The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star Mikayla Matthews is getting candid about her health journey.
“This itself has been a very intense, traumatic experience. I feel like there’s a reason I’m going through this,” Matthews, 26, said in a Thursday, April 30, TikTok video, noting in the caption that she will soon travel to Europe for a detox retreat. “I think like every single day how grateful I am to be in the position that I’m in.”
She tearfully added, “I could not imagine not being in a place financially that I’m in right now or having the support that I have and having to go through this alone.”
Matthews confirmed earlier this week that she recently relocated to Hawaii to seek treatment for an unspecified skin issue and unknown chronic illness.
“I feel like I’m in a very transformative period of my health right now, making really big changes,” Matthews said in a follow-up TikTok upload shared on Friday, May 1. “I want to show my skin how it is and how it’s changing. I will be vlogging every single day and starting every video with a skin update.”
The next day, Matthews offered her update during “Day 3 in Hawaii.”
Got to go FULLY into the ocean yesterday so that was the biggest win ???????????????????? @The Westin Maui #chasinghealthy #chronicillness #hawaii
“I’ve been limiting moisture because I want my natural oils to come through,” she said on Saturday, May 2. “[I don’t] have any redness, just dryness. I think the leg dryness is way better. … It doesn’t hurt, it’s just dry now. I’m going to hop in the shower, put my lotion on, exfoliate and then we’re going to go in the ocean.”
Matthews, who shares four children with estranged husband Jace Terry, has been navigating chronic illness for several years without receiving a concrete diagnosis.
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“[I] haven’t found any answers yet,” she exclusively told Us Weekly in 2024. “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, and so that’s kind of been the trickiest.”
Matthews further detailed how her health issues affected her parenting duties.
“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 at the time. “that was a really hard time. I feel like my confidence was at an all time low. I feel, like, my quality of life wasn’t great because I could barely do anything.”
