Mikayla Matthews, a 24 – year – old star of “Secret Lives of Mormon Wives”, finally has a glimmer of hope after a long – suffering period. One year after removing her breast implants, she feels like she “sees the light at the end of the tunnel”.
Matthews commemorated the first anniversary of implant removal on Instagram. These implants had triggered a flare – up of her chronic illness. In the post, she wrote, “POV: It’s been a year since you decided to remove your implants that sparked the beginning of a two – year battle with chronic illness” over clips documenting her health journey. The videos and photos covered everything from the moment she got the implants, the severe skin flare – ups all over her body, to her recovery after the removal.
In the caption, she joyfully announced, “One year free . I put it off for a long time (even though I only had them in for 10 months) but it was the best decision I made for my own PERSONAL health.” She further explained, “Removing them was the beginning of getting my health back and clearing infection out of my body. Still a long way ahead of me but I finally see the light at the end of the tunnel!” Her costar Mayci Neeley from “Mormon Wives” supported her, commenting, “My girl in her healing era “.
Matthews also shared a video diary on YouTube about the day of the implant removal. It showed the entire process, from flying to Los Angeles for the surgery to the post – op check – ins with her husband Jace Terry by her side. She even had an unexpected incident at the airport. She tried to take her original implants back to Utah, but security didn’t allow it on the plane. “I had to check it and I didn’t check it in,” she said in the video. “I guess we now know that the [breast implants] are not TSA – approved, I’m sad.”
Matthews’ chronic illness struggles weren’t shown in the first season of “Mormon Wives”. However, she shared her story on social media before the show premiered in September 2024. On September 15, the mother of three took to TikTok to show “the good that has come from sharing about [her] chronic illness that has controlled [her] life.” In the caption, she wrote, “it took me a long time to realize that my illness doesn’t define me, and I will continue to talk about it for those who [are] also debilitated by it.”
On September 7, she opened up on Instagram about the skin flare – ups and frequent doctor visits during the filming of the first season. “Showing up for filming the whole first season was not only physically exhausting but extremely mentally challenging,” she said. “I was fighting for my life, not only cause I’m surrounded by crazy women lol but because I was really really struggling. I want to continue to shed light on the many stages of my chronic illness and chronic illness in general.”
In her New Year’s post on Instagram in December 2024, Matthews reflected on her filming experience. Over videos from the year, she wrote, “started 2024 suffering silently with chronic illness while showing up as best I could to film a reality show”. In the caption, she expressed gratitude for “showing that my skin doesn’t define me and it gets better.”
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