Taylor Frankie Paul (heart).
Picture: Fred Hayes/Disney
Mormon swingers? TikTok sponsorships? Specialty sodas? They’re all phrases that usually would by no means be seen collectively, however because of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, they’re all soaking within the highlight on Hulu. The truth collection following the lives of eight LDS mother influencers is streaming all eight episodes proper now, transporting the TikTokers from Utah to a good larger platform. In line with the collection, #MomTok refers to a bunch of Mormon (members of the Church of Latter-Day Saints) influencers, sometimes Utah-based, who create content material about being a contemporary, non secular mom on TikTok, selling parenting ideas and sponsorships. The collection follows eight girls — Taylor Frankie Paul, Demi Engemann, Jen Affleck, Jessi Ngatikaura, Layla Taylor, Mayci Neeley, Mikayla Matthews, and Whitney Leavitt — as they take care of the aftermath of the viral swinging scandal that unfold past the “For You” web page. Seize a pop, pour it into your Stanley cup, and let’s dive into the different Utah housewife drama.
In Might 2022, Taylor Frankie Paul, the self-proclaimed creator of #MomTok, went on TikTok stay to share that she and her then-husband, Tate Paul, had been getting a divorce. Nonetheless, it was not the one bomb being dropped; she and Tate had been “mushy swinging,” that means that they might swap companions with one other couple and hook up with out going “all the way in which.” Taylor claimed that she would hook up with different pairings of the Mormon TikTok group. Within the video, she argues, “Nobody was harmless. All people has connected with everybody within the state of affairs,” with out giving particular names, inflicting a dumpster hearth of accusations throughout their nook of the web.
As talked about earlier, Taylor shared that the rationale she bought divorced was that she broke the foundations of their “mushy swinging” settlement with the opposite {couples}. However what’s “mushy swinging” anyway? “Tate and I form of opened these doorways and let individuals in and vice versa,” Taylor defined within the unique video. “I don’t know what you’ll name it if it’s like ‘mushy swinging,’ however you don’t, like, totally swap — if that is smart — and go all the way in which. We had an settlement, all of us, and I did step out of that settlement.”
Within the collection, all the ladies besides Taylor very explicitly deny ever “swinging” or participating in non-monogamy. Whereas they by no means name-drop any of the opposite members of the “swinging” group, it’s implied that they don’t seem to be solid on the present.
The primary episode begins a number of months after the scandal exploded, as Taylor tries to reconnect with the opposite girls simply earlier than she was arrested for home violence. Across the identical time, Whitney Leavitt moved to Hawaii to flee the accusations, solely to return to Utah with one other secret she’s been hiding. It is referred to as the Secret Lives of Mormon Wives in any case. Taylor and Whitney are preventing for the #MomTok throne. Taylor, the previous queen of the hashtag, desires to re-earn her place because the chief of the pack, whereas Whitney desires to take the ladies in a complete new path. “We have to get again to what MomTok was,” declared Whitney within the present. Within the season preview, one other solid member declares conflict: “There’s a struggle for the queen bee of Mother Tok; you’re both Group Taylor or Group Whitney.”
The drama isn’t simply coming from inside the home; members of the LDS religion have been criticizing the present, claiming it doesn’t correctly symbolize their faith. “Seeing the backlash from our group has been tough, however I additionally assume that in the event that they gave it an opportunity they might notice it’s simply an empowering present about girls on this faith and tradition however navigating it in another way as a result of we’re all imperfect people,” Jessi stated to ABC4.
A number of months after the swinging scandal, Taylor was arrested in February 2023 for home violence within the presence of a kid after a drunken argument along with her boyfriend, Dakota Mortensen. The incident is proven by way of body-camera footage on the finish of the primary episode. She reportedly threw a steel chair at Mortensen, who then felt “scared for his life.” He was additionally subsequent to considered one of her kids, who was additionally struck by the chair. A detective reported that the kid had a “goose egg”-size bump on their head. Taylor pled responsible to aggravated assault in August 2023 and has since documented her sobriety on-line.