The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives (SLOMW) has dropped, so let’s discuss everything that led up to the shocking, drama-filled five episode release. Fair warning, there will be spoilers ahead!
TAYLOR FRANKIE PAUL IS THE BACHELORETTE
September 2025, after weeks of speculation, it was revealed that messy Mormon mom Taylor Frankie Paul would lead the season. After her rocky relationship with on-again-off-again boyfriend Dakota Mortensen, Paul sat down on Alex Cooper’s podcast, Call Her Daddy. She expressed her excitement and readiness for a fresh start after years of toxic cycles.
SEASON FOUR
Paul’s relationship had always been rocky, but when fellow castmate Miranda Hope’s best friend Shinia Powell becomes romantically connected to Dakota Mortensen, it becomes a whirlwind ride of drama and screaming. Paul is about to leave to film her season of the Bachelorette when this news sends her into a spiral. Viewers of the show had a chance to witness this drama months in advance as Paul took to social media bashing Powell. Other than Paul’s continuous relationship drama, other castmates such as Layla Taylor had opened up about her GLP-1 misuse and how that had been playing into her eating disorder. Viewers also got a glimpse into The Dancing with the Stars duo Whitney Leavitt and Jen Affleck and the festering grudge Affleck had held for Leavitt. The season closed with Paul missing her flight after sleeping with Mortensen the night before, the group confronting her at home, and lingering pregnancy rumors swirling as she finally headed off to film.
FILMING BEGINS
Not much is known of Paul’s season of the Bachelorette at this point. There is speculation on who she has chosen, but nothing has been confirmed. The show is continuing as it was scheduled, filming the women and their crazy adventures when all hell breaks loose as TMZ leaks old footage of Paul’s arrest and the infamous stool video circulates social media. Speculation goes wild as people begin taking sides in the matter of Paul vs Mortensen. Each day more and more information is being leaked to TMZ, which inevitably pauses the rest of season five’s filming.
THE PAUSE
The drama picks up tenfold just as the cameras are put down. Their lives haven’t stopped just because there is no one around to film it, and the best example is castmate Jessi Draper. After the shocking revelation of season three and four–that Draper had “micro-cheated” on her husband Jordan Ngatikaura–Jessi took to various podcasts to discuss her husband’s behavior before the divorce announcement. A common occurrence at this point, Draper now goes on Call Her Daddy to tell the word about her divorce, which she learned Ngatikaura had gone to file as soon as she went on Cooper’s podcast. A few days later, Miranda Hope makes a not so inconspicuous post to TikTok: Draper and Miranda’s ex-husband Chase McWhorter seemingly had a moment. What does Jessi do? Send Miranda flowers.
As all of this is going down, Paul cannot catch a break as now it’s public knowledge that she and Mortensen are in a custody battle, which plenty of people tune in to watch the court trial. More video evidence of Paul and Mortensen’s abusive dynamic came to light via TMZ and Mortensen’s roommate Cru Eaton.
Meanwhile, the women of MomTok continued with their lives and focused on their own avenues as the pause went on. Miranda Hope released her first single FU4THAT, which garnered both love and hate. Layla Taylor continued her career in modeling and started weaning herself off GLP-1’s to help with her struggles. McKayla Matthews went on to visit Germany with a fan of the show who also suffers from chronic illness in hopes to find some relief. Macyi Neely went back to work and brought back the absence of her company Baby Mama, while Jessi Draper started her new relationship with Marciano Brunette. Whitney Leavitt announced it would be her last season, and began focusing more on her own production company, Leavitt Media House, along with her run on Chicago. Finally, Jen Affleck continued down the path of reality television, now working alongside the spinoff show The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives: Orange County.
