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Mikayla Matthews and Jace Terry are spending time apart.
Nearly eight months after welcoming her fourth child—a daughter called Lottie June—with her husband, the Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star disclosed that they are spending time apart due to chronic intimacy issues.
"Jace and I stayed up all night talking about the pros and cons of separating," Mikayla admitted during a confessional in the ninth episode of the show's fourth season. "With all of the MomTok drama and the pressure I'm under to get my marriage back on track, I'm at my limit. We both chose to separate.
The 25-year-old, who has three children with Jace: Beckham, 8; Haven, 6; and Tommie, 4, reiterated that she does not regard their break as permanent.
"I feel like I've done a lot of therapy work already, and my stuff is still bad," Mikayla told her husband of eight years as she packed her bags to stay with co-star Mayci Neeley. "I don't believe it is with the intention of being separated forever."
"I think we're obviously still going to see each other every single day," she told me. "I'm not trying to go even a day away from the kids anyway."
Although Jace, 30, consented to the decision, he added his own terms to their separation.
"For something like this to feel effective for me," he continued with a chuckle, "maybe we don't get back together until you feel like you can commit to our relationship."
Mikayla's marriage had suffered severely as she began to process the trauma of years of sexual assault as a child, as well as her chronic illness, which flares up in response to stress.
"I think it's hard whenever you bring up stuff about sex or intimacy," she said to Jace. "It's difficult for me because I believe my nervous system is already in fight-or-flight mode, and I've reached my limit. "My bucket's full."
Reflecting on her situation, a mother of four expressed anxiety regarding her husband Jace's request for intimacy, acknowledging the difficulty in predicting how long healing would take. She felt their marriage was strong apart from the sexual intimacy issue, which she recognized as their primary conflict. Despite their efforts to improve intimacy during her mental health journey, she reported no progress, feeling sad about her inability to fulfill his needs. Additionally, her postpartum experience complicated her role as a mother and wife. Jace, in turn, shared his emotional struggle, emphasizing a desire for connection with her beyond physical intimacy.
