It's been said over and over and over again at this point

But that doesn't make it any less true.

Nor does it make it any less relevant for anyone who follows the Sister Wives franchise:

Things between Meri and Kody Brown are at an all-time low.

We're not basing this on some mysterious meme Meri posted on Instagram, either.

We're basing it, for starters, on what Kody himself said on this past Sunday's new episode of Sister Wives.

"There's just been nothing going on between me and Meri," he told cameras simply, adding:

"I see Meri once in a blue moon... we quit dating and that's just probably because I quit calling her to say, 'Let's go do something.'"

How do the other Sister Wives feel about the collapse of this marriage?

Speaking to Us Weekly, Janelle Brown recently said she's obviously aware of the strife -- but not because Kody tells her about it.

“Kody does a very good job of keeping things very separate. He doesn’t usually talk about the other wives with me," Janelle explained to this tabloid.

"If he did, I wouldn’t really want to because I wouldn’t want to hear it."

Why does Janelle say this?

"I just think that’s dangerous for my relationship because I need to have a separate relationship.”

That makes some sense, we guess.

It just seems whollly unrealistic -- how do you pretend that your spouse doesn't also have three other spouses? With whom he tries to split his time equally?

Janelle -- who married Kody in 1993, three years after he married Meri -- added that she knows “they have struggled for a long time,” and it hasn’t been easy to watch.

“It really kind of hurts when I see them not good because it sort of spills over into the families,” the mother of six added.

“It doesn’t feel like everything’s completely calm, completely whole. I’m always trying to advocate and go to bat for both of them. And it’s a hard thing, I think, really for the whole family.

"When one relationship struggles, they all struggle.”

Kody and Meri have gone to therapy together, but these counseling sessions haven't appeared to have helped them overcome their many obstacles.

“I know that they’ve had some deep troubles, but I don’t go asking,” Janelle told Us Weekly.

“I just think sometimes they’re entitled to their privacy. And unfortunately, there’s not quite that level when you’re public.”

Well, no. Their lives are literally featured on a reality TV show.

Meri, meanwhile, came out and lectured her supporters this week.

She knows there's been a push for her to leave Kody, but she doesn't want anyone's pity or anyone to condescend to her on social media.

"I get that I'm in the public eye. I get that people want the best for me," Meri wrote in a lengthy post.

"I get that people have their own opinions about me based on their own perspective and life values. I get that I have supporters. I get that I have haters."

She continued along these lines:

'You want to know what else I get? That I know my worth. That I know my value. That I know what's in my heart and my head. That I know what my convictions are.

"I know I'm a strong and capable woman, capable of making her own decisions, not based on money, not based on religion, not based on feelings," added the long-time Sister Wives cast member.

"I'm not a quitter."

The thing is, in our view, Kody is the one who has quit on this relationship. The guy has even admitted to it!

So if your husband has bowed out... and you insist on sticking around in a loveless marriage... what does that say about you?

We support Meri in whatever she decides here, but let's be frank for a moment.

It doesn't say anything positive about you.