‘Secret Lives Of Mormon Wives’ Star Layla Taylor Is In Her ‘Summer I Turned Pretty’ Era With New Beau: “It Just Took Me Dating His Brother First To Figure It Out”

For the last year, Secret Lives of Mormon Wives fans have gotten to watch Layla Taylor come into her own as a mom, as a friend, and as a Black woman navigating a predominantly white community. In Season 3—which dropped on Hulu today—Taylor uses her voice to stand up for herself more than ever, whether it be in heated situations with MomTok, or in knowing it was finally time to make the switch to a hairstylist who understands her specific hair type.

“I feel like I’ve definitely come more into myself as a person, and I’m very proud of myself for how I handled some situations this season,” Taylor told Decider over a recent Zoom interview.

In her journey of self-discovery, Taylor has also given viewers a front-row seat to her romantic life. While things fizzled out with her ex-boyfriend Cameran Jolley after Season 2 wrapped, Taylor eventually found love with Mason McWhorter—who also happens to be the ex-brother-in-law of her co-star (and best friend) Miranda McWhorter. The twist? In true Summer I Turned Pretty fashion, Taylor previously dated Mason’s brother, Chase McWhorter, after he and Miranda had divorced.

“We always made the most sense, so I don’t know why we didn’t pursue each other first,” Taylor said, referring to her ongoing relationship with Mason. “We’re both closer in age and have a lot in common. It just took me dating his brother first to figure out that I should have gone for Mason first. But, you know, it happens to the best of us.” 

When Decider caught up with Taylor, she also shared where she stands with Demi Engemann and Whitney Leavitt, how she felt about Jessi Ngatikaura‘s affair with Marciano Brunette, and what it was like to find out that Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis are fans of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. Check out the full interview below.

---

DECIDER: So much happened this season that I had a hard time deciding where to start, but I figured we’ll start with something positive. I’ve loved watching your single gal journey. This season, you were dating Chase’s brother Mason. Since you had also previously dated Chase, what makes Mason a better partner? And are you two still seeing each other?

LAYLA TAYLOR: Yeah. Actually, he’s in the hotel with me right now. We’re still seeing each other. But honestly, me and Chase’s relationship was so brief. I think people assume that we dated for a long time. We maybe went on three dates in total. Like, it was so small. I never really got to know Chase on a deeper level. That just ended really quickly. And then me and Mason rekindled at my birthday party, as you guys saw. We always made the most sense, so I don’t know why we didn’t pursue each other first. We’re both closer in age and  have a lot in common. But, yeah, it just took me dating his brother first to figure out that I should have gone for Mason first. But, you know, it happens to the best of us. 

It’s giving The Summer I Turned Pretty, or Vampire Diaries. We’ve also seen you go on this journey of self-discovery over the last year or so. This season, you decided to go to a Black hairstylist to do your hair for the first time. I know the internet had kind of been urging you to do that for a while, but what was it that finally pushed you to make the switch? 

I just started to notice a lot of hair loss in the areas that the extensions replaced. I don’t know if this was just because my hair is a different texture and maybe the style or the way that Jessi would install the extensions just didn’t work for my hair, but I just started to notice a lot of hair loss, and it was kind of getting hard to ignore. I was getting nervous that if I kept going to somebody that didn’t know how to properly handle ethnic hair, I was going to have no hair to even be able to recover from. It was just kind of for my own personal hair health, I needed to switch and just find somebody that can better handle my hair.

Your hair looks gorgeous, by the way. And I thought Jessi did a really great job handling that situation.

Yes. I was really grateful. I was very nervous, just because I know Jessi is very protective over her business, which rightfully so. I mean, I would be as well. She’s built this amazing hair empire. I don’t want the audience to get confused and ever think that I’m saying that Jessi’s not good at hair. I think Jessi’s phenomenal at hair. I think that it’s maybe something that she can look to in the future and try to get more knowledge around ethnic hair and things like that and build upon that. But Jessi’s amazing at hair. I’m glad she took it well. She understood that it wasn’t anything personal. It was just for the betterment of, honestly, both of us. 

I have to say, your facial expressions have been everything, especially when Whitney was pleading her case to the group. Are you aware of how noticeable your reactions are when you’re in the moment?

No, not at all. Obviously from Season 1 to Season 2, I was very not vocal, so I felt like my face would say what my mind was thinking and I just couldn’t get it out of there. But I feel like I’ve just always been a very overly expressive person with my face. I didn’t notice that until this experience and filming a show. Now, I’m like, “Whoa. Has this been this way my whole entire life?” I’ve asked some friends that I’ve known for a while and they’re like, “Yeah. This has always been you.” I’m like, “Oh, okay, good to know.” I wasn’t aware, but it’s hilarious. It’s fun to watch back.

Let’s get into some of the drama going on this season. You sat down with Marciano last season and he told you that he had an affair with Jessi, which she ultimately confirmed when you asked her about it. What was your initial reaction? Did you ever expect that it would be true?

