Is ‘The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives’ real? Explained

Hulu’s newest reality series takes a page out of the Real Housewives book. The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives takes a deep dive into the Utah culture of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Even so, this isn’t necessarily a universal Mormon experience. The series is an offshoot of the viral videos posted on TikTok. Under the moniker #MomTok, the series of videos featured several Mormon mothers in a variety of dance videos. Spearheaded by Taylor Frankie Paul,#MomTok shined a light on a new generation of Mormon women who were more open-minded and had careers of their own.

#MomTok also made headlines because of the infamous soft-swinging scandal. In an earth-shattering video Paul posted, the content creator confessed that she was getting a divorce because she had stepped outside the confines of her marriage. According to Paul, she and her husband at the time agreed to a soft-swinging scenario where they could be intimate with other partners but not go all the way. This backfired when Paul fell for one of the husbands in the group of swingers.

The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives follows the ramifications of the scandal and the group’s attempt to keep the TikTok going. Lives have been ruined and friendships fractured, but does this mean that any of the reality series is real?

How real is The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives?

As in the prolific Real Housewives series, Mormon Wives focuses on the drama and the interpersonal relationships between the characters. Unlike in a documentary setting, juicy tidbits and feuds are what viewers tune in to watch. Mormon Wives has that in spades, as well as a perception of the Mormon Church that seems foreign to many.

These women aren’t subservient to their husbands. They drink and wear revealing clothing. That isn’t a judgment on these women, it is just in stark opposition to what the media would have us believe about the LDS church. One well-known Mormon had a similar observation about the series. Dancing With the Stars Mormon Lindsay Arnold noted to Us Weekly some things didn’t add up in the opening titles.

“If you’re wondering what the blue coat is in the Mormon Church, there’s literally nothing that that has to do with.”

This was a tongue-in-cheek response, which led to the biggest issue at hand. At its heart, Mormon Wives is a reality show. If you’re in the Real World house or on the Jersey Shore, shows like these come together because of chemistry. If Whitney and Taylor don’t have issues with each other, it won’t be a very interesting series. Though the women in the series may be real Mormons or at least Mormon-adjacent, there will always be a sliver of manufactured content as in all reality shows. Arnold also pointed that out in the following remarks:

“I’m not gonna say that there wasn’t some serious stuff that went down, for people who believe this. But I want you to understand that that’s exactly what the producers of this show wanted out of this. When it comes to reality TV, you are looking to create entertainment. Every single producer on that show, their main goal is to create entertainment… It’s very easy for producers, reality TV, to paint a picture that they want to paint. Now, with that being said, they can’t force someone to say things.”

Mormon Wives is a series made to entertain and while there is nothing wrong with that, viewers shouldn’t go in expecting a documentary.