She went to New York, got rejected, weighed 99 pounds, and spent two years fighting her way back. Now she has an agency that asked her to put on weight — and she called that healing.
Four days ago, DT Model MGMT announced they are officially representing “Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” star Layla Taylor. The post dropped quietly — a photo shoot by Tony Ellis, a hashtag, a simple caption.
The comment section told the real story. Whitney Leavitt said she is “that girl.” Miranda Hope called Layla her girl. The official “SLOMW” Hulu account called her a covergirl. And mixed in with the celebrations, a separate conversation started about whether her photos had been retouched — specifically whether her stretch marks had been removed.
That tension is the whole story of Layla Taylor in one comment section.
The Ford Models Rejection
On “Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” Season 4, viewers watched Layla travel to New York City to audition for Ford Models — one of the most storied agencies in the industry, responsible for the careers of Naomi Campbell, Christie Brinkley, and Brooke Shields.
She didn’t get signed.
The rejection landed hard. “Having someone say that they didn’t wanna take me on, even though they didn’t say anything physically was wrong with me, I feel like my brain automatically was like, ‘Oh, I’m not small enough, or I’m not pretty enough,’” she told Jessi Draper and Miranda Hope on camera. What she did not say out loud in that moment — but had been living privately — was that she was already deep in a battle with her body she had been fighting since high school.
The Weight, The Medication, & The Disorder
By the time of that Ford casting, Layla had been using GLP-1 weight loss drugs for about a year. She described starting them to get rid of stubborn weight she could not shake through other means, and described them in a confessional as “addicting” and “so hard” to stop. In a confessional, Layla admitted “I’ve struggled with body image issues and an eating disorder since I was in high school” and that separating from her husband had caused her to fall back “into those old habits.”
At a spa visit filmed for the show, she told Jessi and Miranda she weighed 99 pounds. “I know that’s going too far and I’m taking it too far, but like I can’t stop,” she said tearfully. She is 5’9″.
On March 15, she posted a video to Instagram showing herself inspecting her body in the mirror. The caption read: “For the past two years, I’ve been struggling silently with an eating disorder I believed I had left behind in high school.” She has since entered treatment, stopped the GLP-1 medication, and described her recovery as “messy and far from linear.” She has also been open about the fact that she has sons who need a healthy, present mom — and that that is part of what keeps her fighting.
The Agency That Asked Her to Gain Weight
What makes the DT Model MGMT signing genuinely moving in context is what Layla said about how different it feels. When speaking on Page Six’s Virtual Reali-Tea podcast, she said, “They actually want me to put on some weight right now, which is actually very healing to hear,” she said, praising the agency for being “body positive.” She added: “Especially with what I deal with internally. I needed an agency that was going to be friends over business and I feel like that’s what I found.”
She also described the Ford rejection as a blessing in disguise — not because it did not hurt, but because of where it led her. “That rejection is someone physically looking at you and saying no. That’s obviously very hard, especially for someone like myself who deals with such bad body image issues and confidence issues to begin with.” Looking back, she can see it differently now.
The Signing Post & the Retouching Conversation
DT Model MGMT’s announcement post drew immediate warmth from across the reality TV universe.
Jessi Draper, Ashley Moore, Tyler Winston, McCall DaPron, Avery Woods, and Brianna Balram all liked it. Whitney Leavitt commented “She is THAT gurl 👏” with 1,056 likes. The official SLOMW Hulu account called her a covergirl. Chase McWhorter — Miranda Hope‘s ex-husband, whose brother Layla had been dating until their February split — commented “AYYYOOOOO CONGRATS” with 303 likes.
And then the retouching conversation started.
Multiple commenters asked whether her stretch marks had been edited out of the photos. One fan wrote: “Why are we retouching Layla’s body, she is a mother and it is truly beautiful thing to give life so why are we trying to erase her true body?”
Another: “Have they airbrushed your stretch marks out? You’re absolutely gorgeous btw!” A third put it simply: “Congratulations Layla!! Stunning as always. To whoever did the retouching: she didn’t need all that photoshop, her tiger stripes are beautiful.”
One commenter framed it more sharply: “Seems irresponsible to sign someone to an industry which is notoriously dangerous for body image when that person is dealing with body dysmorphia and an eating disorder.”
The agency and Layla have not publicly responded to the retouching questions. Given everything she has shared publicly about her recovery and her relationship with her own body, the conversation is unlikely to go away quietly.
Where She Is Now
Layla Taylor is 25 years old, a Utah-based mother of two boys, a SLOMW cast member since Season 1, and as of 2026, an executive producer of the show.
She recently launched a 30-piece collection with Showpo called “Becoming by Layla Taylor” — which she described as “choosing yourself, over and over again.”
She is still in treatment, she is still fighting, and she now has an agency that told her to put on weight.
For someone who was standing in front of a Ford Models casting director in New York City two years ago wondering if she was enough, that is not a small thing.
“The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” streams on Hulu.
If you or someone you know is struggling with an eating disorder, the Alliance for Eating Disorders provides a free helpline at 1-866-662-1235.
For more “Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” click here.
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