One thing Secret Lives of Mormon Wives: Orange County star McCall DaPron is going to do? Call (and text) her sister, Mayci Neeley.
In the new Hulu reality series, McCall gets herself into trouble with the other girls numerous times throughout the first season by bringing Mayci — an OG MomTok member from The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives — in on the drama happening in their new MomTok group. At one point early in the series, McCall goes toe-to-toe with cast members Avery Woods and Bobbi Althoff at a Palm Springs dinner over the impact of her actions versus her intent, which leads her to tearfully text Mayci.
“I felt so grateful in the moment to have a sister, to have someone that I felt like truly 100 percent had my back and loves me, because in that moment, I felt really alone and like no one was there for me,” she tells DECIDER in a sit-down interview, saying that she thought the other, more like-minded members of the group might stand up for her. When that didn’t happen, she resorted to reaching out to her safe space, her sister, about what had gone down with the girls.
In reality, McCall says she didn’t even think much of the messages she sent to Mayci, and certainly not that it could entirely backfire as Mayci came out guns blazing at the other women for making her sister cry.
“Truthfully, the text message just happened so organically, we were already texting and then I think I was texting her about the girls being upset about the video she made,” McCall shares, referencing a video Mayci posted around the time of the show being announced. In the video, Mayci said certain cast members were only there for clout and threw shade at the less-religious members among the group without naming names. The video clearly left a bad taste in the other women’s mouths, as it gets brought up throughout the show.
“Then I think other stuff started coming up and I think that got them kind of upset with me because other stuff started transpiring at that dinner,” McCall adds, talking about her back and forth with Avery over reading comments left on posts about the cast. “A lot of it is like cut out and it’s taken out of context, so it’s kind of hard to really see everything.”
That said, McCall understands why her sister — who ends up making an appearance alongside Mikayla Matthews later in the season while the girls are on a trip to Las Vegas — jumped to her defense, even if it made the situation worse overall. “When I told her I was crying, that’s when she freaked out because I honestly don’t cry very often,” she says, sharing that she is still learning how to navigate the group setting, especially being in such mixed company.
From the beginning of the season to the end, though, McCall told DECIDER she thinks she has learned a lot about who she is and has made a strong case to the other women about why they should keep an open mind when it comes to her. A prime example is the growth within her relationship with Bobbi, who starts off the season on the complete opposite side of the spectrum and grows to get along with (and even like!) McCall.
“I feel like in general, I am not a judgmental person. And I think coming into it, a lot of the girls assumed because of my traditional values that maybe I was judgmental or was judging them for the things that they were doing. But growing up in California, hardly any of my friends were actually LDS, so I’ve surrounded myself with all walks of life,” McCall explains. “The majority of my friends are not members of church and don’t live the same life as me. I’m okay with that. I love everyone’s differences and as long as we’re all respectful to each other, that’s all that matters.”
As for whether or not those fences stay mended in a potential second season, fans will just have to wait and watch if the show gets picked up for more episodes.
The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives: Orange County Season 1 is now streaming on Hulu.
If you’re new to Hulu, the basic (with ads) price is $11.99/month. If you want to upgrade to Hulu ad-free, it costs $18.99/month.
If you want to stream even more and save a few bucks a month while you’re at it, we recommend subscribing to one of the Disney+ Bundles, all of which include Hulu. These bundles start at $12.99/month for ad-supported Disney+ and Hulu and goes up to $32.99/month for Disney+, Hulu, and Max, all ad-free.
