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The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star Whitney Leavitt has faced her fair share of controversies as a reality TV star, but one has stood out among the rest.
Long before viewers began questioning if Leavitt had too much experience and prior training to compete on the current season of Dancing with the Stars with pro Mark Ballas, the Utah mother posted a controversial TikTok that shot her into the spotlight.
In 2021, Leavitt shared a video of her dancing next to her newborn son, who was in the hospital for respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, and pneumonia.
She wrote in the since-deleted video: “Lil lee (or Liam) was taken in cause of oxygen. He tested positive for RSV.”
“Waiting for him to breathe better on his own,” she added, while Kendrick Lamar’s 2017 hit single Love played in the background as she danced all around her sleeping son.
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The reality television star posted a TikTok video of her dancing next to her newborn son with RSV (Getty Images)
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Leavitt addressed the backlash during a season one episode of ‘The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives’ (Getty Images)
The video appeared to have been shared in response to somebody who asked her: “Sending prayers…but what happened? I’m so confused.”
After posting, many people were quick to turn to X, accusing Leavitt of trivializing her son’s illness.
“Because if this isn’t a sign that this child is going to be neglected in favor of TikTok fame I don’t know what is,” one person wrote on the platform at the time.
“What bothers me even more,” another wrote, “is the fact that she has no tears when announcing publicly that her baby’s life is in danger but then there is plenty when she makes a video feeling sorry for herself that people misunderstood her.”
The reality television star later responded to the backlash in a follow-up TikTok, where she apologized for the way the video was perceived.
“I understand that people are upset with the video that I made,” Leavitt said. “I just want to be clear and communicate that that was me just trying to be positive. I think it’s important to not just assume what someone is going through.”
“Anyways, I took the video down because I could see where somebody could get the wrong idea. But that honestly was jusst me just trying to be positive in this situation,” she concluded.
The TikTok was later addressed in 2024 during a season one episode of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, as Leavitt explained she only made the video because her son was starting to feel better.
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Whitney and Conner Leavitt have been married since August 2016 (Getty Images)
“The first couple of days were scary, but he was getting better. So I’m thinking, let’s do something fun, and I made a video,” she said. “People felt like I was using my child’s sickness for clout or attention. Everyone was so quick to forgive Taylor online for swinging, and I feel like I still get bashed on every video,” she continued, referencing the scandal that brought the MomTok group to reality TV.
While some of her fellow cast members on the show had defended her, others claimed the reality star told them her intentions were to “get likes and clout.”
The video continues to follow Leavitt, who is headed to the semi-finals on DWTS. Speaking to Amanda Hirsch on a June episode of the Not Skinny But Not Fat podcast, Leavitt claimed she “didn’t even know what was happening with that video.”
Her husband, Conner, ultimately told her the video was being viewed negatively and she needed to take it down.
“I needed some time like before I came out and said anything,” she continued. “I hate that’s like such a part of my life.
“It will always haunt me and always be with me.”
New episodes of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives are now available to stream on Disney+ and Hulu.
