You Might Also Like: On Purpose with Jay Shetty

**Jay Shetty** (0:00)
Layla, you came here today because there's something you haven't shared.

**Layla Taylor** (0:06)
It's something that I have known since I was little. It's just something that I honestly didn't really know how to formally address for a long period of my life.
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.

**Jay Shetty** (0:28)
Hey, everyone, welcome back to On Purpose. My guest today is Layla Taylor. Many of you know Layla from her show, The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, where she shared her journey through motherhood, divorce, dating and navigating faith in Utah. Today, she's opening up about experiences she hasn't fully shared before and the journey that brought her into a new chapter today.
Please welcome Layla to On Purpose. Layla Taylor, welcome to On Purpose.

**Layla Taylor** (0:56)
Thank you so much. I'm so excited to be here.

**Jay Shetty** (0:58)
I am so grateful that you're here today. People know your work, they know parts of your story, they see you on TV.
But you came here today because there's something you haven't shared before. And I wanted to give you this space and ask you what's on your heart. Yeah.

**Layla Taylor** (1:18)
It's just something that I honestly didn't really know how to formally address for a long period of my life.
And that it's, I'm gay and I'm bi and date women and men. And it's just, I think growing up, I didn't fit in for a lot of reasons in my childhood. I grew up in a very predominantly white area. And being a little black girl, I already stood out so much to my peers.
And kind of took that on a lot more than I feel like I realized. And I always kind of 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 Shane Mitchell Kissing a Girl. I was like, wait, like, why is that like hot? But I didn't know like what those feelings were because I didn't have queer representation around me of like I could look at it and be like, okay, like this is normal. And it wasn't necessarily that I had parents or I was, I was Mormon at one point, but I didn't necessarily have that pressure to not do that. I just didn't have people around me that modeled that. And it's just, it's just something that I, for a long time, didn't know if it was just a phase or something that, you know, maybe I'm just curious. And I would just kind of underplay it for a long period of my life. And I don't know, 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. And yeah, I'm very proud to be by and I'm very proud now to be out. And I hope that if anyone's in a situation that I am as well, that for a long time there, I didn't know if I could come out and truly be myself. I hope that they can feel safe to do so and proud to do so.

**Jay Shetty** (3:06)
First of all, I'm so happy for you.

**Layla Taylor** (3:08)
Thank you.

**Jay Shetty** (3:08)
I can't imagine how good it feels to share it out into the world. This is the first time you've talked about it publicly, right?

**Layla Taylor** (3:15)
Yeah. I haven't addressed it, yeah.

**Jay Shetty** (3:18)
Why was now the right time for Layla to share this?

**Layla Taylor** (3:21)
Honestly, I went through a breakup at the beginning of this year, and I feel like for just a long period of my life, I was constantly living my life for other people. Whether if 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 and my feelings, and just really get to the root of why I felt certain ways, and I just always just pushed it aside. And again, I was just like, oh, this is just like a phase. You're not actually attracted to girls.
You're drunk at a party and you kissed a girl. It's no big deal. You're not gay, Layla. Just ignore that. And I just feel like I just never was in a place that I feel like I could truly authentically focus on it. And I think honestly that break up was like a blessing in disguise, because I feel like now I've been fully able to just focus on Layla.