Mikayla Matthews is standing by her decision to leave The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.
In the wake of Taylor Frankie Paul seemingly announcing her exit from the hit Hulu reality show on Monday, September 21, Mikayla, 26, responded to fans asking whether she’d return to filming. Mikayla cited Taylor’s return during season 6, which is currently in production, as the main reason she left the series.
“To answer your question… No, I will not be coming back,” Mikayla shared alongside a mirror selfie posted via her Instagram Stories late Monday.
She continued, “Everyone has to do what’s best for them, and I was the only one who chose to leave the show due to MANY reasons and, of course, the recent news a couple weeks ago.”
“I feel like I took my concerns to the right people and went out of my way over and over again to try to address them. There are so many things wrong with this situation. Because of one person’s actions but also because of the way everything was handled after,” Mikayla wrote.
“Those concerns haven’t changed and neither has my decision right now,” she concluded. “Don’t know what the future holds, but I think we can collectively agree that a lot of changes need to be made.”
Mikayla announced her exit from Mormon Wives last week, midway through production on season 6, citing concerns about Taylor, 32, rejoining the cast amid her ongoing custody disputes with her ex-boyfriend Dakota Mortensen and ex-husband Tate Paul. (Taylor shares son Ever, 2, with Dakota and daughter Indy, 9, and son Ocean, 6, with Tate.)
On Monday, Taylor seemingly confirmed she was exiting the show, too, and called out her costars over alleged online bullying.
“My gratitude goes to all the networks that supported me throughout this and gave me the chance to return. However, I don’t desire to move forward like this,” the reality star wrote via Instagram. “I originally was willing to be removed to let them all continue on with less stress, and I’m back to that point.”
She continued, “Some of the girls know what I’ve been through and then to turn and collectively pile on with their ‘statements’ knowing there has been ongoing abuse through the system the last 8 months on top of what I’ve endured. Almost the entire cast plus some, going at me….laughing about my kids is disgusting. I bit my tongue there.”
“I agree it’s to the point of bullying for months now. What makes it harder to take in is some of these parents have made mistakes that would result in the same judgement I’m receiving yet pointing a finger,” Taylor claimed. “However, it’s a pleasure to remove myself so they can continue, because I’ve almost convinced myself I’m deserving of all this pain and to a certain degree absolutely this is consequences of my actions. My question has been how much suffering and scrutiny is going to be enough…I’m just relieved to be out.”
