Secret Lives of Mormon Wives’ Mikayla Hopes for Illness ‘Answers’

Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star Mikayla Matthews still does not have clarity about her chronic illness.

“Haven’t found any answers yet,” Mikayla exclusively told Us Weekly. “Still doing more testing. I just got a biopsy done yesterday. I’m going to go to a cancer institute and get tested for different blood cancers.”

Mikayla opened up on her social media and the Hulu reality series about her chronic illness, which leaves red splotches on her skin. On the show, Mikayla explained that she underwent a “hair analysis test, urine test, stool test” for her condition but hadn’t received a diagnosis.

While speaking with Us, Mikayla held out her forearm to show the redness. “We’re still red, we’re still going through it,” she said.

“I’m a lot better than I was, but I still have my ups and downs, so it’s just frustrating to not get any answers and feel like I’m on my own and then have to navigate being in this really exciting time while not feeling my best,” Mikayla continued. “And so that’s kind of been the trickiest.”

Mikayla explained that her condition took a toll on her while filming the Secret Lives of Mormon Wives and taking care of her and husband Jace Terry’s three kids.

“There was the time where the back of my legs and every crease was cut and bleeding, and I could barely even stand up and walk and take care of my kids,” she said. “And so that was a really hard time. I feel like my confidence was at an all time low. I feel like just my quality of life wasn’t great because I could barely do anything.”

She continued, “I was filming during that time, and so I would go, I would be crying on the way to filming, being like, ‘Oh my gosh, I look so horrible.’ And then I would get there and just not be fully present.”

Mikayla shared that she hopes to be in a “healthier state” for a potential season two of Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. “Maybe I’ll be the villain [in] season two and more confrontational for calling everybody wrong,” she joked.

The Hulu reality series follows a group of Mormon mom influencers, who dominated TikTok in 2022 for their unconventional lifestyles. The show begins after Taylor Frankie Paul blamed “soft swinging” (intimacy with someone outside of marriage) as the reason behind divorce from then-husband Tate Paul.

Following the Secret Lives of Mormon Wives’ release, Mikayla shared behind-the-scenes images of the red splotches on her skin.

“What you didn’t see on the show💗,” she wrote in a Sunday, September 8, Instagram post. “Showing up for filming the whole first season was not only physically exhausting but extremely mentally challenging and watching the show it’s very obvious I was fighting for my life, not only cause I’m surrounding by crazy women lol but because I was really really struggling.”

She continued, “I want to continue to shed light on the many stages of my chronic illness and chronic illness in general. hope to come back again SEASON 2 and share my full story🫶🏼🫶🏼💅🏼#secretlivesofmormonwives #chronicillness.”

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

With reporting by Christina Garibaldi