The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star Layla Taylor has revealed that she's bisexual -- and that she's currently dating a woman.

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"It's just something that I honestly didn't really know how to formally address for a long period of my life, and that's -- I'm gay and I'm bi and date women and men," Taylor, 25, revealed during the Monday, June 29 episode of the "On Purpose With Jay Shetty" podcast.

Layla went on to explain why she waited so long to be open about her sexuality.

"Growing up, I didn't fit in for a lot of reasons in my childhood. I grew up in a very predominantly white area, and being a little Black girl, I already stood out so much to my peers and kind of took that on a lot more than I feel like I realized," she shared.

"I always had these thoughts and I kind of laugh about it now because I would be watching shows like Pretty Little Liars and I would watch, like, Shay Mitchell kissing a girl. I was like, 'Wait, why is that hot?' But I didn't know what those feelings were because I didn't have queer representation around me."

Layla explained how she never learned that being gay is "normal" because she didn't know a same-sex couple or see examples of that kind of love in her personal life.

"It wasn't necessarily that I had parents -- or I was Mormon at one point -- but I didn't necessarily have that pressure to not do that. I just didn't have people around me that modeled that," the Hulu reality TV star explained.

"It's something for a long time I didn't know if it was just a phase or something [like], 'Maybe I'm just curious.'"

Layla admitted that she felt like she "had to stay closeted" for years because she didn't think her parents would support her.

Layla -- who married Clayton Wessell at age 19 and got divorced in 2025 -- continued, "I would just kind of underplay it for a long period of my life. [Now] I just feel like I'm finally in the era that I'm over not being truly myself and I'm over not showing every part of Layla to the world."

She added, "I'm very proud to be bi, and I'm very proud now to be out."

Layla said she hopes people in a similar situation will feel "safe" to come out and truly be themselves.

The mother of two said she feels right about coming out now because she went through a breakup with Mason McWhorter earlier this year and is tired of living her life "for other people."

"Whether that was being a mom or being in a marriage... I just feel like I was always fulfilling other people around me, and it honestly caused me to just never really focus on myself," she said.

Layla said she was allowed to sit in her feelings and "get to the root" of what makes her tick following that breakup.

"I just always pushed it aside, like, again, 'Oh this is just a phase. You're not actually attracted to girls. You're just drunk at a party and you kissed a girl. It's not a big deal. You're not gay, Layla, just ignore that,"' she recalled.

"I just felt like I was never in a place where I felt like I could, truly, authentically focus on it. And honestly, that breakup was a blessing in disguise because now I've been fully able to just focus on Layla and focus on who I truly am."

Layla gushed about how she felt great and wished she had come out "forever ago."

"I don't know why, for so long, I was so afraid, but there are people who are going to judge me and who are not going to be supportive of it," Layla noted.

"Luckily, for me, I am in a position where I am surrounded by so much love and so much support. I haven't told a lot of people around me that I am, so honestly, they're going to be finding out for themselves on this podcast."

Layla -- who claimed her The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives co-stars have been in the dark about her sexuality until now -- said she's so grateful to finally be herself, knowing people will still love and support her.

"We've been -- not in a bad place [with] any of us girls -- [but] I know that there's some friendships that are in different places than they have been in the past. We've been a little separate since going on that pause from filming [SLOMW]," Layla explained, referring to the show's brief hiatus amid Taylor Frankie Paul's legal troubles with ex-boyfriend Dakota Mortensen.

"I just haven't seen any of them in person, and I feel like me coming out is not a text, like, 'Hey, I'm bi!' I wanted to see them in person to let them know... but right now, no one in the group knows."

Layla predicted, however, that her co-stars will be supportive and she's lucky to have them in her life.

Later in the conversation, Layla opened up about how she's dating a woman right now, although she chose not to identify her by name.

Layla revealed how she had liked one of this woman's TikToks and then the woman -- who allegedly had "a gut feeling" Layla is gay -- DMed her with eye emojis, which resulted in them meeting up.

"We hung out and it was that first kiss where [I] was like, 'This wasn't just a drunk moment. This is me intentionally going into a moment, knowing how I felt about women," Layla shared.

"This was my first time actively dating a woman, and I was like, 'Okay, this is what I want to do.'"

When asked to compare her current relationship with her male exes, Layla pointed out how women tend to be "more emotionally aware" as well as "patient."

She elaborated, "I feel like at least who I'm talking to right now, she's just been very understanding and letting me take this at my own pace because it is just still foreign to me and it is so new. [It's the] level of understanding and just being there for me."
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

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