Layla Taylor From Secret Lives of Mormon Wives Opens Up About Being Bisexual and Dating a Woman

Layla Taylor, 25, is opening up about her identity. The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives cast member revealed during an appearance on the "On Purpose With Jay Shetty" podcast that she identifies as bisexual and is currently dating a woman.

"It's just something that I honestly didn't really know how to formally address for a long period of my life. … I'm gay and I'm bi and date women and men," Taylor shared on the show.

Reflecting on her upbringing, Taylor discussed the lack of LGBTQ+ representation she encountered growing up. She recalled being a young Black girl in a predominantly white area, which already made her feel like an outsider. "Growing up, I didn't fit in for a lot of reasons in my childhood," she explained. "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?'"

The visibility gap was significant for Taylor. "I didn't know what those feelings were because I didn't have queer representation around me of [someone] I could look at it and be like, 'OK, this is normal.' 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," she said.

Taylor was previously married to Clayton Wessell, and she acknowledged spending years downplaying her authentic self. "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. I'm very proud now to be out," she stated.

When asked whether her Secret Lives of Mormon Wives castmates are aware of her sexuality, Taylor said they're not—at least not yet. "We've been…not in a bad place [with] any of us girls," she noted. "[But] I know that there's some friendships that are in different places than they have been in the past. I think right now we've just been kind of a little separate since just going on that pause from filming."

She plans to have those conversations in person rather than through a text or social media. "I feel like me coming out, it's not really a text. I feel like I want to see them in person to let them know. So they might see this before and then I'll talk to them in person the next time I see them," Taylor said.

As for her current relationship, Taylor connected with her girlfriend through Instagram after noticing her posts. She chose not to disclose the woman's name but spoke warmly about the experience. "Women are already more emotionally aware about certain things and very patient. 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," she shared.