Despite the name The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, not all of the show stars are active in the religion.
Members of the Mormon faith belong to the Church of Latter-Day Saints (LDS), which are often characterized by strict rules. On The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, a group of #MomTok influencers attempted to defy traditional gender roles.
“Everyone has Mormon roots,” Mayci Neeley said on the group’s “Viall Files” podcast appearance in September 2024, before Mikayla Matthews and Jessi Ngatikaura revealed that they are not members of the church.
Keep scrolling to see where the different cast members stand with the LDS church:
Disney/Fred Hayes Mormon “Momtok” has made its way from your phone to your TV with Hulu’s upcoming series The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. The mom influencers took over TikTok in 2022 with their unconventional lifestyles while also “breaking a norm” associated with their religious practices and gender roles. The group subsequently faced scandal when […]
Taylor Frankie Paul
Taylor is a practicing Mormon, revealing in the Hulu docuseries that she wanted to reconnect with her faith after divulging a “soft-swinging” scandal among her fellow MomTokkers and welcoming a baby out of wedlock. (Taylor shares two children with ex-husband Tate Paul, as well as youngest son Ever with partner Dakota Mortensen.)
Demi Engemann
Demi grew up “half” in the church as her mother was a member, but her dad was not.
“It was such a stark contrast, so the faith aspect for me was very interesting and intriguing,” she said on the podcast. “I almost resented my mom for being like, ‘No, you don’t miss a Sunday [service]’ … and then my dad was just like a free spirit. Naturally, I’m more like a free spirit, so I always went against the grain.”
As of now, Demi has “stepped away from more of the religious practices” in favor of her personal relationship with God.
Jennifer Affleck
Jen grew up in the church, calling herself “the most LDS” of the Hulu stars.
“In my own personal friend group, I’m the craziest,” she said in September, “I also have my past. … There are pros and cons to being raised in the Mormon faith, but for me, it was my relationship with God and I always go back to that even when I doubt my faith.”
Jen, whose mom converted after immigrating to the United States, went through “stages” after high school when she rebelled from the religion.
“I definitely left the church for a little bit [and] I drank, I had sex before I got married,” she recalled. “I did all the things that Mormons don’t do. … It was important for me to have that experience and not just follow what everyone else was doing and to really figure out what I wanted and ultimately, I decided this does make me a better person [and] it makes me happy.”
Jessi Ngatikaura
Jessi does not belong to the church, noting on Nick Viall’s podcast that she was a “rebel” among the cast for her position.
“I’m a zero out of 10 on the Mormon scale,” she quipped. “I’m the alcoholic on the show. I’m like the rebellious one on the cast. My dad wasn’t Mormon [and] my mom was, so I grew up like a mutt [and] have the best of both worlds.”
Layla Taylor
Layla, who converted to the faith, isn’t “super active.”
“I try to go to church as much as I can, but I had sex before I was married [and] I drink here and there,” she said on the “Viall Files” episode. “I’m taking it day by day. Ultimately, just my relationship with God, I feel like that’s what it comes down to and that’s just so personal.”
Elsewhere on the podcast, Layla revealed that she has a new boyfriend following her divorce and he is an “active” Mormon.
Mayci Neeley
Mayci’s active in the church and also teaches “primary” classes to member’s children.
“I have a temple recommend, which means I’m worthy to go in the temple,” she told Viall. “You have to be worthy to enter into the house of the Lord.”
Mikayla Matthews
Mikayla is not a practicing Mormon but grew up in the church.
“I haven’t been active for, like, 10 years,” she said. “I grew up in California, so it’s very different. I grew up with my mom cussing us out on the way to church — and she was a church leader. In Utah, it’s completely different, so I don’t feel like I was ever that [religious.] I was never by the book; we did things on Sunday.”
Mikayla and her siblings relocated with their mother to Utah following their parents’ divorce but didn’t stay active with the local church.
Whitney Leavitt
Whitney is also a current member of the church, described as one of the “saints” of the cast. (The cast self-divided themselves as “saints and sinners” based on who is a practicing Mormon and follows the LDS rules.)
