The cast of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives: Jessi Ngatikaura, Jennifer Affleck, Mayci Neeley, Taylor Frankie Paul, Mikayla Matthews, Layla Taylor and Demi Engemann. Photo: Disney+ / Fred Hayes
Two years ago, a group of rule-breaking Mormon influencers became embroiled in a swinging sex scandal that captivated TikTok - and made international headlines.
Mormon influencer Taylor Frankie Paul was at the centre of the controversy, after revealing on livestream that she and her husband, Tate Paul, were getting divorced after "soft-swinging" with her friend group - referring to being intimate outside their marriage, with restrictions.
The revelation sent shockwaves through #MomTok, a TikTok community known for sharing content related to motherhood and family life, and implicated seven of Frankie Paul's friends - all members of the Mormon church - in the process.
Pre-marital sex, adultery, and the consumption of alcohol and drugs is prohibited by the Mormon faith, which made the news all the more scandalous.
Now, a new eight-episode Hulu reality series is set to explore the aftermath of the scandal.
A first look at the cast shows a group of eight friends, Utah-based Mormon influencers Taylor Frankie Paul, Jennifer Affleck, Mikayla Matthews, Whitney Leavitt, Mayci Neeley, Layla Taylor, Demi Engemann, and Jessi Ngatikaura, as they showcase a new kind of Mormon life on #MomTok - via their dance videos, beauty routines, and traditional mum/wife content. But it's clear there's more going on. As one of the women says in a voiceover: "Online it looks like we're best friends, but we're not."
The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives drops on Disney+ on 6 September. Let's meet some of the key players.
Taylor Frankie Paul
Taylor Frankie Paul is the star of the scandal, and the show. Photo: Instagram / Taylor Frankie Paul
Taylor Frankie Paul is the star of the scandal, and the show. The TikTok influencer split from her husband in 2022, after "stepping outside the bounds" of a soft-swinging agreement with him that excluded "going all the way".
In the trailer for the new Hulu series, Taylor Frankie details how she was raised to be a traditional Mormon wife by getting married and having children at a young age. Her response? "F*** this". Following a video montage of clips from her TikTok days, Frankie Paul says she created MomTok.
"It's a group of Mormon moms making TikToks. It started with Whitney, Mayci, Mikayla and I."
She goes on to say "no one [was] innocent" in the swinging scandal: "Everyone has hooked up with everyone."
Frankie Paul says she agreed to be on the show because "I want people to have a better understanding of who I am, I wanted to be vulnerable and show people that when you hit rock bottom, there is hope". In February 2023, the influencer was arrested on serious charges of assault, criminal mischief and commission of domestic violence in the presence of a child. According to ABC4, she pleaded guilty to aggravated assault six months later, and the remaining charges were dropped.
Frankie Paul shares two children with ex-husband Tate Paul. A month after the swinging scandal broke, she introduced her four million TikTok followers to her new boyfriend, now fiancé, Dakota Mortensen as the guy she "cheated with". In May 2024, they welcomed their first child together.
Mikayla Matthews
Mayci Neeley and Mikayla Matthews want to show a different side of the Mormon religion. Photo: Disney+ / Fred Hayes
Mikayla Matthews was one of the original members of the Mormon #MomTok group. In the series trailer, she says she loves the Mormon church "but there are a lot of rules we have to follow ... [to] have kids by the time you're 21, or in my case, at 16".
Matthews says she wants to use the show to "show a different side of the [Mormon] religion".
Jennifer Affleck
Jennifer Affleck says filming felt like "10 years of marriage counselling". Photo: Instagram / Jennifer Affleck
Jennifer Affleck is related to Ben Affleck by marriage, but she's not his ex-wife. The self-proclaimed "cool mum" of the group is married to Ben's cousin, Zac.
During a tense conversation in the series trailer, the influencer explains to her husband that "the group is important to me", to which he responds, "being divorced and taking care of two kids would be kind of tough, so you make the decision".
Affleck says doing the show felt like "we got 10 years of marriage counselling in this one season of filming".
Whitney Leavitt
Whitney Leavitt is pregnant with her third child. Photo: Instagram / Whitney Leavitt
Whitney Leavitt is another member of the original #MomTok group. Leavitt's TikTok is dedicated to "baking and twerking" and features videos of her alongside her family and friends from the cast.
She says a point of difference for The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives is the genuine relationships that underpin it.
"When you see a lot of reality TV, they aren't really friends before filming the show ... we've built a business together, and we get to show the world how we did that."
The side characters
Demi Engemann, Jennifer Affleck, Jessi Ngatikaura and Layla Taylor star in The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. Photo: Disney+ / Natalie Cass
The cast also features Mayci Neeley, a former tennis star and founder of natal nutrition company Baby Mama; Jessi Ngatikaura, a beauty entrepreneur, hair stylist, and self-proclaimed "grandma of the group"; Demi Engemann, a TikTok influencer on a new journey of motherhood; and Layla Taylor, the youngest member of the group and a single mother of two.
