After fans followed them throughout their intimacy issues over the past year, Mormon Wives star Mikaya Matthews and her husband, Jace Terry, have officially separated after eight years of marriage.
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During season 4 of the hit reality TV show, Mikaya opened up about how her health woes impacted the marriage.
“It’s so incredible that everyone’s getting these opportunities and going out and living their dreams,” she explained. “But my health has held me back from saying yes to a lot of opportunities. It’s definitely discouraging and frustrating, and it kind of holds me back in other places in my life, like my marriage with Jace.”
Mikaya later opened up to co-star Whitney Leavitt about going to therapy with Jace. However, she seemed to struggle with going to sessions with him.
“I did one or two [sessions] with him, but I feel like I can’t work on that right now,” she said.
Mikaya then said she needed to make her health a “top priority,” which makes it hard to focus on anything else and to be motivated to fix anything while she’s in her current state.
Jace later spoke to fellow DadTok member Dakota about the couple’s relationship and their intimacy issues. “The thing is, it’s not like she’s saying, ‘We’re not going to do this ever,'” he said. “It’s just kind of a, ‘If we ever are going to do this, it’s not going to be for me. I’m not going to enjoy it. It’s going to be just for you.’ And I don’t want to do that.”
He further stated that, while he was upset about it, he didn’t think speaking out would help. “So I just feel like the only thing I can do is be patient and be there for her.”
The Couple Agrees to Separate
Later in the season, Mikayla reveals that she and Jace have agreed to separate.
As she is packing her things, Jace asks her what she hopes to get out of the separation. She said she wanted to work on herself separately.
“I think it’s hard anytime you bring up the stuff with the sex and the intimacy,” she explained. “I feel it’s hard on me because again, my nervous system is already in fight or flight, and I’m already maxed out. My bucket is full.”
Jace replied, “I know, but for me, it seems like the solution to that would be to commit to trauma therapy until you’re at a point where it doesn’t make your nervous system freak out.”
Mikayla previously struggled with the trauma of being groomed as a child. She admitted that while she has done a lot of therapy in the past, she thought things were still bad.
“And again, I don’t think it’s like with the intention of being separated forever,” she reassured Jace. “I think we’re obviously still going to see each other every single day. I’m not trying to go even a day away from the kids anyway.”
Jace then suggested they shouldn’t get back together until she felt she could commit to marriage. Mikayla grew upset about the “pressure” she was struggling with.
She later shared that the only castmates who knew about the separation were Mayci and Jacob. “As sad as it is, I do take comfort in knowing that I do have such a great support system in MomTok,” she added. “I don’t want to have to tear our family apart, but I also know that I have to be selfish for a period of time so that I can heal.”