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Why Did Whitney Stop Filming ‘Mormon Wives’ Season 3? She Had Her… Reasons

The Secret Lives Of Mormon Wives is back on Hulu with Season 3, which just premiered on Nov. 13. But after watching the first few episodes of the show, it’s clear some of the main players from Mormon Wives Season 2 are notably absent. One of those players? None other than Whitney Leavitt, who came to be known as one of the main “villains” of Mormon Wives seasons one and two. So, why did Whitney stop filming Mormon Wives Season 3?

Fans will remember that Whitney was voted back into MomTok at the end of Season 2, to little fanfare from the other MomTok members. Mikayla Matthews said during a confessional at the time, “Once her true colors come out again, it’s definitely going to be an ‘I told you so’ moment.” So it was interesting that The Secret Lives Of Mormon Wives Season 3 started with Whitney already out of the picture, not filming the new slate of episodes. Spoiler alert: Spoilers for The Secret Lives Of Mormon Wives Season 3 follow.

The reason for Whitney’s absence was explained pretty early on in the season. According to Mikayla, Whitney asked for some… questionable… additions to her Season 3 contract that the show just couldn’t make good on. For one, Mikayla claimed that Whitney asked for a role in a scripted show. And second, she claimed that Whitney wanted tickets to the Oscars.

But at the end of the day, Whitney is a member of MomTok and has specific duties — like brand deals and premiere promo — to uphold. Therefore, she did finally make an appearance in Episode 5 of Season 3. In the episode, Whitney claimed that she didn’t ask for tickets to the Oscars. “That’s bullsh*t,” she said. She did confirm, however, that she asked for a role in a scripted show. She said in her first confessional, “A girl knows what she wants.”

While the Hulu team still wasn’t able to make either request happen for her, Whitney had a big enough reason to return to filming — she had heard ABC was looking to cast a Secret Lives Of Mormon Wives cast member on the next season of Dancing With The Stars.

As we all know now, Whitney did end up being one of two Mormon Wives cast members to be featured on Season 34 of DWTS. The other MomTok member on the show, Jen Affleck, was voted off after the Halloween episode on Oct. 28. As of Nov. 13, Whitney is still competing on DWTS alongside Alix Earle, Robert Irwin, Dylan Efron, Elaine Hendrix, and Jordan Chiles.

Although Whitney didn’t get her request of a role in a scripted show fulfilled, she might still be making her way to the silver screen. Back in August, she revealed on TikTok that she was approached by a film writer after she spoke to press about her love for acting. In the video — where she was getting ready for an in-person pitch meeting for a film — she said, “We have been working really hard to get this [movie] greenlit.” Looks like nobody can stop Whitney Leavitt — MomTok members or otherwise.

Tina is the site lead at Her Campus, where she oversees all of the national editorial content, which includes all things entertainment, lifestyle, fashion, beauty, and wellness. She joined the Her Campus team in August 2022.

Prior to Her Campus, Tina served as the executive editor at Elite Daily. She was with the publication for over seven years. Tina's resume also includes News12.com, WCBS 880, and The New York Post. She received her bachelor's and master's degrees in journalism from Hofstra University in 2013 and 2014, respectively.

In her free time, Tina can be probably be found rewatching New Girl for the millionth time or pretending to be a dinosaur with one of her toddlers. Send any pitches to tinakolokathis@hercampus.com. More importantly, though, send Spongebob memes to @tinakolokathis on Instagram.