Whitney Leavitt is taking her final bows. During her last performance in Chicago on Broadway Sunday night (May 3), Leavitt announced she was exiting The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives after four seasons. The reality star-turned-cultural icon is the latest to leave the Hulu series, begging the age-old question: can MomTok survive this?
The announcement of Leavitt’s departure was cheeky and on-brand for the content creator. While staying in character as Roxie Hart, Leavitt read a headline from a newspaper. “What is that?” she said. “‘Whitney’ … let me see. ‘Whitney Leavitt Announces She’s Leaving The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.’” Leavitt turned to the crowd with open arms, eliciting a shocked but supportive response from the audience.
It’s certainly no surprise that Leavitt is leaving the show. After a rough start with MomTok—and a brief exit from the group between Season 1 and Season 2—Leavitt ultimately decided to return for Season 3 solely so she could audition for Dancing with the Stars. When Season 4 came around, the public opinion had largely turned in favor of Leavitt, who documented her exciting journey in the ballroom, scored a role in a scripted movie, and got cast as Roxie Hart in Chicago on Broadway. Her career outside of MomTok was flourishing, and it was clear that she no longer needed The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives to leverage more opportunities.
Leavitt, of course, isn’t the first one to leave the show. Demi Engemann stepped away mid-way through filming Season 4 as she dealt with her exile from MomTok and the fallout of her sexual assault allegations against Vanderpump Villa star Marciano Brunette (Brunette has vehemently denied the allegations).
Taylor Frankie Paul‘s future on The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives is still a mystery. After another domestic violence incident between her and her baby daddy, Dakota Mortensen, forced production on Season 5 into a month-long pause and the cancellation of her season of The Bachelorette, it’s unclear whether Paul—who was ultimately not hit with new domestic violence charges—will come back to the show. While executive producer Jeff Jenkins “hopes” Paul will return to filming with the other women in the future, he said their main priority is making sure she is “healthy of body and mind” before they have those conversations.
Believe it or not, we’re not done yet. Jen Affleck, another OG star of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, recently made the move from Utah to Orange County, CA, where she will instead star in the show’s spinoff, The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives: Orange County. Plus, Mikayla Matthews announced her temporary move to Hawaii to focus on healing her Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome—just as Season 5 is slated to resume filming.
So, who’s left? Jessi Draper, Miranda Hope, Layla Taylor, and Mayci Neeley—the only four MomTokkers to make an appearance at Hulu’s Get Real event last month—seem to be the last cast members standing, but are they enough? Draper could certainly carry an entire season with her divorce drama alone, but the others—while they have been admirably open and honest about their lives—are rather unproblematic when it comes to bringing drama and scandal. No one is as confrontational and messy as Paul, no one is as cut-throat as Engemann, and no one has the “IDGAF” attitude that made Leavitt such a perfect villain in those early seasons.
That being said, The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives Season 5 still has some promise, given the drama with Paul that unfolded before the production pause, and Draper’s tumultuous split from Jordan Ngatikaura that kickstarted during the break. But after that? Hulu is either going to have to bring in some new women to fill out this cast for future seasons, or shift its attention to The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives: OC, which, outside of Affleck, seems to have a pretty hopeful cast of young moms and content creators.
Leavitt’s official exit might’ve been the final nail in the coffin for The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives as we knew it, but we look forward to seeing what kind of entertainment this new spinoff can bring us. If Utah MomTok couldn’t survive, perhaps OC MomTok can.
The first four seasons of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives are currently streaming on Hulu.
