Nice try, Kody Brown.
Seriously, you gave it a good effort.
But as hard as you worked to keep Meri Brown down, as dedicated as you've seemed over the past few months to making her feel helpless and powerless, the long-time Sister Wives cast member is now here with a message:
YOU FAILED!
The beleaguered first spouse of Kody has been using her social media feed of late to send very pointed messages either at her spiritual husband or about him.
As someone very close to the situation recently confiirmed, the problems between Meri and the Sister Wives patriarch are very much real.
And yet Meri is determined not to let them keep her down or hold her back.
The latest case in clear point?
As evidenced by Meri's Instagram Stories account?
A meme in which Meri says very simply: "Self care is how you take your power back."
We've been documenting Meri's messages for awhile now and this may be the most obvious one yet.
Brown, after all, has been hitting the gym. She's been coloring her hair. She's been undergoing a makeover that many have interpreted as a way to show she's basically single -- and prepared to mingle.
Moreover, she's prepared to make sure that Kody no longer holds any power over her.
He's made her far too unhappy for far too long, you know?
As Meri came out and wrote this week, Kody clearly doesn't love her anymore, a painful realization that we're sure still causes Meri some grief.
But if she takes care of herself? If she focuses on what makes her truly happy and what matters in life?
Well. Then Kody doesn't have the power to make her feel bad.
Elsewhere on her Instagram Stories this week, Meri focused on her journey, telling followers around the world:
"I don't care how long it takes me. I'm going somewhere beautiful."
Again, this theme goes along perfectly with Meri previously writing about people who have "lame goals" and how she's now someone with an eye on a bright future.
She isn't content to just survive.
She's intent on thriving, critics (and husbands!) be damned.
The couple's marital issues starteed awhile back... when Kody divorced Meri in 2014 to legally marry his fourth and allegedly favorite wife Robyn... in order to be able to adopt her children from a previous marriage.
The following year, Meri tried to actually date other people.
But she got caught up in an embarrassing catfishing scandal and sort of had to come crawling back to Kody.
To be clear, however, she is not technically married any longer to this selfish father of 18, so even if she never announces an official split, Meri is free to go off on her own.
On the most recent season of Sister Wives, Meri admitted their marriage has been “pretty rocky for a while” during a therapy session.
Relatedly, and angrily, Kody shared that he “regretted” their relationship.
Since then, neither Meri nor Kody acknowledged their 30th wedding anniversary in April, while neither has shared a photo of the other online in over a year.
As if that wasn't all proof enough that this romance is over, the female Sister Wives star has been posting photos of herself without her wedding ring, along several quotes about empowering women.
And you know what we always say in the face of these quotes?
You. Go. Girl!