sister wives divorce
"Sister Wives" addresses the wife swap, explaining why star Kody Brown (middle) divorced Meri (far right) to marry another sister wife, Robyn (far left). (Also pictured: Janelle, second to left, and Christine, second to right). TLC, Sister Wives/Facebook

The mystery behind the surprising “Sister Wives” wife swap has finally been revealed. Sunday night the hit TLC series, which documents the eventful life of a polygamist family in Nevada, disclosed why Kody Brown was legally divorcing, but not leaving, his wife of 20 years, Meri, to wed one of his other three sister wives.

According to Sunday's episode, Kody’s decision to divorce his first wife so that he could marry Robyn, the youngest of the sister wives, was actually a judgment call made by the entire Brown family -- including Meri. The Stir dished that Meri had given Kody and Robyn her blessing to say “I do” so that their legal union could provide Robyn’s three children from a previous relationship with health care. (Robyn is the only sister wife in the family with children outside of her marriage to Kody.)

Prior to the new installment, the “legal restructure” of the family was teased in a statement made by the Browns following the announcement of Kody and Robyn’s wedding. "We made this decision together as a family,” they said to E! Online. “We are grateful to our family, friends and fans for all their love and support."

The statement didn’t keep audiences from cooking up wild theories regarding the wife swap. It was speculated that Meri had agreed to divorce Kody for the benefit of the family because this would allow her to take a step back from chaos. E! Online reported that Meri had previously indicated her unhappiness with the plural marriage, which may be why she wanted to relinquish her position as Kody’s legal wife.

"I'm happy on the good days and when Kody shows love and affection, but on a bad day, I question my importance to the family and if Kody still cares about me," Meri once admitted on the show.

Is it possible that Meri had other motivations for agreeing to the “Sister Wives” wife trade? Sound off in the comments section below with your theories and make sure to tune into new episodes of “Sister Wives” Sundays on TLC.

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