Layla Taylor is clearing the air after receiving backlash for facilitating a “pregnancy roulette” game on The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.
During the second season of the hit Hulu series, which premiered on Thursday, May 15, Taylor Frankie Paul, Whitney Leavitt, Jen Affleck, Demi Engemann, Mikayla Matthews, Mayci Neeley, Jessi Ngatikaura, Miranda McWhorter and Layla played the controversial game during a cast trip. Each person had to take a pregnancy test and the results were revealed anonymously — meaning the women didn’t know whose test they showed to the rest of the group.
Two tests came back positive — Mayci and Mikayla — but the women kept quiet because Demi broke down in tears. Earlier in the season, Demi, 30, revealed she was struggling to get pregnant with husband Bret Engemann.
Demi said on the show that she wasn’t thrilled about unveiling a positive pregnancy test that belonged to one of her costars amid her own fertility journey. The friend group apologized for having Demi play the emotional game, which Layla was asked about in the comments section of a TikTok when the season premiered.
“The pregnancy test roulette tho,” read a response from a viewer. Layla replied, “Wasn’t my idea.”
Before the episodes were released, Demi spoke exclusively to Us Weekly about her fertility, saying, “Even throughout season 1, I was like, ‘Is this for me?’ Even going into filming season 1, it was a big decision. You think that if you were presented with this opportunity, it would just be an easy yes and jump all in. In my stage of life blending a family, trying for another baby and being a busy mom and wife and trying to navigate that — it’s different than being single and then being presented with this opportunity.”
Demi said the “stakes are higher” for her. “You have less time and you’re not only putting yourself out there to be judged — but you are putting your family out there as well,” she added. “It was not a decision that I took lightly or that me and my husband took lightly. So there were definitely moments throughout moments where we were just like, ‘Is this for us?'”
The second season also brought up a rumor that Demi’s husband, Bret, 46, was unfaithful after Mayci received an anonymous message on social media claiming he slept with someone when Demi was out of town.
“The truth always reveals itself. Until there is proof, I don’t give it any credit or any weight. I don’t understand why something that is not true would bother you so deeply,” Demi told Bret on camera, as he replied, “I need to worry less about optics.”
A hot-mic moment, however, teased more tension between Demi and Bret.
“Are we on the same page here? You have to know deep in your core that I would never do that to you,” Bret said after cameras stopped rolling. “It bothers me. I want to find out who it was. I want to know who said it because I want to go after them. It pisses me off. You know I didn’t do that.”
Demi questioned Bret’s “overexplaining,” saying, “I don’t know what it is with you. Why do we keep talking about it? The way you are reacting is a little bit confusing. If I am guilty, this is how I am acting.”
The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives is currently streaming on Hulu.
