Secret Lives of Mormon Wives‘ Layla Taylor is taking her new romance public.
Stepping out with girlfriend Kelsie Chesser at New York City’s Virtual Reali-Tea Awards on Tuesday, October 6, Taylor, 25, confirmed to Page Six that it was the couple’s first red carpet event together.
“I’m actually super nervous,” Chesser added during an interview that was shared online by the outlet that night. The couple’s public confirmation comes after Taylor came out as bisexual during the July 29 episode of the “On Purpose With Jay Shetty” podcast. (Taylor shares two children with her ex-husband, Clayton Wessel, whom she divorced in 2023 before the 2024 launch of Bravo’s Mormon Wives.)
Chesser, who confirmed she was Taylor’s girlfriend in a July 21 TikTok video, also told the outlet that she had “met the kids” before nodding enthusiastically when asked if Taylor’s children “love” her.
Taylor told Shetty, 39, on his podcast that she didn’t know how to address her sexuality for an extended period of her life. “I’m gay and I’m bi and date women and men,” she told him at the time. “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 took that on a lot more than I feel like I realized. I always 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, Shay Mitchell kissing a girl. I was like, ‘Wait, why is that hot?’”
She continued during the interview, “I didn’t know what those feelings were because I didn’t have queer representation around me of [someone] I could look at it and be like, ‘OK, this is normal.’ It wasn’t necessarily that I had parents — or 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.”
During Taylor’s interview with Page Six, she spoke briefly about what fans can expect from season 6 of Mormon Wives, which is currently filming. “I think it’s going to be a really good season. I think season 5 was a hard watch for everyone. I’m excited for audiences to see more of each girl, and a happier and lighter season,” she said.
Season 5 of the reality series charted the volatile relationship between Taylor’s former costars Taylor Frankie Paul and her ex Dakota Mortensen. The drama sparked the exit of costar Mikayla Matthews, who confirmed last month that she was leaving as a direct result of Paul, 32, continuing on with the show. (Paul has since teased that she too will leave the show.)
“We’re very sad to lose Mikayla. She’s one of my dear friends and it’s obviously incredibly hard but also I respect her decision and I’m just proud of her for standing up for what she feels right about,” Taylor told the outlet before addressing Paul.
“[I] wish her well. I don’t speak to her [but] I don’t know about the other women,” she said.
