Taylor Frankie Paul flipped #MomTok on its side when she revealed to the world that she and her now ex-husband were “soft-swinging” with their other Mormon friends. Looking back on the situation, the star of Hulu‘s The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives admitted to DECIDER that she “absolutely” would’ve handled things differently.
For those who don’t know, #MomTok is a group of young Mormon moms and wives who went viral for making TikToks. However, scandal struck the crew when Paul, the hashtag’s founding member, confessed to her millions of followers that she and her then-husband would swing with other couples at parties. Since then, Paul has divorced her husband and she recently welcomed a baby with her current boyfriend Dakota Mortensen.
While Paul said the scandal was a “blessing in disguise” as it’s the reason why she is where she is today, she also added, “Do I wish I could have done things differently? Absolutely. I look back at it and it was a very on-the-spot decision and then the whole world — well, not the whole world, but a lot of people watched it, you know? Like millions of people. I didn’t know that it would get to that point.”
As The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives documents the aftermath of Paul’s salacious confession, the women also work to break the gender norms and stereotypes that were thrust upon them by the Mormon church. Paul’s co-star Jessi Ngatikaura, who owns the JZ Styles hair empire, opened up to DECIDER about balancing her modern beliefs with the rules of her religion.
“I think as long as you’re confident in your relationship with God and who you are as a person, you’re naturally going to attract people who align with that,” she said. “I have so many people in my life that are devout Mormons, but we respect each other’s opinions because we’re both confident in how we feel, and that’s the type of people I want around.”
We caught up with Paul and Ngatikaura ahead of the Hulu show’s premiere via Zoom, where they dished on everything from the Las Vegas drama between Jen Affleck and her husband Zac Affleck, to where Paul stands with Mortensen after that nail-biting cliffhanger in the season finale. Check out the full interview below.
DECIDER: It’s no secret that you are both more modern types of Mormon women. How do you keep the balance between living your life the way you want to and how the church expects you to live your life?
JESSI NGATIKAURA: Oh that’s hard.
TAYLOR FRANKIE PAUL: Coming from both of us, I feel like we’re pretty sure of ourselves in that way of, like, how we want to go about things. So I feel like there is no pressure from, like — I don’t take that pressure on from my church, you know? I’m just going to do what I feel is right for me. And so I felt like it is a little bit relieving in that sense. And I feel like you could probably relate to that. I don’t take that or the outside world or my family — it’s kind of more like, at the end of the day you gotta do what’s going to make you happy to be your best self, you know.
JESSI: Yeah. And I think religion is such a personal thing that I think as long as you’re confident in your relationship with God and who you are as a person, you’re naturally going to attract people who align with that. I have so many people in my life that are devout Mormons, but we respect each other’s opinions because we’re both confident in how we feel, and that’s the type of people I want around. And if you’re just living genuine to who you are, that’s all that matters. And I think we’re both, like, pretty secure in that.
The show starts with the swinging scandal, but I feel like that’s totally forgotten about by the end of the season with everything going on. Taylor, do you ever have any regrets about talking about that publicly? Or would you say it was more of a blessing in disguise?
TAYLOR: I would say both. I think blessing in disguise, because it is like the reason we’re here today and where I’m at today in life. But also, do I wish I could have done things differently? Absolutely. I look back at it and it was a very on-the-spot decision and then the whole world — well, not the whole world, but a lot of people watched it, you know? Like millions of people. I didn’t know that it would get to that point. So yeah, it was a lot. And if I could do things differently, I probably would have. But at the same time, it’s where we are today.
I want to jump into a little bit of the drama. Regarding what happened in Vegas, Jessi, how do you think your own life experience influenced the way you reacted to Zac’s treatment of Jen?
JESSI: I’ve talked to Jen about this a lot, and I’m not shy about my opinion, but I went through a marriage very similar to her current marriage. And I’m divorced now. But a lot of her situation with her in-laws and her husband really triggered me because it was very similar to what I went through. And living through it, I was able to give her advice and come from a place of empathy, so I definitely felt like she deserved better than what she was getting in that moment and having gone through it myself, I hope I helped her through it. But I also know I came across a little harsh at times, so we’ll see how she takes that.
Sometimes, it takes the closest friends to give the tough love. Speaking of relationships, Taylor, we see you struggle with being able to trust Dakota throughout the season. How is your relationship doing now? And have your views about marrying him changed at all since filming and having your baby?
TAYLOR: Since having our baby, I felt like a lot is going on. Everything is so loud. So to make those big decisions, I have not, like, thought that far in advance. I would love to get engaged and have an engagement and be engaged for a little bit. I feel like I just don’t want to rush into a marriage. It’s still the same. It’s my second marriage. We’ve gone through a lot and we’re still going through stuff right now. And just life in general and nothing crazy, but I feel like I just want to take my time with that. The end goal, though, is to get married. So that’s never been, like, not my goal. I do love him and our relationship.
[We’re] better for sure. We’re in couples therapy and it’s really good to see perspectives and kind of just to listen to the other person because I feel like we’re both kind of reactive or we don’t listen and that’s been our issue. Where to sit down and just kind of listen to how the other person is feeling, you can kind of communicate better. But I would say we’re doing a lot better than we were then.
As we see, the season ends with Mayci trying to get to the bottom of that confession about Dakota. Taylor, how did you feel about her calling Jenna? And did anything come from that?
TAYLOR: Nothing has come from that that I know of. So I don’t know, honestly. But obviously in my relationship, I feel like it kind of brought things up just because it’s like a trigger of mine, you know? And it’s not even about the other girl. It’s more about the trust. Right? Like, that is the point. And I focused so much on that situation and the people involved. But it’s not even about that. It’s about the trust in myself and how I feel. And I’ve learned that through therapy. So I don’t know, maybe Season 2 we go more into that, right?
There seems to be a heightened interest in shows about your religion, first with The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City and now with your show. Have you ever crossed paths with any of the Real Housewives, whether it be in the church or just around Utah? If so, what can you tell us about your interaction?
JESSI: Yeah, I actually know a few of them because I’m in the beauty industry and we all live in Salt Lake, so I actually do some of their hair and I’ve, you know, communicated with them. They’re all amazing women. I think that they’re so good at what they do. But I feel like our show is a little bit different because we’re, you know, influencers and we’re just living our lives on camera, doing our thing in our friend group, whereas Housewives are usually a little bit older and a little more seasoned. We just kind of came in unhinged. But they are really great women. I look up to a lot of them. Heather Gay has another business here in Utah, a beauty business. So I really respect her because I do something similar. So it’s great company to be in.
What’s your favorite TikTok trend right now?
JESSI: Oh that’s a good one. For us personally I think right now anything that can help us bite back at the haters we’ve been leaning into.
TAYLOR: We’ve been doing the voice overs and kind of like clap-backs.
JESSI: And the Kardashians always have that, like, voice sound. So we’ve been using a lot of those.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives is currently streaming on Hulu.
The post ‘The Secret Lives Of Mormon Wives’ Star Taylor Frankie Paul Admits She “Absolutely” Would’ve Handled Her Swinging Scandal Differently: “I Didn’t Know That It Would Get To That Point” appeared first on Decider.
