If you’re extremely online and constantly on TikTok like I am, then you’ve probably heard all about the swinging Mormon moms TikTok drama — but if you’re also constantly on TikTok like I am, you’re probably very confused about everything that’s going down. Over the past week, the story has kept developing, and with it, the drama continues to get more and more complex and murky.
The drama is centered around influencer Taylor Frankie Paul and her husband, Tate, but the rest of the so-called Utah Content House based in Salt Lake City (which involves creators including Miranda McWhorter and her husband Chase, as well as Camille and her husband Samuel) has become involved as the story continues to unfold.
I did some digging to get to the bottom of what is happening, and I’ll admit, while I’m still a little confused, I am invested. Here is everything you need to know about what is going on with the swinging Mormon mom drama on TikTok (well, that’s a sentence I never thought I’d say).
The drama began with a tiktok posted by Taylor Frankie Paul.
Taylor Frankie Paul is a Utah-based content creator on TikTok with over 3.5 million followers, known for her family vlogs and mom-related content on #MomTok with other Mormon mom influencers.
On May 20, Taylor took to TikTok in a now-viral video to announce her divorce with her husband, Tate, writing, “In my twenties, getting divorced, started therapy, living on my own for the first time ever along with two little kids.”
Several days later, the mommy vlogger posted another video on May 24 to confirm the divorce and share her excitement about co-parenting with Tate, captioning the video, “It’s on reddit, it must be true. Excited to co parent with my best friend.” The 28-year-old included a clip carrying out moving boxes from the couple’s home, but many users flooded the comments calling the divorce a “publicity stunt” for views.
Tate then deleted all traces of Taylor on social media, prompting more rumors to swirl about the couple.
Taylor claimed she and tate were “soft swingers.”
Several days later, Taylor took to Instagram Live to settle some of the rumors, explaining that both she and Tate are “soft swingers.” According to clinical psychologist Lori Lawrenz, who spoke with Mindbodygreen, swinging is a “social practice involving sexual contact between consenting adults, which can involve swapping sexual partners or engaging in group sexual activities — but often is done in the context of a coupled relationship.” Consent, according to RAINN, is a clear and freely communicated agreement between participants to engage in sexual activity. Swinging is not cheating, but is rather considered consensual non-monogamy, according to Mindbodygreen.
As described by Taylor in her video, soft swinging to her and Tate involved the couples getting drunk and partner swapping without “going all the way.” She continued to explain, “The whole group was intimate with each other. Tate has made out with several girls, and other things, and I have made out with all of the husbands, and vice versa.”
Taylor explained that she and Tate agreed that if one of them was going to be intimate with another spouse, the other spouse had to be in the same room. However, one night, Taylor and another spouse left the main room to go into a private room, breaking the couple’s consensual agreement. Taylor then added in the video, “We had an agreement, and I did step out of that agreement.”
Other momtokers came forward to say they were not involved.
Amid the drama, many people online began to speculate who the other spouse was that Taylor kept referring to, roping other MomTokers into the drama. In the following days, numerous MomTokers came forward to say that they were not involved in any swinging, including Miranda McWhorter and her husband Chase, as well as Camille and her husband, Samuel.
After several MomTokers made their own videos addressing the drama, Taylor went on Instagram Live again to confirm that Miranda and Chase were not involved. However, she did add that another unnamed couple in the content house was also getting a divorce due to the situation.
There are different sides to the story.
Hannah Kosh, a TikToker known for explaining trending Gen Z gossip, explained in a video that “several reliable sources” that wanted to remain anonymous came to her with more information regarding the MomTok drama. The anonymous sources wrote, “So Taylor and her husband became close with another couple. One night while they were all drinking, Taylor and the other husband told each other that they liked each other. So they came up with this plan to convince their spouses to swing. They convinced them just to try it out, and they did, but then Taylor’s husband and the other wife said they weren’t comfortable. Since their spouses said no, they just continued and had an affair.”
The anonymous sources continued, “They had an affair for a couple months with pictures being sent to each other, telling each other that they love each other, meeting up in parking lots. The spouses found out and decided they would both get a divorce. As soon as this information started to leak, Taylor freaked out and came up with a story to make herself not look as bad. That’s why she started posting TikToks about their divorce and went [on Instagram Live] to try and take over the narrative. She included all of MomTok to try and make it seem like it wasn’t just her, but it was literally just her.”
On June 2, Taylor posted a blurb on her Instagram Story, saying to her followers, “Good morning. I first off wanted to thank my family for being so supportive during this time. Holy sh*t, family is everything. Also thank you to everyone else checking in without any judgment. I see you, I hear you. I’m overwhelmed though. After talking with my legal team I have all rights to share MY story if wanted. However I feel that I shared a part and will not be sharing anything else from here on out.”
If you want to read more about what is going on, the drama has even spilled over to Reddit, with Redditers dropping their theories and opinions. So, if you don’t mind me, I’ll be spending my entire weekend getting sucked down the swinging Mormon moms rabbit hole.