FRIENDSHIP FALLOUTS
Whether it was a true genuine friendship, or just coworkers, plenty of Paul’s castmates are silent during this period, although there have been a few liked comments from castmate Layla Taylor disagreeing with Paul’s behavior. That in turn leads Paul to unfollow most of the SLOMW cast, garnering more attention from fans of the show. At some point, enough becomes enough for castmate Mikayla Matthews as she posts a lengthy story to Instagram addressing where she stands with Paul. The divided sides pull apart more as many agree with Mikayla’s wild use of analogy, and others love to fuel Paul’s ego and manic behavior. The two take to social media, snapping back in comment sections as it seems their friendship has exploded. MomTok does not seem to be surviving this feud as the group is divided, many on the side of Matthews. For months the two have posted jabs and accusations, Paul going as far to repost loyalists’ videos about Matthews’ trauma and inciting maybe her husband could be the cause of it.
SEASON FIVE AIRS
Plenty of fans were upset when the news dropped that there would only be five episodes airing. Although it’s not the lengthy season many viewers are used to, the drama and plain out pettiness was just the same. Knowing the pause is coming, each episode documents the few weeks of footage production was able to capture. Paul is back from filming the Bachelorette, she’s engaged to Doug Mason – someone creepily similar to Mortensen, from sharing the same initials, both being from Idaho, and a very uncanny resemblance. It doesn’t end there when Paul returns home, guess who is back, Mortensen. Their on-again-off-again relationship seems to be on.
The girls eventually reunite and Paul breaks down the events to her castmates, which ensue plenty of questions from the ladies on MomTok. The spectacle does take up most of screentime, we do get a bit of a glimpse into other ladies. Matthews is dabbling in her THC gummies to help with her chronic pain, Draper has undergone another cosmetic surgery and is fighting the battles she had not expected in remission, and Miranda has just learned from Layla that Shinia, yes the same one, had been seeing her ex-husband. Miranda is clearly hurt as she lets her friend stay in her home for months, not paying a cent of rent, and then learns this information. She’s had enough, deciding to put her foot down, she and Chase have a conversation that their relationship could easily change to just being co-parents.
The last season for castmate Whitney Leavitt is cut short by Paul’s erratic behavior, but the viewers are able to have a glimpse into her Broadway debut in which all the girls are attending. What no one knows is that Paul invited ex-situationship Ben Lambert. After her time filming the Bachelorette was over, Paul and Lambert rekindled, but let’s not forget she is actively engaged and he has no clue she’s doing this.
With Leavitt’s debut behind her, Jen Affleck thinks it the perfect opportunity to chat about their friendship. The conversation doesn’t go in Affleck’s favor as Whitney does not allow her to manipulate the conversation from events that took place two years ago.
The season builds to Paul admitting the toxic cycle with Mortensen, ending the relationship with Lambert, a blowout with Mikayla and Mayci, and the group left in shambles as production pauses.
THE FANS REACTION
The consensus from viewers is that the show is starting to become tiresome. The events from Paul and her relationship affairs have continued to take over the storyline and it’s always the same thing. Plenty of fans are annoyed at Paul for her blowout toward Matthews in the season finale, with creators making posts that her behavior would not have been allowed if they were in that room. While it seems the vast majority of people are over Paul’s storyline, she still has her fanbase that backs up her actions and condones her aggressiveness.
Now a week after the show has aired, the news that Mikayla Matthews will not be back for season six, making lengthy socials discussing that her morals and boundaries will not be pushed aside as Taylor Frankie Paul continues to film. Much of the cast have gone on to confirm they will be in season six, but the future is unknown whether they will continue to stay.
Mayci and Jessi have also spoken out about the cuts production has made toward the fifth season, and how much of their storylines had been removed to garner the attention to the drama. It is reality television, so the choice the production had to make does come from a place in which they need the audience to be captivated and that means all the drama from Taylor Frankie Paul will keep the show in the spotlight.
Now that the fifth season has concluded, what is there to expect in the current prediction of season six? Seemingly, a trip to Italy, Jessi’s new romance with ex-flame Marciano Brunette, and the expected drama from Taylor will be featured in the new season. There is no confirmation as of now when season six will air, but this could be the make or break season as fans are growing tired.