WHEN millions of viewers first tuned into The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, they probably weren’t prepared for the unholy amount of drama and deceit.
As season five launches today, fans can expect more of the same from the stars of the show, who have given the world an unfiltired look into what it’s like to live as a Mormon wife in Utah, from the intimate details of their plastic surgeries, to countless therapy sessions and other wellness hacks.
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And it’s safe to say, it wasn’t always what people were expecting.
The programme follows eight Mormon social media influencers who started their TikTok account, MomTok, filming dances and lip-syncing.
But once the Hulu camera crew turned up, their lives were exposed for all to see – and nothing was ‘secret’ anymore.
Despite the fact that they are Mormon, most are not practising the religion.
There have been a number of eyebrow-raising topics on the show, from drug and alcohol-use, caffeine consumption, plastic surgery and infidelity.
The stars often defend themselves in the eyes of the church, arguing there are grey areas when it comes to modern practises.
But if you have been left with more questions than answers about the treatments showcased on the show and beyond – and whether they are safe or should be avoided, we’ve asked the experts to give their verdicts.
THE SCIENCE-BACKED ONES
Ketamine therapy
They might be religious, but drugs are not completely off the table.
In series two, Jen and her husband Zac go to ketamine therapy in the midst of marital problems, and Demi has also referenced using it.
Jen said: “Ketamine therapy is supposed to reset a lot of past traumas.
“Ketamine is in a grey area when it comes to the church. It doesn’t promote ketamine, but it definitely doesn’t condemn it.”
Ketamine is both a medicinal drug, used as an anaesthetic in UK hospitals for decades, and an illegal class B recreational street drug that’s behind a major addiction crisis among young people in the UK.
It’s also recognised as a legitimate medicine for depression that is resistant to treatment.
But it is not licensed as such in the UK. It can only be prescribed “off-label” by a private doctor or in clinical trials. In Utah, ketamine is much more accessible for medicinal reasons with mental health and wellness clinics offering it in abundance.
Lucy da Silva, 42, runs the Silva Wellness clinic in Farringdon, London, where patients have ketamine therapy for between £2,000 and £3,000.
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She stresses that ketamine bought on the streets is not the same as that used by psychiatrists or in clinical trials, telling Sun Health: “Seeing it on TV is really positive, because there is a lot of misunderstanding about in the UK.”
Ketamine gives dissociative effects, which can make you feel disconnected from your body or even unconscious.
Lucy’s clinic has treated patients with treatment-resistant depression, eating disorders, PTSD and addictions – as well as with marital problems.
Couples have a psychiatric assessment first, and are only prescribed ketamine if it’s appropriate for their issues.
Lucy says: “We then take over and have a therapist working with the couple for around eight weeks. It is formed as part of a medical or ketamine-assisted protocol, where both partners are in the room together and journey through the ketamine together.
“The therapeutic element is somewhat more important than the medicine, but the medicine allows the neuropathways in the brain [to be] more malleable. So when it’s teamed with therapy, it’s more likely for change to happen.”
At Lucy’s clinic, the ketamine is given in lozenges, which sit under the tongue.
Lucy says: “Lozenges are not formally in the NICE guidelines as a mental health treatment, but there are psychiatrists across the UK that prescribe it off-label for therapeutic uses. I’ve only seen positive outcomes.”
EMDR
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In season two, Mikayla decides to get EMDR, a type of therapy, in a bid to heal from childhood sexual abuse.
Fans were left bewildered when she sat in front of a therapist, who told her to “follow her finger” as she moved it horizontally in front of her face for 30 seconds.
But EMDR, which stands for eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing, has scientific backing and is widely recognised and recommended by major health organisations, including the NHS advisory board NICE, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the American Psychological Association (APA).
It is also offered on the NHS, but this does not mean it’s easily accessible.
During a session, you briefly recall a distressing memory while engaging in bilateral stimulation – typically following a therapist’s moving finger with your eyes – which helps the brain to reprocesses a difficult memory.
It helps a person to detach the emotion from an event and essentially, help them move on from it.
HOW DOES EMDR WORK?
In EMDR therapy you’ll recall a traumatic memory. You usually do this while moving your eyes, like following your therapist’s finger moving side to side. But some therapists might tap their finger, play sounds or use a light instead. This process is often called bilateral stimulation.
You might have to go over the memory multiple times. And you can repeat the method again for different memories.
Researchers aren’t sure exactly why or how EMDR works. It’s thought that it helps your mind process the memory in a different way. This makes it less upsetting. But not everyone finds it helpful.
How can I get EMDR?
You might be able to get EMDR therapy from the NHS. But it might not be widely available in all areas of the country and waiting lists can be very long.
You might be able to self-refer for EMDR therapy. In other areas a GP might need to refer you.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommends that the NHS offers between 8 and 12 sessions of EMDR therapy. But you should be offered more if you need it. Not all NHS services will be able to do this.
Source: Mind
THE ‘HARMLESS’ WELLNESS ONES
Labiaplasty
Jessi Draper freely discussed getting a labiaplasty following childbirth, inviting the girls to check-out her new bits after the op in season one.
Labiaplasty is when the labia of the vulva (otherwise known as the lips of female privates) are reduced and reshaped. It’s often named ‘designer vagina’ surgery.
Jessi told the cameras: “A labiaplasty basically takes the inside of your vagina, the material that’s a little more sensitive, and tucks it up inside.
