The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives stars Taylor Frankie Paul and Mikayla Matthews have been taking shots at one another in a weeks-long social media feud, igniting confusion about what their rift means for the show.
Their online squabble has forced the cast of the reality series that centers on their personal lives into choosing sides, with the center of the conflict seemingly erupting following the scandal that plagued Paul’s now-canceled Bachelorette season.
Both reality stars have traded shots at one another, though the major combustion boiled over when Matthews took to her Instagram Stories with a lengthy statement addressing that she was “setting boundaries” with Paul.
Matthews subliminally addressed The Bachelorette lead’s turbulent relationship with her ex Dakota Mortensen, which has encompassed a history of alleged domestic violence. In her statement, she made a comparison about her health and skin flareups to Paul’s relationship with Mortensen, which led Paul to fiercely fight back.
From there, the two have taken to the comments sections and Instagram Stories, and have unfollowed each other on social media. There’s been plenty of posts made by both women, with drama pages like The Mormon Wives Report and Secret Lives HQ resharing each new update.
Season five of the Hulu series previously paused filming amid an alleged February domestic violence incident with Paul and Mortensen. After that news broke in mid March, NBC News reported that the Mormon Wives cast raised concerns about continuing the show with Paul amid the alleged incident, before ABC pulled her season of The Bachelorette from air after a video of her throwing barstools at Mortensen from 2023 leaked online.
On April 21, Hulu finally revealed that production on season five was picking up, though things are shaping up to look much different. Paul is not actively filming Mormon Wives, though a source told The Hollywood Reporter that the team behind the show wants her to return when she’s ready. Meanwhile, Jen Affleck is filming for the new Orange County-based spinoff, and Whitney Leavitt is leaving the show.
It’s unclear if Affleck or Leavitt is finishing out additional filming for season five of Mormon Wives; they, along with the rest of the cast, including Paul, already shot content before the show went on the production pause. Matthews, also before she and Paul began fighting online, has been candid in sharing her journey about leaving Utah (where Mormon Wives was initially based) to heal her skin while living with a chronic illness.
Amid her travels, it’s unknown if she’s been filming. (Hulu declined to comment on casting details for season five.) That’s left Mayci Neeley, Jessi Draper, Miranda Hope and Layla Taylor as the remaining Mormon Wives who have been showing public face for the series. But now Paul and Matthews’ feud is creating cast division.
The quarrel between the Mormon Wives took a darker turn when Paul reposted a TikTok video shared by a creator who claimed she didn’t understand how Matthews “could be talking about and advocating against childhood SA while you actively married your perpetrator.” On the show, Matthews has been open about experiencing abuse in her childhood. The beginning of her relationship with her husband, Jace Terry, has been discussed by fans online; Matthews was 16 when they met, and Terry was 21. She got pregnant less than a month after meeting him.
Draper, who is navigating a messy divorce of her own, has shown public support of Paul, as she’s returned the favor. That support sparked a rift in her relationship with Matthews, who has argued that Paul’s post and Draper’s continued support amid her remarks was a contributing factor in the demise of their friendship.
Neeley voiced frustrations with Paul in comments sections online, which resulted in Paul unfollowing her. The constant back-and-forth is proving tough to keep up with. Will it have a negative implication on the series?
Mormon Wives has tackled dark matters in the past. The series launched on the crux of Paul’s 2023 domestic violence arrest, but the show was then nominated for an Emmy after its first year. It had a level of merit to uphold as unscripted’s latest hit program.
Will the women’s tendency to bring their conflict onto social media instead of onscreen for the show hurt that? With so many major events occurring since production paused just a few months ago and cameras weren’t rolling, there’s no telling how producers will manage to squeeze in all of the missed moments into just 10 episodes of television.
Paul and Matthews’ feud also touches on two very sensitive topics for both women; that of domestic violence and sexual abuse. Reality shows are supposed to be combative and dramatic, but The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives cast may be crossing a line that could be able to come back from.
Paul has made it clear she’s not logging offline, while Matthews is still sporadicly addressing the drama in comment sections. Social media is the one thing that bonded the #MomTok women of Mormon Wives and served as the basis for their show. Now it may be the one thing that could pull them apart.
THR reached out to representatives for Paul, Matthews, Draper and Neeley, but did not hear back by the time of publication.