[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]
Taylor Frankie Paul isn’t the only Mormon momma with a scandal!
The new Hulu series The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives not only gets into the #MomTok group’s “soft swinging” scandal, but also reveals why group member Whitney Leavitt ditched Utah for Hawaii while all that controversy was first breaking back in 2022!
Related: Why Taylor Frankie Paul DOESN’T Regret Swinging Scandal!
In the premiere ep of the show, which came out on Friday, the reality star claimed she and her husband Connor were simply trying to “get away from the noise” of the swinging controversy. That said, the other girls revealed there were Reddit rumors that her husband was caught on Tinder — something Whitney told co-star Mayci Neeley was “not true.” Whitney told Mayci that haters “took his pictures from Facebook, his high school account, and put it on Tinder.” But that wasn’t the truth!
Later in the series, Whitney confronted Connor, saying that she needed to share the “real reason” for their move. Getting emotional, she expressed:
“I feel like we ran away from something. I don’t want to lie about it anymore. Taylor even asked me the other day … and I denied it again.”
Connor admitted that it was “probably hard for [her] to lie about that,” but he had reservations about opening up, saying:
“I just hate talking about what happened to me in the same breath as what I did to you. I feel like it flips the script and turns me into a victim, when, in this scenario, I’m not. And I definitely want there to be a distinction.”
He continued:
“These were actions I took. I had a real problem and it led to something that really hurt my wife I’m so sorry and I’m working on myself. I really don’t care what anyone outside of my inner circle thinks.”
But his wife sure did! Whitney said she was nervous that her friends would “hate” him after she spilled the tea. Or maybe even that they were “going to hate [her] for making the choice to stay” despite the controversy, but she still wanted to “tell them.” And so she did! She gathered all the influencers for an emotional AF convo, in which she dished:
“There was a rumor that Connor was on Tinder … I lied about it because I was embarrassed … I didn’t know it was true until I confronted Connor. I went to him like, ‘look at this joke.'”
She suggested she knew nothing of Connor’s nefarious online interactions with others until the Reddit rumors started circulating — and when she brought it up with her baby daddy, he finally came clean. She shared:
“There was more to that. He had been struggling with a porn addiction … there’s a whole story, there’s a reason why people do certain things. I think he was just confused. It’s something that we’re working through.”
Whitney added that he supposedly had “never met up with anyone,” but he had been having “full-on conversations with women” and sharing nude photos. Oof. This was going on for their WHOLE marriage, too! She continued:
“It makes me feel like my whole marriage was a lie. […] I just hope you don’t look at Connor differently.”
She also finally confirmed that she decided to move to Hawaii for a bit “to get away from everything and just think for myself” and apologized to Taylor for making it seem like the swinging scandal was the reason for her quick departure. Taylor tried to support her pal, teasing:
“If you can look past my stuff, Connor’s okay.”
Interestingly, there’s a little more to the story that didn’t make it into the episode. After revealing the truth to her co-stars, Whitney and Connor went public with the world, sharing the addiction in a since-deleted Instagram video. Connor explained:
“I have a presence on Tinder, but it really stemmed from an addiction… And I want to clarify that I wasn’t looking for anything. I never met with anybody on the app or in person, I never had any meaningful conversations with anybody. I was just seeking something deeper. I was hoping to validate my feelings and my emotions.”
He went on to share that he was a victim of sexual assault as a child, something he believes led to his porn addiction. He tearfully shared:
“I decided to tell my wife the whole truth because she deserved to know, she deserved to know way before I told her. I wanted her to have the ability to make any decisions she wanted to make, but after that wake-up call, I felt like I needed an intervention and I kinda got one, and the truth is that I was doing everything I could to numb a much deeper pain. Through the help of mental health professionals, I have come to realize that what I was doing was fairly common for people who… for people who were sexually assaulted as children. I was a victim of sexual assault when I was 5 years old.”
@amandachristine_1 Replying to @average.amy #greenscreen
♬ Tubarão Te Amo – DJ LK da Escócia & Tchakabum & Mc Ryan SP
That’s certainly not an excuse for doing all this NSFW stuff behind his wife’s back — but it is still very heartbreaking that he went through this trauma. We’re glad he got the help he needed to start unpacking this upsetting incident. And despite this hurdle, the couple is still together — oh, and Whitney is currently expecting their third child. So, they’ve made things work!
Reactions?!? Sound OFF in the comments (below)!
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence and would like to learn more about resources, consider checking out https://www.rainn.org/resources. If you have sincere cause to suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org.
[Image via Hulu]
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