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‘Mormon Wives’ Star Breaks Down as Her Skin Condition Worsens

The emotional video has racked up 1.5 million views.

Roosa RahkonenReporter, The Looker

PublishedApr 23, 2026, 6:27 PM EDT

UpdatedApr 23, 2026, 6:31 PM EDT

Updated Apr 23, 2026, 6:31 PM EDTPublished Apr 23, 2026, 6:27 PM EDT

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A star of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives broke down in tears over her skin condition’s painful flare-up and the unexpected life event that appeared to trigger it.

“My skin is in a lot of physical pain,” social media influencer Mikayla Matthews, 26, shared in a video posted on Instagram and TikTok.

Matthews spoke about her journey with a chronic condition, which she said manifests itself as skin issues, on The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. Her symptoms seemed to lessen while traveling, but she experienced an alarming reaction almost immediately after returning to Utah.

“I was in California for three weeks, I went to Costa Rica for five days, so I was basically away from my house for almost a whole month,” she shared. “I was just terrified of coming back to Utah.”

Within two days of her return, Matthews’s hands and neck were turning dry, patchy, and red.

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“I’m sitting here truly feeling like I’m here in Utah in this environment, I am just surviving with chronic illness, where when I was in Costa Rica, when I was in California, I’m living with chronic illness,” she said, showing her skin to the camera, upset over the turn of events.

“I have to say no to doing fun events coming up,” Matthews said, adding, “I hate going, doing interviews on carpet, taking pictures…”

Her disdain for public events when experiencing a flare-up, she said, stems from feedback and speculation over her appearance.

Imitating the types of hurtful comments she receives online, she said, “Why is Mikayla’s neck wrinkly? Why does Mikayla look like this? What illness does Mikayla have? What’s wrong with Mikayla?”

Matthews shares four children with her estranged husband, Jace Terry, and also reflected on how the condition was affecting her motherhood.

“My skin’s flaring all of a sudden, I’m in so much pain, lying on my bed, not able to go up and get my kids from school or wake up with them and take them to school,” she said.

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Breaking down in tears, Matthews added, “Nobody is ever going to understand the impact of chronic illness and skin condition in the way that it has completely, completely stripped me of so much happiness, stripped me of so much time with my family, with my kids, that I’m never gonna get back.”

Many comments encourage Matthews to move away from her house and focus on her healing journey. One of the top-voted comment reads, “Our bodies know when a place isn’t right for us.”

Matthews has opened up about working through the trauma of being sexually abused as a child and wondered about the connection to her chronic illness on the Hulu hit show.

In March, Matthews revealed that she was suffering from chronic inflammatory response syndrome (CIRS) caused by mold exposure, possibly at her house. While CIRS is not yet an official diagnosis, mold exposure can cause a range of serious symptoms, including skin issues, according to UCLA Health.

At the time, she wrote that the condition had “ruined just everything in my body. Nerves, skin, hair, brain, gut, liver, hormones…”

But, she said in the new video, just leaving her house was not simple.

“Everyone’s like, ‘Your house is making you sick, get out of your house.’ It’s so much easier said than done,” she said, adding, “It’s not easy to just up and sell my house and buy a new house. And what if I’m still having these issues in another home?”

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Matthews said she feels stuck, admitting, “I know that I’m not healing in this environment.”

For now, her main focus is her children.

“Right now, I’m just trying to figure out my life, trying to make this transition as seamless and comfortable as possible for my kids as I can,” she told followers.

“Right now, I’m just trying to figure out my life, trying to make this transition as seamless and comfortable as possible for my kids as I can.”

She finished the video by saying that her journey had been “horrible” and that she would not wish the same for anyone.

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“If you’re going through something similar from the bottom of my heart, I’m so sorry, it’s not fair, it f---ing sucks.”

The video has over 4.5 million views and thousands of comments supporting Matthews over the two social media platforms.

Roosa RahkonenReporter, The Looker

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