“Pregnancy kind of pushes it out and mine decided to stay there.”
Although some women get labiaplasty for aesthetic reasons, The British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS) stresses that a significant number seek it due to physical symptoms, such as discomfort of the labia when wearing tight swimwear or during exercise, irritation within the labial folds or during sex.
It adds that there are “a wide variety of shapes, sizes and appearance of the female genitalia, all of which are within the limits of normal”.
Intimate health, menopause, hormone health and women’s wellness issues expert, Dr Shirin Lakhani said: “Labiaplasty is a surgical procedure, and no surgery is ever risk-free.”
Complications can include bleeding, infection, scarring, ongoing pain and discomfort, she says. Sometimes, there may be a change in sensation or “affect sexual function”.
She says there are many non-surgical alternatives which “use advanced energy-based technologies to stimulate collagen and remodel tissue naturally”.
“One of the most effective and trusted devices for this purpose is Aviva by InMode, which uses radiofrequency energy to gently heat and contract vaginal tissue, improving both appearance and function.”
Salt therapy
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In the first season, Whitney Leavitt and Layla Taylor take their kids to a sandpit room, except it’s filled with salt instead. They sit on camping-style chairs on a bed of salt in a moody-lit room.
Also known as halotherapy, the idea it is that inhaling salt can relieve respiratory health conditions or common colds.
Dr Suzanne Wylie, GP and medical adviser for IQdoctor, tells Sun Health that in these rooms, fine particles of dry salt are dispersed into the air, “with the theory being that inhaling these particles may help loosen mucus, improve clearance from the airways and perhaps have some anti-inflammatory or antimicrobial effects”.
“There is some interesting research in respiratory conditions, particularly asthma and COPD, but the overall evidence is still limited,” she says.
“There is no good evidence that sitting in a salt room kills the virus responsible for a cold or significantly shortens the duration of the infection.”
Dr Wylie said if an otherwise healthy patient wanted to try a salt room, she’d say there is “little reason to be concerned”.
“Someone may find the experience relaxing and may feel that their breathing or congestion is temporarily more comfortable afterwards.”
But she adds: “I would not want them spending significant amounts of money on it because they have been promised that it will cure a respiratory disease.”
The irony of the SLOMW scene, was that Whitney’s children were throwing, licking and eating salt off the floor.
Dr Wylie says: “Whenever you put a number of people together in an enclosed environment and ask them to breathe the same air for a period of time, there is inevitably a potential for respiratory infections to spread.”
THE DANGEROUS ONES
Cadaver filler
Star of the show Taylor Frankie Paul has reportedly had a controversial new type of boob job – AlloClae, as it is known in the US.
Also known as the ‘Zombie BBL’, it’s tempting for people who want to get fat transfer filler, but don’t actually have any fat.
Fat is harvested from cadavers – corpses – and injected into the cleavage and butts of living people.
Advocates say it can refine, reshape, or replace volume anywhere fat naturally exists and lasts longer than synthetic filler.
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In September 2025, plastic surgery group Reflections Medical – with clinics in New York and New Jersey – revealed that Taylor Frankie Paul underwent a procedure to have Motiva implants fitted.
“We also enlisted the help of ‘off the shelf fat’ Alloclae to help blend and smooth out her transition from her chest to her implants,” the clinic initially wrote on Instagram.
But, while it’s not yet approved for use in the UK, a growing number of surgeons in the US are adopting the technique.
Dr Chung Tang, a GP at Pall Mall Healthcare and Cosmetic Surgery, told Sun Health: “Put simply, this is a very high-risk procedure that has not been approved and is illegal in the UK.
“This isn’t just ‘a new type of filler’.
“It’s a medical procedure using donated human tissue, and that carries much bigger risks than many people may realise.
“Even with checks in place, there is a risk of serious infection, swelling, blood clots, or fat getting into the bloodstream.
“In rare cases, this can be life-threatening.”
Black market fat jabs
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In hard-to-watch scenes in series four, Layla admits to use GLP-1 drugs (the class of drugs that include Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro).
The aspiring model has a history of anorexia and admitted she had developed an unhealthy relationship with the drug, which is an obesity medication that reduces appetite, in an attempt to stay low weight.
Concerned co-stars Miranda and Jessi listened to Layla as she discussed how she couldn’t stop taking the drug.
Layla told Allure in March 2026 that she got tirzepatide (brand name Mounjaro) from “a plastic surgeon here in Utah”.
“They just handed it to me without ever having an appointment with me,” Layla shared. “They got me a prescription and it was at my house the next day.”
Layla stopped taking the drug and entered an outpatient facility for eating disorder treatment and has shared updates on Instagram this year about her recovery.
Dr Charlotte Ord, a Counselling Psychologist specialising in eating disorders and author of Body Confident You, Body Confident Kid, tells Sun Health: “The UK has stricter safeguards in place than those described in Layla’s account, although there have been concerns about some providers.”
Both private prescribers and the NHS should consider factors such as a history of eating disorder.
“However, demand for weight loss injections has grown rapidly, and UK regulators have taken action because of considerable concerns about inappropriate online prescribing,” says Dr Ord.
“People with a history of eating disorders, including anorexia, remain at increased risk of relapse, even after recovery.
“Rapid weight loss, appetite suppression, and renewed focus on body weight can all act as triggers.”
“It’s also worth noting that reality television inevitably edits and compresses complex stories.”