Mikayla Matthews, one of the stars of Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, is bravely sharing her story of surviving childhood sexual abuse.
Trigger warning: The following contains discussion of sexual abuse. Please read with care.
In a candid interview with People, Mikayla revealed that she endured four to five years of sexual abuse before confiding in her mother at the age of 15.
However, instead of support, she recalls feeling dismissed and emotionally abandoned.
Season 2 of the show will follow Mikayla as she navigates a vulnerable and “nerve-racking” conversation with her sisters—one she describes as the first time she’s addressed the trauma with them since it occurred.
Reflecting on her current relationship with her mother, Mikayla admits it remains complicated.
“I definitely feel weary about my relationship with my mom, even though we’re not super close.”
“I still have a lot of empathy for her and what she’s been through, even though she was not that person for me growing up and during the whole situation when I came out about sexual abuse.”
Mikayla has also been vulnerable about her health journey and struggling with chronic illness, which she believes has been impacted by her emotional journey.
“I was doing so much at one point where it was so frustrating that I was like, ‘Why is nothing working? I’m eating asparagus and broccoli every day, doing shots of steroids and all these things, and everything just kept getting worse,'” she recalls.
“And I think it was finally once I kind of let go and started focusing on my mental health and my personal relationship with myself that I saw the most healing on the outside,” she concludes.
