As Secret Lives of Mormon Wives premieres on Hulu, fans are wondering what the drama behind Whitney Leavitt's husband is/was.
The newly-debuted streaming docuseries centers on a group of middle-aged female Mormon influencers who several years ago were at the center of a dramatic swinging scandal that went viral both in and out of the Mormon community.
Because of the dramatic conceit at the center of the show, each of the personalities present comes with their own drama, but few have the uniquely emotional baggage of the Leavitt family.
What Happened to Whitney Leavitt's Husband?
Audiences have been confused as the first episode of Secret Live of Mormon Wives revealed what happened to Whitney Leavitt's husband, Connor.
Coming into the series, Leavitt and her family had moved back to Utah (from their new home in Hawaii) to face the rest of the cast for the first time since the swinging scandal that swept the online Mormon community known as "MomTok" in June 2022.
Originally Leavitt had given her friends their reason for leaving the state as to avoid the "noise" surrounding the scandal; however, in the season premiere of the new Hulu docuseries, Leavitt disclosed that the move was based on a whole lot more than that.
According to Leavitt, the reason for the move from Utah was due to an entirely different personal scandal her husband, Connor Leavitt, was dealing with at the time.
Leavitt confirmed in the series the rumors of her husband using Tinder in the lead-up to their move was, in fact, the actual reason.
In a now-deleted YouTube video from December 2022, Leavitt and her husband addressed the allegations, revealing that he had used the platform and all the rumors were true (via Today).
Leavitt's husband admitted, "I had a presence on Tinder. But it really stemmed from an addiction," before positing that he "wasn’t looking for anything [and] never met anybody" in his time using the online dating application (via @amanda_christie1 on TikTok):
“I had a presence on Tinder. But it really stemmed from an addiction. I want to clarify that I wasn’t looking for anything. I never met with anybody on the app or in person. I never had any meaningful conversations with anybody. I was just seeking something deeper."
He said that he was "hoping to validate my feelings and my emotions," but regrets his decisions:
"I was hoping to validate my feelings and my emotions. So, I decided to tell my wife the whole truth, because she deserved to know. She deserved to know way before I told her. I wanted her to have the ability to make any decisions she wanted to make."
He would then say he was working with mental health professionals to help remedy the situation before citing an instance of sexual assault from his childhood that he believes put him on this path:
"But after that wake-up call, I felt like I needed an intervention, and I kind of got one. And the truth is that I was doing everything I could to numb a much deeper pain. Through the help of mental health professionals, I had come to that what I was doing was fairly common for people who were sexually assaulted as children. I was a victim of sexual assault when I was five years old."
Whitney Leavitt herself detailed more of her thinking in the first episode of Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.
In the series, she told her friends/fellow cast members that "There was a rumor that Connor was on Tinder ... I lied about it because I was embarrassed" (as transcribed by TooFab):
"There was a rumor that Connor was on Tinder ... I lied about it because I was embarrassed ... I didn’t know it was true until I confronted Connor. I went to him like, look at this joke."
"There was more to that. He had been struggling with a porn addiction," Leavitt continued, remarking that she thought that "he was just confused" thanks to a variety of factors:
"There was more to that. He had been struggling with a porn addiction ... there’s a whole story, there’s a reason why people do certain things. I think he was just confused. It’s something that we’re working through."
Despite all of this, the pair have decided to stay together and are currently expecting their third child.
Secret Lives of Mormon Wives is now streaming on Hulu.