No. I was honestly very shocked. It was hard at that moment because I was completely caught off guard. I went into that meeting with Marciano, assuming that we were going to speak about Demi. So when we brought up Jessi, I was completely taken off track and taken off guard and just didn’t even know how to process it fully. Ultimately, in that moment, I was like, “Let’s take Marciano outside, let’s take Jessi out of the situation. Does Jordan know?” Once I figured out that Jordan knew, I was like, “Hey, it’s up to Jessi at this point to let the girls know and to handle this the way that she needed to.” That’s why I pulled her side personally before it got out there. I was like, “Hey, this is what I heard.” At the end of the day, it’s her and Jordan’s marriage and however they want to move forward from this, it’s up to them. But it was a hard situation to be in just because I knew what could come from this in a negative way. I was feeling for Jessi.

After they took the lie detector test, Jessi invited Marciano to dinner with the girls, which obviously didn’t sit right with Jordan. Now, when I was watching their scenes together, it definitely felt like there was still some flirting still going on between them. What did you make of how Jessi handled everything with Marciano in those moments?

I could understand where she was coming from, where if she said that she wanted to placate him in a way, and kind of get him to not get defensive. I feel like when people get defensive, they sometimes hide the truth or hide the full truth, and we were still trying to figure out things that happened with him and Demi at that time. I could understand where she was coming from. But then I also understand Jordan being like, “Why were you even entertaining this man that potentially could have ruined our marriage?” I do understand both sides. I think that Jessi probably should have told Jordan ahead of time instead of him finding out when we were already there. I don’t think she was necessarily flirting, though. I feel like women can be friendly, and then sometimes it can be taken as flirting. I don’t necessarily think Jessi was flirting, but I also feel like he’s a familiar person, so it’s easy to talk to him and have banter with him. Obviously, the history makes it maybe not look the best, but I don’t think Jessi was flirting necessarily. I think she was just maybe relieved finally. She finally got some clarification that she didn’t sleep with him, so maybe she was just happy. Altogether, it’s just a weird situation and I can’t believe sometimes it’s over the man that it is, because Marciano is … oh, my gosh. We could have had that happen with any man in the world and [it was] Marciano.

I think Taylor said something very similar in her confessional. She said something like, “I get it … No, I’m just kidding. I don’t get it.”

All of us were very confused. When we first met him in the villa, I could see the appeal. Good banter, he’s charming. But then you really get to know him. I’m like, “You kind of suck.” So, of all men, I’m sad that that’s the one it was with.

We also have Demi, who is fully on the outs with everyone except for Whitney. But even Whitney started to question her allegations against Marciano. I haven’t seen the last episode yet, but where do you currently stand in terms of what she’s claimed? 

I think at the end of the day, I’m never going to understand Demi and how she handled the situation and what she did behind the scenes with Jessi and Marciano and Scheana. I don’t understand it and I never will, and vice versa. She maybe will never understand why we don’t fully believe her. I think it just needs to end there, and we all just need to move past it. Because at this point, we’re talking in a repetitive circle and I’m losing my mind. I think all the other women are starting to feel the same, and it’s just not getting us anywhere. It’s not serving anyone. I never will understand how Demi handled it. There’s a lot of really questionable things, but at the end of the day, I’m never going to say I don’t believe someone if they’re claiming that something happened to them to that extent. That’s awful and horrific. If that really did happen, then I feel nothing but remorse and sadness for her. I don’t really understand how that situation went, and I feel like I’ll always just kind of keep Demi at an arm’s distance now, just because of some of the things we have seen. If she’s willing to do that to her best friend, she’s willing to do that to anybody. I’ll keep an arm’s distance and I’ll have respect for her and be cordial, but we’ll never be best friends. 

You’re super close with Miranda, and we saw Bret say she’s “deeply rooted in white trash.” As Miranda’s close friend, what do you say to that?

As Miranda’s best friend, she is our soft spoken angel and she has a hard time sometimes advocating for herself and speaking up for herself. We’ve seen that a lot throughout this experience. Sometimes she has a hard time standing up for herself and I used to be a lot like that. You’ll see in the future that she does confront Bret about it, and I wish she would have gone a little bit harder at him. She definitely went a little easy on him. I think that Bret and Demi have almost this God complex, if that makes sense. I feel like the way that they speak about other people is very telling of who they are and their character. He said awful things about me in the past. He said awful things about every one of us in this group in the past. It’s just very telling. He’s lucky that he said those things about somebody that’s soft-spoken. I’ll just say that because if he would have said those things about anybody else, I feel like he would have definitely got his ass handed to him, which rightfully so.

How do you feel about DadTok getting so involved in the drama this season? 

It’s hard. I really like some of them. I’m not going to name names. They are some of the husbands that I’m like, “I actually genuinely like you. I feel like me and you can have a good conversation.” I especially love Conner. I love that man so much. He is truly a saint of a husband. But then there’s some of the husbands that you’ll see in future times that I really strongly dislike. I think it’s cool that they want to be involved in this world and stuff like that. But it’s also like, take a step back and realize that this is your wife’s world. This is your partner’s world. You need to let her have her thing and stop opening your mouth in some situations. That’s a little hint towards the future things that you’ll see. 

