A Public Shift in Identity
Layla Taylor, the 25-year-old star of the Hulu series The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, has publicly identified as bisexual. On the October 21, 2024, episode of the On Purpose with Jay Shetty podcast, Taylor confirmed she is currently in a relationship with a woman, marking a significant personal milestone following her separation from husband Mason McWhorter.
The Catalyst of a Broken Marriage
The path to this revelation began with the dissolution of her marriage to McWhorter, whom she wed in 2022. The couple separated in February 2024. For Taylor, the split served as an unexpected turning point. “I just feel like I never was in a place that I feel like I could truly authentically focus on it,” she told Shetty. She described the end of the marriage as a “blessing in disguise,” providing the necessary space for her to prioritize her own development. “I’m over not being truly myself and I’m over not showing every part of Layla to the world,” she said.
Isolation and the Absence of Role Models
Taylor’s journey was complicated by her upbringing. Growing up as a Black girl in a predominantly white environment, she often felt like an outsider, a dynamic that she believes led her to suppress her feelings for years. The lack of visible queer figures in her life meant she had no template for her experiences. “I didn’t have queer representation around me of someone I could look at and be like, ‘OK, this is normal,’” she explained. While she was raised in the Mormon faith, she noted that it was not religious pressure that forced her to hide, but rather a total absence of queer role models to help her process her identity. She recalled watching Pretty Little Liars as a teenager, feeling a confusing attraction to characters on screen that she could not yet name.
Embracing a New Chapter
Though she has chosen to keep the identity of her current partner private, Taylor spoke with enthusiasm about dating women, noting they are “emotionally aware about certain things and very patient.” This transition comes as her profile rises following the September 2024 premiere of her Hulu series, which explores the lives of women within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints community in Utah. Taylor, who also shares a child with former partner Clayton Wessell, stated she is now in a place where she feels “very proud” to be out.