‘Secret Lives of Mormon Wives’ EP Addresses Criticism From LDS Community, Calls for Church Leadership to Come on Show

The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives is back, with season two of the Hulu reality show premiering in Los Angeles on Friday.

The show — starring Jennifer Affleck, Demi Engemann, Taylor Frankie Paul, Whitney Leavitt, Mikayla Matthews, Miranda McWhorter, Mayci Neeley, Jessi Ngatikaura and Layla Taylor — follows a group of Mormon mom influencers, dubbed #MomTok, who made international headlines in 2022 with a swinging sex scandal and have been navigating the fallout ever since. Season one was a hit, becoming the first Hulu unscripted series to chart in Nielsen’s streaming rankings, and now #MomTok has returned for another round.

Of living up to the drama of season one, executive producer Jeff Jenkins told The Hollywood Reporter at the L.A. premiere that it all comes down to how much the women are willing to share publicly, and “They share like Kim Kardashian back in the early days when 99 percent of [her] life was on camera.” And he would know, having also been an EP on Keeping Up With the Kardashians and a number of E!’s Kardashian spinoffs.

The series has gotten plenty of attention for its portrayal of Mormons, also known as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Jenkins said he has read some articles “that the Mormon community has broadly said, ‘Well, these ladies don’t represent what we’re really about,’ which is a little bit disappointing to me because they all do value their faith. They’re kind of all on a spectrum of commitment to that faith, but they’re part of the LDS community.”

He added, “I would love for a member of the church — who works within the church, whether that’s a bishop or whoever’s in charge — to come shoot with us and share their perspective on all of this, whatever that perspective is. I would love that, I encourage it. It’s been very challenging to find that voice for that side.”

This season also sees a crossover with the newly released Vanderpump Villa, a move that Jenkins compared to his past creating the Kardashian universe on E!. “I think Hulu smartly is doing the same thing, starting to build that Hulu universe, so a crossover sometimes makes sense,” he explained.

And as for his hopes for season two, the EP noted of the women, “I’m rooting for all of them and I mean that; I love all of them and I have so much respect for them because I think you have to be really brave to put your life out there for everyone on the planet to examine and comment on. I think they are warriors, absolute warriors.”

The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives season two premieres Thursday on Hulu.

Dominoe Ibarra contributed to this report.