I’m curious about where you currently stand with Whitney. I know the whole cast has been showing up for her and Jen at Dancing with the Stars, and Whitney’s definitely been under the microscope on the internet. Do you think people are being too hard on her or is it deserved? How do you think she and Jen handled the competition?

I love Whitney. I feel like Whitney is one of my closest friends in this group. Me and her have always been really close. We’ve had our times. We’ve had our ups and downs. Naturally, that happens in relationships. But right now, me and Whitney are in a really good place, I’m actually going to go to the show tomorrow and see her dance again. So sad that Jen’s not going to be there. I’m literally heartbroken. That was really hard. We were also there last week to support them and seeing her get cut, I literally started crying. I felt so gutted for her. I can’t imagine how hard it is to be in a dancing competition. But then add children on top of it, add a husband on top of it, add our jobs that we already have on top of it, and the show. Then you’re going against one of your coworkers. It’s a lot. But I think the women have been handling it really well. People love to talk. I think that’s the one thing that all of us women have learned from being a part of this world is people love to speak on things they probably shouldn’t be speaking on. But I think the women are handling it really, really well, and I’m really proud of them. 

It does not surprise me that there was drama between Taylor and Dakota this season. Do you think Dakota’s communication with her family friend was truly the last straw? I know Taylor is going on The Bachelorette, but is she fully ready to move on from him?

I don’t think Taylor will ever get back together with Dakota. I think that that really was like the straw that broke the camel’s back. I can’t [say] that she will never engage with him again. I think in terms of ever pursuing a full on relationship where they are committed to each other, that’s never going to happen again. I’m proud of her for that. It sucks that I had to go to the extremes of him being with a family member. I feel like he’s just crazy, and it sucks that Taylor had to let him go to that level of [betrayal] to not want to pursue him anymore. But I’m proud of her. I’m really excited for her on this journey. I’m hoping that this works out for her and she’s getting what she deserves.

Jen and Whitney were on Dancing with the Stars and Taylor is going to be on The Bachelorette. If you could pick any other show to go on, what would it be and why?

I would love to do Dancing with the Stars. I think all of us women would love to do that one. That one would be so fun. Traitors is a really good one. It depends. I feel like I would love to host a show. I feel like that’d be so cool. We see Ariana Madix on Love Island and things like that. I feel like we see people go into those types of realms. I feel like it would be so cool to do something like that one day. I think I’m open to anything. I think when you’re in this world, you get handed a lot of opportunities and you get cool things that you can be a part of. I think that it would be silly to pass anything up. So I’m open to anything.

There were some fun cameos this season, from Khloe Kardashian and Scott Disick, to Lana Del Ray. Have there been any other celebs you have slid into your DMs, or that you’ve met and been surprised that they are a fan of a show?

Yeah, me and Jessi, post Season 2, we went to a Hulu event that was in New York. It was an event that a bunch of Hulu and ABC shows go to. And we met [Ashton Kutcher]. We saw him across the room and I was like, “Oh, my gosh, can we take a picture with you?” And then he was like, “I love your show.” And we were like, “Shut your mouth. No, you do not.” And he was like, “Yeah, me and my wife literally watch all the time.” Then proceeded to FaceTime her and she was like, “Oh,my gosh, girls, did he tell you that we love your show?” And I was like, “I can’t.” I feel like I will never in my head ever view myself as a celebrity or anything like that. I’m happy that I view myself that way because I want to always stay humble. But it’s just the hardest thing for me to wrap my brain around the fact that people care about my life and who I am. When I meet an actual celebrity in my brain that is an A-list, I’m like, “You don’t know who we are, what are you talking about?” The fact that they like our show and are into it, it’s just so crazy. It’s so cool. I’ll never get used to it, but I’m so grateful for it. 

I certainly hope we get another reunion. If that’s the case, what are some questions you want answered? What are you hoping to address?

I would love to talk to Mayci and Mikayla about why they got so heated at my birthday party. Just like why that caused such an extreme reaction. I would love to talk to Bret about getting what he said to Miranda. I think that that was completely inappropriate, and I think he needs to be called out for it for sure. I think Dakota needs to answer a lot of questions. Obviously, that man gives us a run for our money, that’s for sure. I feel like the world would love to know some answers about that. I feel like, obviously, people would love to know about Jessi and Jordan and what’s going on in that situation. I feel like there’s a lot of things that are left open-ended this season, which will be fun to maybe get some answers on. 

That’s right. I did like to see you stand up for yourself with the whole Mikayla and Mayci thing.

That was hard for me. Confrontation has not always been my strong suit. I’m finally a lot better at it now that we’re working more and more into this experience. I feel like the deeper I get into it, the more I’m like, “I don’t care.” But after that scene, I was literally– they didn’t show this–but I was physically shaking in the bathroom, bawling my eyes out and trying to rip my mic off and go home like, “I just want to leave. I just want to leave. I just wanna leave.” But now I’m even more confident in myself now. If that were to happen currently, I’d be like, “Okay, you can leave.” I feel like I’ve definitely come more into myself as a person, and I’m very proud of myself for how I handled some situations this season. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives Season 3 is currently streaming on Hulu.