The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star Layla Taylor is opening up about her sexuality. During a June 29 interview on the On Purpose With Jay Shetty podcast, Taylor came out as bisexual and revealed that she is currently dating a woman.
Taylor said she knew she knew she was attracted to women “since I was little,” but that most of her loved ones — including her Mormon Wives co-stars — didn’t know about her sexuality. “It’s just something that I honestly didn’t really know how to formally address for a long period of my life,” Taylor explained to Shetty. “I’m gay and I’m bi and date women and men.”
“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?'” Taylor explained. “But I didn’t know what those feelings were because I didn’t have queer representation around me. [No one] I could look at it and be like, ‘OK, this is normal.’ ”
According to her, she “underplay[ed]” her sexuality for a long time. “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 said.
Taylor’s split from Mason McWhorter in February also played a role in her being ready to share her sexuality. “Honestly, I went through a breakup at the beginning of this year and I feel like for just a long period of my life, was constantly living my life for other people,” she said. “Whether that was being a mom or I was in a marriage at one point, I was married. And I just feel like I was always fulfilling other people around me. And it honestly just caused me to never really focus on myself and never be able to really just sit alone with who I am as a person.”
Now, she looks at that breakup as a “blessing in disguise,” since it allowed her to “focus on Layla.” She added, “We’re only on this earth for however long we are here and I’ll be damned if I’m not able to be fully who I am.”
Taylor also shared that she’s currently dating a woman, whom she met after “liking” one of her posts. “We met up, and we hung out and it was just kind of like that first kiss of, like, this wasn’t like a drunk moment,” Taylor recalled. “Like this was me intentionally going into a moment knowing how I felt about women.”
Apparently, Taylor’s partner has been “very understanding” as she navigates this new chapter. “[Women are] already more emotionally aware about certain things and very patient,” Taylor explained. “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.”
