'The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives' Brings the Dark Sides of Trad Wife Culture to Light

The third episode of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives season 2 ends with a scene that makes for a watershed moment for reality TV. Jen Affleck, who recently reunited with her husband Zac, takes a pregnancy test. Before the positive result even shows, she bursts into tears. “I should be happy looking at this, but I’m not. I’m really scared,” she says. I can’t think of another scene in a reality show—or even a scripted series in recent memory—where a woman’s reaction to being pregnant is so raw and sorrowful.

The first few episodes of Mormon Wives’s second season, which premiered on Hulu on May 15, had led up to this moment. Jen and Zac’s marriage became a major talking point after a season 1 arc when Zac threatened to divorce Jen because she went to a Chippendales meet-and-greet. By the time season 2 began filming, the couple had been separated for several months following the incident, and they began their journey towards reconciliation in episode 1. They needed time to work through Zac’s controlling nature and Jen’s communication issues, which is why Jen describes the positive pregnancy test as her “breaking point.” The unfiltered moment is different from standard reality TV fare, and Jen isn’t any Netflix star or Bravolebrity; she’s a Mormon raised in a culture where motherhood is the highest calling for women. In a way, Jen is breaking one of the ultimate taboos. But after all, isn’t this what #MomTok is all about?

Mormon Wives became a pop-culture phenomenon when it premiered in September 2024 and introduced audiences to a group of momfluencers who flout conventional Mormon norms. They’re all breadwinners, many are divorced, many drink, one had a child out of wedlock, and only a few wear their garments. The series offers plenty of the necessary drama that powers reality TV: two toxic couples in Jen and Zac and Taylor Frankie Paul and Dakota Mortensen; a bonafide villain in Whitney Leavitt, who’s on a redemption arc in season 2; and cast members like Mayci Neeley and Jessi Ngatikaura who aren’t afraid to diffuse or stir up conflict. Mormon Wives has been labeled as pure trash both by those completely denigrating it and those who can’t stop watching, but I think that scenes like Jen’s are where the show becomes something much more powerful. Mormon Wives may be full of mess, but in its most lucid moments, the reality series should be required viewing for anyone thinking that the trad wife life is aspirational.

On the surface, #MomTok exists in the same sphere as trad wife influencers like Nara Smith, Estee Williams, and Hannah Neeleman, a.k.a. Ballerina Farm, who have made careers out of homemaker aesthetics, traditional marriage, and religious values. Trad wife stars have hundreds of thousands to millions of followers who view their lifestyles as escapist or aspirational, often not knowing that this trend can be a slippery slope towards right-wing talking points. Young women who’ve embraced these paragons of seemingly soft-life perfection on social media often only see one side of a culture where women serve men; Mormon Wives shows the truth of it. Even in situations where the women seem to have it all, with a loving relationship, children, and a thriving career, they still find themselves dissatisfied with the blind spots that come from minimizing women’s issues and keeping them unsaid. On reality TV, everything’s out in the open.

Of course, there are degrees. Not every cast member’s life is as chaotic as Taylor’s (who’s still reckoning with the swinging scandal that propelled her to fame). Consider Layla Taylor, the show’s youngest lead at 23, who left an “extremely toxic” marriage before the show’s run. Her storyline thus far has concerned sex; as of season 2’s filming, she still hadn’t experienced an orgasm with a partner, despite being happy with her new boyfriend, Cameron Jolley. During their first on-camera date in episode 4, Layla applies pressure, asking him if making her orgasm is a priority. Unfortunately, the orgasm gap in heterosexual relationships is still real in the year of our lord 2025, so it’s exciting to see Layla take the plunge and start the conversation that might have gone unsaid in her first marriage.

Then there’s Mikayla Matthews, one of the more popular members of #MomTok, who was more of a supporting player in season 1. In season 2 episode 3, she has a therapy session where she begins to process the sexual abuse she experienced as a child, and her history of repressing negative emotions. For the role-playing exercise, the trauma specialist sits in as the abuser, and tells Mikayla to channel her “meanest, bitchiest” self and tell them how she feels. “You’re a piece of shit,” Mikayla responds, before breaking into nervous laughter. Even with full permission and protection, it’s difficult for Mikayla to get the words out. The merits of reality TV therapy aside, Mikalya is confronting unspeakable trauma on a national stage.

Season 2 eventually devolves to focus more on intergroup feuds than personal issues, going for sensationalism over everything. But in scenes like Taylor’s horrendous family dinner and Jen openly discussing prenatal depression and suicidal ideation, Mormon Wives cuts through the noise to bring attention to women’s issues that often go unspoken in conservative circles. After all, the goal of #MomTok is to modernize the Mormon church and call out patriarchal norms. Here we get a full picture of what it’s like when women are socialized to serve others before themselves. I’m glad that The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives brings to light these unspoken truths.