TikTok is no stranger to a scandal. In the eight years since its invention, the app has seen its fair share of shunned celebrities, platformed plenty of spats and sparked more headlines than one could possibly count. While many of the cancellations and controversies are somewhat predictable (and some potentially even planned—all PR is good PR, after all) there is one scandal that no one could have seen coming.
In 2022, a friend group of mums belonging to the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (aka Mormons) supposedly “imploded” after one member, Taylor Frankie Paul, announced she was getting divorced. While divorce is frowned upon by the Mormon church, it was not this revelation that caught the internet’s attention. In the same TikTok, Taylor—a core member of the Mormon #MomTok—told followers she had been participating in “soft swinging” in she and her husband’s married friend group.
The scandal blazed its way through TikTok and quickly made its way to mass media. Now, two years on, it’s jumping from phones to the big screen, with Hulu set to release a documentary charting the scandal and its fallout
Scroll on for everything we know about The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives so far, including when and where you’ll be able to watch it.
What Is The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives About?
Hulu’s documentary series The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives revisits the swinging sex scandal that engulfed a group of Mormon TikTok ‘Momfluencers’ (mum influencers) in 2022.
The doco explores how the scandal unfolded, as well as the way it ripped through social media and landed in international headlines. It also delves into how the revelations impacted the women implicated, with the official synopsis noting: “Now, their sisterhood is shook to its core. Faith, friendship and reputations are all on the line.”
It continues, “Will #MomTok be able to survive and continue to give the rulebook a run for its money, or will this group fall from grace?”
In addition to Taylor Frankie Paul, who was at the centre of the scandal (more on that below), the series will feature seven other Mormon women. These include fellow TikTok stars Demi Engemann, Jennifer Affleck, Jessi Ngatikaura, Layla Wessel, Mayci Neeley, Mikayla Mathews and Whitney Leavitt.
Most of the women have never addressed the scandal publicly, nor have they been confirmed to have any kind of connection to it. The exception is Taylor and Whitney, the latter of whom has publicly denied swinging in her own marriage.
The Gist of the Mormon MomTok 'Soft Swinging' Scandal
The Mormon ‘soft swinging’ scandal, as it has come to be known, all kicked off in May 2022, when TikToker Taylor Frankie Paul announced during a livestream that she was divorcing her husband, Tate Paul.
In the livestream, Taylor disclosed the couple’s “soft-swinging” lifestyle. She said the pair had “an agreement” that they wouldn’t “go all the way” with other people. However, Taylor admitted she “did step out of that agreement,” adding it was “a one-time thing.” According to Taylor, she and the unnamed partner then realised they, “had feelings for each other,” which lead to her divorce from Tate.
“The whole group was intimate with each other,” she alleged, per Vanity Fair. “It wasn’t like I was going around hooking up with my friend’s husband. It was, like, we were at a party, I got belligerent, and we went and messed around by ourselves rather than the whole group,” she said.
At the time, Taylor did not name names. Two months later, Taylor introduced her new boyfriend, Dakota Mortensen in a TikTok video as the guy she “cheated with.”
Do Mormons Practice Polygamy?
First and foremost, it is important to note that there are different branches of Mormonism, and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has not sanctioned polygamy since the late 19th century.
Plural marriage was initially permitted by LDS founder, Joseph Smith in the 1830s. It was then announced as an official practice of the Mormon Church by church leaders in 1852. This was undone in the 1890s, though, following the passing of the Edmunds-Tucker Act, which made polygamy a federal offence.
Currently, a Mormon man can lawfully have one wife, and most Mormons do not practice polygamy. However, multiple reports have highlighted fundamentalist arms of the religion that do still sanction and practice polygamy.
When Will The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives Be Released In Australia?
The Secret Lives Of Mormon Wives will be released on Friday, September 6 in the United States. It will be available to stream via Hulu—which is connected to Disney+ in Australia. Whether or not it will actually be available to watch in Australia is yet to be confirmed.
Watch here for updates.
