Trigger Warning: This article contains a discussion of sexual assault allegations.
Season 3 of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives features a MomTok group split into two factions. Demi Engemann, who embraced her villain vibes for Season 2, was on the outs with the SLOMW cast. After failing to convince the group to vote out Taylor Frankie Paul, she took a break from MomTok.
However, when Season 3 started, neither Demi nor Whitney Leavitt was filming for the show. Plus, Whitney and Demi were now besties. According to Mikayla Matthews, contract disputes were part of the reason that the duo decided not to film. Mikayla also claimed that Demi wanted to be paid more than the rest of the cast. Well, she was one of the fan favorites, remember?
Eventually, both Whitney and Demi started filming again, but the group wondered about Demi’s motives. The MomTok influencers even discussed why Demi shouldn’t be allowed to return to MomTok because of her allegedly disturbing behavior. As the cast tried to piece together the puzzle about what happened at Vanderpump Villa in Italy with server Marciano Brunette. Demi started to lash out. So, did Demi try to take down MomTok?
Demi Engemann threatened to expose Jessi Ngatikaura’s affair during a TikTok Live
During Season 2, Mikayla, Demi, Jessi Ngatikaura, Jen Affleck, and Layla Taylor went to Italy. While Demi seemed flirty with Marciano, he later told Layla that he had an affair with Jessi.
When a shocked Layla told Jessi during the Season 3 premiere, Jessi didn’t deny it. She revealed that she and her husband, Jordan Ngatikaura, were separated at the time. And when Marciano came to Los Angeles, she and Marciano kissed twice and had an “emotional affair.” However, they never had sex. That isn’t what Marciano claimed.
So, Mayci Neeley and Mikayla, who were both pregnant, met with Marciano to get the truth. He confessed to kissing Demi on the lips off-camera and claimed that he was “influenced” by Demi to lie about having sex with Jessi. Ick! Later on, both Marciano and Jessi passed lie detector tests that proved they didn’t have sex.
When Layla saw Demi at an event, she furiously confronted her. Demi played dumb. “Are you my friend, or Marciano’s friend?” Demi asked.
“I’m not Marciano’s friend. I’m Jessi’s friend,” Layla fired back. Finally, Demi insisted that she told Marciano not to tell Layla about Jessi having an affair. Unfortunately, Layla made the mistake of calling Jessi, since Jessi blocked Demi. However, when Demi took the phone, Jessi hung up. “You’re not taking to me because you’re a f*cking liar,” Demi said.
So, Layla went outside to call Jessi, and Demi approached. “I’m gonna go do a live actually and tell everyone about Jessi. Tell her,” she said. “Demi, what the f*ck?” Layla exclaimed. Meanwhile, Jessi pointed out that if Demi did spill that particularly dirty soda, she would be breaking “any NDA she signed.” Finally, an executive producer talked with Demi, and she never went live.
Demi hinted SLOMW’s MomTok didn’t support her amid sexual abuse allegations
During a press event for Hulu in Los Angeles, both Demi and Whitney were staying in the same hotel as MomTok. Welp, Marciano posted on social media that he was “uninvited to the function cus a 30yo Mormon wife’s scared I’ll tell her husband the truth.” Of course, Demi is the only 30-year-old in the group, and she hit back at him.
In Season 3 Episode 6, a fan account shared Marciano’s post, and Demi’s response was shown onscreen. “Also he got uninvited by @hulu because he’s a s3xual pr3dator that can’t keep his hands to himself, not because I’m hiding anything from my husband. He’s a lying clout chaser,” she wrote. As you may recall, Demi alleged that she had “been groped” by an unnamed male at Vanderpump Villa. She also asked the ladies not to tell anyone.
However, Demi skipped the Season 2 SLOMW reunion. And that is when some NSFW texts between Demi and Marciano were exposed. So, the MomTok ladies had some questions about why Demi continued to interact with Marciano.
Plus, Demi tried to pull Mayci and Mikayla, who are both sexual assault survivors, over to her side. Both ladies felt uncomfortable about Demi comparing her alleged situation with theirs.
During Episode 7, Demi shared an Instagram Story, hinting that MomTok didn’t support her. It was shown onscreen. “It seems pretty clear, but I guess some people are still confused – unwanted physical touch = assault. PERIOD, the end,” Demi wrote. “To the people that were made aware of these events and watched me cry and then proceed to use their platform to victim shame publicly, call me a liar and judge the way I handled it, from the bottom of my heart, shame on every last one of you.”
The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives cast got into it during a group interview
These Mormon moms were more confused than ever by Demi. And this drama spilled over into an on-camera interview with Entertainment Tonight. When Demi was asked about Halloween last season, she discussed how Chase McWhorter, who was married to MomTok member Miranda McWhorter, allegedly “shoved” her.
So, Miranda asked if Demi felt she “overreacted” regarding the situation with Chase. Instead, Demi doubled down. However, both Taylor and Miranda stated that it was “not a shove.”
Then Demi clarified that “nothing happened on my end” with Marciano. However, Jen begged to differ. She said, “I apparently have a cease and desist against me,” while Demi told her to “prove it.” And Jen could not.
“Her manager called my manager to warn me that she was threatening me with a cease and desist,” Jen explained in her confessional. “So, that is one hundred percent false,” Demi stated in her confessional interview. “I don’t understand why she would be willing to lie and say that I’m like trying to cover things up, or that she has these receipts.” On the way home, Demi and Whitney were in a separate vehicle, and Demi cried about feeling “super mistreated and super betrayed.”
Except for Whitney, the SLOMW cast felt that Demi was acting in a calculated and manipulative fashion. And she often targeted MomTok on social media. It certainly doesn’t seem like Demi wants to make amends with her MomTok frenemies.
The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives is available to stream on Hulu.
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 or access RAINN’s online chat service.
TELL US – DID DEMI ENGEMANN TRY TO TAKE DOWN MOMTOK DURING SEASON 3 OF SLOMW?
