The feud between Secret Lives of Mormon Wives costars Whitney Leavitt and Mikayla Matthews just got very messy, courtesy of the controversial and infamous RSV dance video.
For those Hulu fans that need a refresher, Whitney, 31, and Mikayla, 25, have actually been at odds since season 1. Mikayla, specifically, wasn’t thrilled with how she was treated by Whitney, resulting in a heated argument during season 2, which premiered in May.
It also resulted in a back-and-forth on TikTok. Whitney has questioned how many of Mikayla’s videos are about her — and recently got in on the shade with her own not-so-subtle response.
“POV: she made another video about me,” Whitney captioned a TikTok on Monday, June 9, to which Mikayla replied, “Should’ve done this one in the hospital, it slayed.”
Season 1 of the hit Hulu series featured a candid conversation where Whitney addressed the controversial clip. The video was filmed while Whitney’s son, whom she shares with husband Connor Leavitt, was hospitalized in the NICU with RSV and pneumonia. Whitney was criticized for playfully dancing to a song in the hospital — as her infant slept next to her.
“The first couple of days were scary, but he was getting better. So I’m thinking let’s do something fun and I made a video,” she explained in the September 2024 video. “People felt like I was using my child’s sickness for clout or attention. Everyone was so quick to forgive Taylor online for swinging and I feel like I still get bashed on every video.”
Jessi Ngatikaura defended Whitney by noting that her costar was in good spirits because her son was on the mend, adding, “What her intention was, was not what was received.”
However, Demi Engemann claimed that Whitney told her that her intentions were “to get likes and clout” after they tried ketamine therapy together.
“Coming out of ketamine, you are feeling things very deeply. Truths are coming out about yourself that maybe you wouldn’t otherwise admit,” Demi, 30, stated. “And in that moment, she admitted to me that video that she posted was for sympathy, likes, clout, recognition and to gain her following.”
Despite their issues, Whitney and Demi are now close amid Demi’s various feuds with the MomTok group.
“There’s definitely things that I didn’t agree with what Demi did — and I’ll tell that to her face. She already knows that,” Whitney exclusively told Us in May. “But I think just more than anything, I just know that everyone is always going through something.”
Whitney defended their friendship, saying, “There’s a reason they’re reacting the way that they’re reacting and in this group, what I like to believe is that the intent is to not be malicious or to intentionally hurt people. It’s so much deeper than that and unfortunately hurt people, hurt people.”
Whitney also weighed in on Demi’s future in MomTok.
“You have to compartmentalize relationships in this group and for Demi, she is an adult. If she wants to leave and doesn’t want to be a part of it anymore, that’s going to be her decision,” she teased to Us. “But I don’t need to go and follow suit and be like, ‘OK, peace out too.’ If I wanted to leave, then that has to be my own decision. I’m not going to do it because somebody else has left.”
