Courtesy Cedar Fort, Inc.
LAS VEGAS — The runaway streaming success of Hulu’s racy “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” has propelled the series onto ABC’s broadcast schedule in January — and sparked a creative sort of pushback.
The show centers on a group of Mormon women whose TikTok videos went viral. The first eight episodes are replete with tales of “soft swinging,” in which cheating partners don’t “go all the way”; some of the women drinking alcohol, a taboo in the faith; and even a domestic-violence arrest, among other eye-popping vignettes.
Instead of protesting, eight women members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints wrote, edited and published “The Not-So-Secret Lives of REAL ‘Mormon’ Wives” — in under two months — to show how more devout members of the faith actually live, they exclusively tell The Post.
Although church members have been called “Mormons” for decades, the current vibe is to prefer the longer name. This came from a 2018 change by the group’s president and prophet, Russell M. Nelson, now age 100. The edict morphed the famed “Mormon Tabernacle Choir” handle into the “Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square,” for example.
But if you imagine the volume comprises stories of prepping batches of lime-green Jell-O (a Utah staple), saying “Oh, my heck” and listening to Donny Osmond albums, think again.
The eight authors — each telling her tale in a single chapter — want their stories to be seen as reinforcing the church’s basic teachings but also about how faith helps them deal with various challenges, from the mundane to the extraordinary.
The stories range from the account of a hyper-successful fashion entrepreneur to a Zumba-teaching mom who “advocates” for a child born with Down syndrome to a Nigerian chieftain’s daughter who built a successful real-estate business during her husband’s 17 years in the military.
Fashion-forward business owner credits faith
Fernanda Böhme, co-founder of an eponymous 22-store fashion house offering stylish-but-modest women’s clothes, was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and emigrated to America as a child, when her church-member parents had an opportunity to attend Brigham Young University.
Raised in the faith and a member today, Böhme said the Hulu series didn’t upset her but inspired her to share her story, including building her business and parenting a special-needs child.
“I hate to say this, but it’s almost a good thing because it’s making people ask questions” about the 194-year-old religion organized in Fayette, New York, about an hour west of Syracuse., she told The Post. “It’s kind of like when ‘The Book of Mormon’ musical came out, the Broadway musical — it got people asking questions.”
Böhme said many of the queries — such as whether church members dress like the Amish (they don’t) or ‘How many sister wives do you have?’ (none) — can be answered by coming to the church and seeing what it’s accomplished.
“Look at what we’ve done,” she said. “Look at the fruits of our labors. Look at all the people we feed all over the world. You’ll see what we’ve done.”
Ironically, Böhme said, one of the Hulu “Mormon Wives” — whom she did not name —is also an online influencer for her fashion brand.
“I didn’t find out ’til days ago that we’re sponsoring her wardrobe, and we’re sending clothing or whatever. I thought, ‘Oh my gosh. How did this happen?’ But she was an influencer before the show, so it just kind of happened,” she said. “It’s business, right?”
Zumba instructor, mother of Down syndrome teenager
Kimberly DowDell’s faith helped her cope with the birth of a Down syndrome child — now 14 and thriving, she said — and the ups and downs of her husband’s career as well as her fast-paced life as a Zumba instructor.
“My faith is really what got me through those difficult times,” she said.
“I was excited to be a part of this project because I have been sharing our family and our life with our son who has Down syndrome online,” she said. “He’s 14 years old, and our social media blew up with videos that we share of him on a daily basis a little over two years ago.”
DowDell said she viewed “maybe the first episode and a half” of the series before dropping it. “You know, life gets busy. I honestly don’t watch a lot of TV,” she said.
“As I started to see some of the things that these girls were talking about and the things that unfolded, I thought, ‘Well, that isn’t my experience,’” DowDell said of the show’s extremes. “I haven’t grown up feeling that way or, anyway, having those experiences that they’ve had.”
Nigerian chieftain’s daughter
Although Esther Jackson-Stowell’s in-laws call her a “Nigerian princess,” the title is more honorary than real. Her father was a chieftain in their southeastern Nigeria home, but the family emigrated to northern California to pursue opportunities and the much-vaunted “American dream.”
Jackson-Stowell, mother of five including two foster children, is the “underpaid chauffeur” for the brood as well as a successful real-estate agent and businesswoman in Salt Lake City. She joined the church after meeting a young man who became her husband and who’s spent 17 years in the military.
Her book chapter details a journey that spans two continents and two radically different cultures: Nigerian and Mormon. She said she’s grateful for the opportunity the Hulu show gave her to share her story.
“I think the members of the church have gotten such a bad rap for so long that to even be a topic of conversation, to me it’s well worth having that conversation because we have something so dear to share, and that is that we love Jesus Christ,” she said.
Would she chastise the Hulu show participants for what they’ve portrayed?
“I’d probably just give them a hug,” Jackson-Stowell said. “I would give all of them a hug and just tell them, you know, ‘Thank you for bringing this topic to the forefront.’”