Following MomTok’s now-infamous “soft-swinging” scandal, Miranda McWhorter took a step back from the group — but she’s ready to return and share her side of the story in season 2 of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.
“A lot was going through my mind, coming back, obviously,” Miranda, 27, exclusively tells Us Weekly in the latest cover story. “I think, especially through the first season, I tossed the idea back and forth, and ultimately I decided that it wasn’t a good fit. I think there are a lot of reasons for that.”
She adds, “I wasn’t quite going through a divorce at the time of the decision-making process, but had I decided to, my divorce would’ve been on [the show], and I think that would’ve been very difficult. Reality TV isn’t always great for relationships.”
Miranda was one of the original members of “MomTok,” a group of Utah-based influencers and moms who used the social media platform to redefine stereotypes in their marriages and as members of the Church of Latter-Day Saints. Their friendship is chronicled on Hulu’s The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, which began in the aftermath of Taylor Frankie Paul’s bombshell confession that she and then-husband Tate Paul had been intimate with other couples in the group.
Miranda and her ex-husband, Chase McWhorter, divorced following the scandal and now coparent son Brooks, 6, and daughter Cohen, 4. It wasn’t just an adjustment for the social media star to join the show amid her family struggles, but also because of Taylor, 30.
“It was difficult to conceptualize the idea of Taylor and I having to work together because it’s no secret that we were not close at the time,” Miranda tells Us. “We weren’t on great terms and I think it was hard to really conceptualize the idea of her and I working closely together and allowing someone in my space and being OK, knowing that it was obviously going to disrupt my piece and probably hers as well.”
But, as time went on, Miranda warmed to the idea of joining Secret Lives.
“As time went on and then after my divorce and becoming a single mom, I think it started to make more sense,” Miranda says. “I think I also had done a lot of work on where I was at with my past, with the whole swinging thing [and] things in my marriage. I had come to terms with a lot of things, and I think I grew a lot as a person. And so, between all of that and obviously being able to support my children, I think it all played a role in my decision to come back and it was a hard decision to make, but I’m glad I did.”
Once she started filming, Miranda was able to clear the air with Taylor.
“I think it definitely was [difficult], but I have a completely different perspective on it this time around than I did obviously when it was first out,” Miranda recalls. “I think I have a different standing in the Church and I have a different standing in my relationship, [and] just in my life as a whole. I think it’s brought a newfound perspective.”
She adds, “In some weird way, I think there’s a level of gratitude that I have for the whole thing, and I think that talking about it, especially with Taylor and being more forthcoming about it, wasn’t easy, but at the same time, I think there’s so much that I had come to terms with at that point that I knew that it would be free in a sense.”
While Miranda does admit that some of their conversations were “uncomfortable,” it ended up bringing her peace.
“At the end of the day, even though I don’t necessarily see it as catastrophic as I felt like it was back then, it still is awkward and uncomfortable and a weird thing that happened,” she says. “So, it’s still a little bit strange, but all in all, the fact that I can speak about it so openly now is very shocking to me because me in 2022 probably wouldn’t have assumed that I would be at this point. So, I’m really glad that I made it here.”
Taylor, for her part, reveals in a separate conversation with Us that the two women have turned a corner in their friendship.
“Originally, [the rest of the cast and I] were giving her her crap for just kind of coming in. We’re like, ‘Oh, you didn’t want to do it, now you do,’” Taylor notes. “We were very up front, like, ‘Hey, we know that you came into this knowing it was a good hit.’ And she did admit that, which was great because it’s like there was no way you were probably going to get around that. I appreciated her honesty with it.”
Taylor also acknowledges that she “left [their] relationship also hurting” Miranda.
“It wasn’t this one-way street where she left me. It was both of us that caused hurt for each other and betrayed each other, I would say,” Taylor says. “So for me, it was easy to let her back in [and] give her grace because I was given that grace by other people, so I wanted to give it to her in return. We still go through our obstacles … but, today we’re sitting side by side, so it was good.”
As for Miranda, the experience was “the first time” she was completely open and honest about the swinging scandal.
“I think that there’s ups and downs between my relationship with Taylor and just coming back in general,” Miranda tells Us, teasing her role in Secret Lives season 2. “I think it’ll be very interesting to watch back. I’m ready for it [and] I’m excited for it, but there are definitely some reservations and curiosities as far as to how [I’ll feel having] lived it, but it’s very different when you’re watching it.”
The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives season 2 premieres Thursday, May 15 on Hulu.
For more from Miranda, watch the video above and pick up the latest issue of Us Weekly — on newsstands now.
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