The second season of Hulu’s The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives premieres May 15. It’s been six months since we last saw our favorite soda-drinking Utah moms on the small screen, and I have several questions. Why is Jennifer Affleck still married to her husband, who it turns out is not even related to Ben Affleck? Are Whitney Leavitt and Demi Engemann really friends now? And will Taylor Frankie Paul ever find peace?
The answer to that last question is, perhaps, no, given the fact that a “soft-swinging” mom from Paul’s past is joining the cast this season. Who is Miranda McWhorter, and how did she get involved in all this MomTok drama? Let’s review.
She was an original MomTok creator
Before the swinging scandal made national headlines, “MomTok” was simply a group of Utah moms performing choreographed dances together to trending songs on TikTok. McWhorter was an early member of the group and, specifically, part of a friend trio with Paul and another mom, Camille Munday. Paul, McWhorter, and Munday regularly went viral in 2021 by joking that McWhorter and Munday were twins and Paul was their 50-year-old mother. (Sure!)
@miranda__mcw in my defense, it still might not be hahaha we’ll see #slomw #hulu #momtok
McWhorter currently has 1.2 million followers on TikTok, and she still mostly posts videos of herself dancing to trending songs. She also occasionally features her two kids, Brooks and Cohen, on her account.
She played a central role in the “soft swinging” scandal
Back in 2022, when Paul first started posting about the “soft swinging” scandal that ended her marriage on TikTok, rumors spread wildly that McWhorter and her husband at the time, Chase McWhorter, were involved. The McWhorters initially denied that they were ever swingers, but over time, they have both intimated that there may have been some truth to what Paul was saying.
In an interview with People this month, McWhorter revealed that she wasn’t entirely truthful about her role in the scandal. “I think a lot of Taylor’s frustrations were with me not being totally authentic and truthful,” she said. “I was just like, ‘Well, everyone wasn’t hooking up with everyone,’ and I just left it at that. I get why that would feel unfair to her. I think there was a lot of fear, guilt and shame that played a role in that for me, things that I needed to address in my personal life between my marriage, my religion, all of that.”
Chase, meanwhile, told Us Weekly last year that he and Miranda did attend parties where swinging was happening, but he still wishes Paul had not made it public. “I think we all have regrets,” he said. “I think we all regret what happened. We probably should have not been there. But at the same time, why does this have to be a public thing? It seems like this was all happening behind closed doors, and now Taylor’s using it as a springboard to notoriety when she’s the one that actually just cheated.”
McWhorter, at least, is able to joke about the scandal, now that she is preparing to go on reality TV and talk about it. She posted this TikTok with Paul this week with the caption, “When your bestie outted [sic] you for being a swinger”:
@miranda__mcw i love that i can self deprecate over this now actually lmao @Taylor Paul #momtok #slomw #secretlives
♬ Hit Me – Megan Hilty & Christopher Sieber & Jennifer Simard
Chase commented, “2022 was a blur.” Okay!
She is recently divorced
Alas, Miranda and Chase are no longer together: Miranda announced in a TikTok last year that she got divorced. Luckily, this paved the way for her to join The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives in season two. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter this month, she said that she decided to join the show after declining to be cast in the first season in part because she is single now.
@hollywoodreporter #mirandamcwhorter talks about her decision to rejoin #momtok and join the cast of #secretlivesofmormonwives for season 2
♬ original sound – The Hollywood Reporter – The Hollywood Reporter
“I’m no longer married; that was a big part of it for sure,” McWhorter said. “I still had a lot of healing to do in season one regarding my past with Taylor, and I wasn’t sure at that time if I was ready to let that back in and potentially risk putting myself in that position again to be so hurt. And I think I’ve done a lot of healing since then, and by the time season two was about to start, I was divorced and just really wanting to close the chapter of the whole swinging thing and my past.”
That may take some time. In the trailer for season two, McWhorter can be seen telling the other women “no one had sex ever” — seemingly in reference to the swinging scandal — but the other women do not seem to be convinced. Maybe she can finally close the chapter in season three.
Click here to preview your posts with PRO themes ››
