Whitney Leavitt Leaving ‘The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives’ After Season 5

May 5, 2026 8:52am PT Whitney Leavitt Leaving ‘The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives’ After Season 5

By Selome Hailu

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Selome Hailu

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Whitney Leavitt is leaving “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.”

The reality star-turned-actress announced the news on Sunday in the middle of her final performance of “Chicago” on Broadway. She has been leading the revival as Roxie Hart since early February, and used a monologue in the show to nod at her “Mormon Wives” career ending.

She later followed up with an Instagram video discussing the decision in more depth and clarifying that she will still appear throughout Season 5, which is currently in production.

In a video posted by TMZ, Leavitt is seen onstage in character as Roxie while a man shows her a newspaper. The scene is about articles being written about Roxie, but at one point, she sees a headline and says, “What is that? Whitney Leavitt Announces She’s Leaving ‘The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives’?” The audience erupts in cheers and applause.

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Leavitt’s departure from the Hulu series doesn’t come as a surprise, as she has been vocal about her ambitions to pivot to an performing career since joining the Season 34 cast of “Dancing With the Stars.” She initally chose to depart “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” after Season 2, but agreed to rejoin the cast after Disney offered her the opportunity to audition for “Dancing With the Stars” in exchange.

Leavitt also admitted that she was considering leaving in an interview with Variety ahead of her “Chicago” debut. She said that the show, which primarily takes place in Utah, was “following me while I’m in New York, but I don’t know how that would look for future seasons. It wouldn’t make sense. People want to see the group together. Part of me is like, ‘I can’t do both,’ because both are so time-demanding. Even filming Season 5 has been really hard.”

When asked what she would gain by staying on reality TV, she said, “I don’t know. Because this is what I wanted, and I wasn’t shy about sharing that. So at what point do you move on to the next journey? [My husband and I] keep going back and forth. That’s where it all started, so it’s kind of sad. But maybe that’s the best thing.”

Leavitt is leaving “Mormon Wives” during a period of major upheaval for the show. Season 5 paused production in March amid a domestic violence investigation involving star Taylor Frankie Paul and her ex-boyfriend Dakota Mortensen, with whom she shares a child. While the season recently resumed filming and Paul will not face charges, the series is still embroiled in scandal. Paul had also filmed a season as the star of ABC’s “The Bachelorette,” which was pulled from the schedule and remains in limbo, and Paul and Mortensen continue to generate headlines despite their mutual restraining orders against each other.

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