There’s no doubt The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives delivered when it came to drama and heartbreaking stories. We bet there was even more they wanted to show viewers, but with only eight episodes, each less than an hour long, they could fit only so much in. That said, we cannot believe Mayci Neeley’s gut-wrenching backstory didn’t come up at any point during the show!
It turns out the 29-year-old social media personality lost her boyfriend in a car accident. Even worse? It was while they were fighting over text message. What makes this all the more tragic? She was 14 weeks pregnant with their first child at the time. Awful…
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In a piece for The Mirror in 2022, Mayci said she was studying at Brigham Young University in Utah on a tennis scholarship when she learned she was expecting a baby in February 2015. She and Arik Mack were both only 19 years old at the time. While he handled the pregnancy well at first, the “pressure” soon became too much for the then-teens. It also took a huge toll on Mayci’s mental health. After telling her parents about the baby, she moved back home to California as she was “depressed” at the time:
“I decided that being at home with my family would be the best thing for me, but being away from Arik was harder than I thought. My hormones were all over the place.”
On March 24, 2015, Mayci and Arik got into an argument over text. She had no idea he had been driving while texting her at the time. She just knew he “stopped replying to his messages.”
Later that same day, the content creator was scrolling on Instagram when she came across a picture of Arik on her feed. At first, she “didn’t think anything of it and continued scrolling.” Then she saw another photo of him posted by a friend with the caption:
“I’ll miss you, Arik.”
And more “RIP” posts came in from there. After seeing an image of Arik’s car “completely destroyed,” she immediately called him “in total shock and disbelief” and hoped it was all just a cruel joke. However, he never picked up. Calling his father Jeff, she got confirmation of the unthinkable. It wasn’t a joke. Arik had been killed in a car crash. She recalled the dad saying:
“‘Arik has passed away. He was texting while driving and crashed his car. He was killed on impact.’”
So, so sad…
Understandably, Mayci was devastated by the news. She expressed:
“I was utterly destroyed. I had no idea that he was driving — I never would have replied to him if I knew. Arik was my best friend and suddenly, he was gone. I couldn’t get my head around the fact that I’d never hear his cheeky laugh again. My baby would never be held by their father. It was too much to bear.”
Oof. The following months after Arik’s funeral, the reality star said she experienced “the darkest” moments of her life as she fell into a “deep depression.” It was not until their son, Hudson, was born in September 2015 that she “felt hopeful for the first time in a very long time.” We can’t imagine going through all that while pregnant. Our hearts break for her! Mayci continued:
“Being a single parent at 20 years old wasn’t easy, but Hudson was such an amazing baby. I went back to university on my tennis scholarship. Somehow, we made it work.”
When Hudson was seven months old, the future television personality met her now-husband Jacob Neeley through a pal. They remained friends at first as she was “very guarded” and afraid to get hurt again. However, he eventually won her over:
“For a long time, we remained just friends and because we weren’t really dating, I was OK with him meeting my son. Jacob was amazing with him, which made him appear even more attractive. I was terrified of getting hurt again but, after four months, I couldn’t deny my feelings any longer. He was kind and funny and made me feel safe. Hudson adored him and, slowly but surely, Jacob helped to heal my broken heart.”
The pair went on to get married in 2018. Unfortunately, one of the happiest days of her life was tainted when she received criticism from her followers for “moving on too fast”:
“When I posted pictures of our wedding online, strangers accused me of moving on too fast and being disrespectful to my ex. It hurts me, but my family and friends help me deal with the trolling.”
Terrible. No one can dictate when someone moves on from a tragedy like this. While social media users thought she was “disrespectful” to Arik, she made it clear that “he’ll never be forgotten”:
“We’ve told Hudson, now six, all about his daddy – he’ll never be forgotten. And as Hudson gets older, we’ll continue to tell him about Arik and keep his memory alive through his son.”
Wow. Mayci has been through so much already in her life. We applaud her for being so strong and open about such a difficult topic, even if it wasn’t on The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. You can see a picture of Hudson’s dad (below):
@maycineeley Replying to @Nicole Weidow what do uou guys think?! #greenscreen #videoreply #momsoftiktok #utahmom
Reactions, Perezcious readers? Let us know in the comments.
[Image via Mayci Neeley/Instagram, The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives/Hulu]
