still do not know why that nun singled me out. As for Gwen and Paedon’s relationship, I ‘m reserving judgment for now. Paedon admits he hit her. Obviously, they have radically different world views and political opinions so of course they do not get along. I know families that some members cannot or will not talk to each other because of this reason. I am not going to discount everything Paedon says about his childhood because I do not agree with him on other issues. The same goes for Gwen— her experience and memories are hers.

I don’t think Meri would dare to smack any of Robyn’s kids—not only because of “She-Ra” Robyn, but because of Kody. Meri knows Robyn and her kids are favored, while Christine’s were not. Many times in families there is scapegoat child— and in a family of 18 kids, there may have been several. Perhaps Meri never laid a hand on most of the kids, and only spanked a couple of then on a few occasions. How many spankings equal abuse? For some people, once is one time too many—for others, it’s a normal part of parenting (as long as it’s not severe). On the other hand maybe Meri never hit any of the kids, but the abuse may have been verbal and emotional? Emotional abuse can be just as damaging, imo. At any rate, that is Paedon’s perception of his childhood. If he wants to tell his story, why can’t he? All of the parents on the show used and exposed their children’s lives for money.

I don’t think Paedon is lying about Meri hitting him and some of the other kids. I don’t have to agree with someone about their other opinions about social or world issues (particularly Queer issues) to believe them about other things. I do think, however, that Paedon is using hyperbole to make his point about Meri—and he shouldn’t if he wants to be taken seriously. He’s a 20-something guy that is coming off a little cocky, which may rub some people the wrong way. Paedon is telling his story about his childhood, so of course all of the other kids in the family may not have had the same experiences or feelings as him. If I wrote a memoir about my childhood, I’m sure that there would be things in it that my siblings did not experience, remember or agree with. FWIW, I found this excerpt from Becoming Sister Wives

Isn’t there a passage in their book, Becoming Sister Wives, that addresses the split between Meri and Christine having to do with a fight over how severely Meri disciplined some of C’s children? I believe that Meri probably did physically discipline some of the kids—not all of them likely got fair and equal punishment for the same offenses. I can’t imagine that Leon got the same treatment as Maddie for a similar offense, for instance. Paedon talks about how Kody smacked his bottom or tapped him on the face a few times (he admits he was a smart mouth), but didn’t think it was undeserved or a big deal. So I imagine whatever Meri allegedly did was more severe. Another tidbit in the interview was that Christine told Paedon that Kody was trying to have TLC (or the production co.) draw up contracts for some of the adult kids to sign saying they would be prohibited from talking negatively about Kody on any platform.

Yes, I don’t have to agree with everything Paedon says in the interview to get some interesting tidbits about the Brown family. This interview confirmed some things that were speculated about for a long time. They moved to Flagstaff because Dayton chose to go to school there and Robyn did not want to cut the umbilical cord. (Dayton got accepted to several others schools, btw). Even in Vegas, Kody spent most of his time at Robyn’s house. From the beginning, Kody treated Robyn differently than Paedon ever saw him treating the other wives. Breanna, Sol, and Ari are the favorite children and can do no wrong in Kody’s eyes. Meri and Robyn were never mother figures to him. Authority figures, yes— but not “motherly.” He said that “mean and abrasive” were not strong enough words to describe his opinion of Meri when he was young.

I haven't finished the show, but I was interested because I wanted to know how it all started and how he got so many to trust him with large sums of money for so long. I also wanted to know how he got some of his employees to do the jobs it took to run the scheme. I knew the basic story when it came out, but I didn't really follow it or pay much attention at the time it broke. I did want to know what Madoff's background was and what would have motivated a person to start something like this--which the first episode kind of addressed. Yes, greed is the primary motivator, but there were other factor involved as well.

So basically, Kody is saying, never complain, never want more from me, never talk about me to others except to praise me, and put up and shut up about whatever time, affection, and resources I deem you deserve. Robyn has no reason to complain because “since day one” she has had the best of Kody and the family’s resources. Even early on, if they were in a family meeting and one of the OG wives raised any issue, Kody’s jaw would set and his eyes would narrow and become beady. When Robyn spoke, however, you could see Kody’s expression and eyes soften. You could tell he was taking in what she said and considering it.

I think the only way this “tell-all” could have been really informative is if they had set it up like Divorce Court, with Kody, Robyn and Meri on one side and Jenelle and Christine on the other, with a (preferably female) judge presiding. Would love it if a female judge could tell Kody straight up that he’s lying, or to shut up.

Right, while I do applaud Christine for leaving Kody, I don’t think it was entirely about the “kids.” Aspyn, Mykelti and Paedon were out of the house already and Gwen and Ysabel were in the process of leaving. However, I think that Kody’s neglect of Truly and his absence for Ysabel’s surgery during the pandemic were the final straws for Christine. I agree that Kody’s lack of involvement with their kids was only one of the (many) reasons she finally decided to leave him.

If I didn’t know better, I’d think Gwen was becoming a sister wife from this post 😜

I saw it more as a prevarication by Robyn than an out-and-out lie. I think Christine did have something to say to Kody about their marriage and how it has deteriorated and how Kody seems unable or unwilling to work on it. I think she related the Meri situation back to her own, and that’s where Kody got it twisted. (Total speculation, of course.) Robyn didn’t hear the actual content of the conversation and relied on what Kody told her afterwards. However, all of this is suspect because it has never been brought up before. Also, Kody never does/ did what Christine wants unless it benefits him. Suki should ask Kody why he does not want to reconcile with Meri now that Christine has left.

It was interesting that Gwen said at first she thought it was “normal” that Kody didn’t go with Ysabel to surgery, but later realized it wasn’t, and that was sad. Also, during the “Covid is real” discussion she mentioned that she thought it was sometimes used as an excuse by Kody, and that there wasn’t that much difference in how much she saw her father pre-pandemic and during pandemic. In addition, Gwen said that she hasn’t been inside Robyn’s house in the last two years.

Our daughter was colicky and had reflux. She was a crier, a screamer,even. She didn’t want a bottle and only wanted to nurse. She was exhausting as an infant, so I do have some sympathy for Tori. Even my mother and MIL could not handle her for too long. However, Zach needs to step up and help any way he can, it’s only fair. As for Caryn, she might be too busy with her own new grandson to help much, even if Zach and Tori did not move away.

Another thing that was in this episode was the interviewer asking them what Robyn meant by the "Christine is still spiritually married to Kody until she has sex with another man"-- and they couldn't answer it definitively. I still do not get it. If adultery is a sin in their religion, does that mean one has to sin in order to remarry (in the AUB)? Does it mean that technically, Kody was in fact courting a spiritually married woman when he courted Robyn? The interviewer should have asked Robyn and Janelle (?) how it worked for both of them when they left their first husbands.