EXCLUSIVE'The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives' Star Whitney Leavitt Says the Way Mikayla Matthews Treated Her Is 'Not Okay'
Whitney Leavitt exclusively told OK! about her relationship with Mikayla Matthews from 'The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.'
May 23 2025, Published 5:49 p.m. ET
The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star Whitney Leavitt is well aware she’s the villain of the show — and she doesn’t care.
During a Wednesday, May 21, appearance on "The Squeeze" podcast, her costar Mikayla Matthews said she reminds her of her mom, who “wasn’t around” throughout a traumatic childhood of sexual abuse.
In an exclusive interview with OK! about her partnership with Vegamour, Leavitt told her side of the story.
'The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives' Season 2 premiered this May.
"I haven't listened to the episode, but that doesn't justify the way that I've been treated," Leavitt declared. "There’s multiple conversations that I've tried to have, and you have to be the one to also want to have those conversations. We all go through trauma. We all go through something hard in our life, but it doesn't justify how you treat someone else — and how I've been treated by this person is not okay."
Even though she tried to reach out to Matthews in an attempt to reconcile, the mom-of-three claims "it takes two people to have a relationship."
"I think that there can be cordial[ness] and respect, but there will never be friendship there," she revealed.
Why Does Mikayla Matthews Hate Whitney Leavitt?
Mikayla Matthews told her side of the story.
During a Tuesday, May 20, appearance on "The Viall Files," Matthews alleged that Leavitt was "feeding into this role of, 'Oh, make me your villain'" and claimed her portrayal was "all editing" when Season 1 wrapped. She "didn’t really have that drive" to get involved until Leavitt started feuding with her friend Mayci Neeley.
"She was posting Mayci's text messages where Mayci was backing her hard," she explained to the podcast. "Blindly almost, and I feel like that's when I got almost more defensive, because she was always a s----- friend to Mayci. I always told Mayci that…she was throwing Mayci under the bus."
Matthews proceeded to accuse Leavitt of constantly playing the "victim."
"Every time she goes into something, 'Tell me your issues.' We tell her our issues, and she runs away crying, saying she's the victim and we’re attacking her," she said. "It continued through Season 2. I had probably seven conversations that ended of the exact same way."
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Mikayla Matthews and Whitney Leavitt's Feud on 'The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives'
Whitney Leavitt argued with her friends about a TikTok she filmed while her baby was in the hospital.
The ex-friends took their feud to social media during Season 1. In September 2024, Leavitt posted a TikTok saying the show is "not how [she] remember[s] it."
Matthews was heated up in the comments section, writing, "Sometimes I like to own up to things I do wrong…You should try it."
In Season 1, Episode 4, an argument with her friends about a controversial TikTok video caused Leavitt to leave the group chat and refuse to attend future events with them. She complained to her husband that the moms alienated her and did not invite her to their hangouts.
"The villains are the most misunderstood," she told OK!. "In any superhero movie, we shine. Sometimes, a light shines as to why they do the things that they do. And then you're like, 'Oh, I actually like you.' Maybe the more that people get to know me, they'll understand more of why I do the things that I do."
Whitney Leavitt's Vegamour Collaboration
Whitney Leavitt owns the fact that she's the 'villain' on 'The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.'
Aside from online controversy, Leavitt is fighting another silent battle: hair loss. She’s collaborating with Vegamour to promote their serums, shampoos and conditioners that foster growth.
"Being postpartum, I just hadn't been very confident with my hair," she confessed. "I wanted to give Vegamour a try, and it did wonders. My hair went so far back, and now, I'm like, 'Oh, I have hair that's growing right there.'"
