Pop Culture

Jessi Draper Stole the Show in ‘Mormon Wives’ Season 3—Now She’s Answering Some of Your Biggest Questions

November 24, 2025

Jessi Draper didn’t come on Not Skinny But Not Fat to rehash the drama—she came to finally explain what everyone watched happen in real time. When host Amanda Hirsch invited the Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star onto the show, she got a front-row seat to the season’s most shocking storyline: Jessi confirming an affair with Marciano Brunette, navigating a painful marriage breakdown with husband Jordan Ngatikaura, and watching every secret she’d tried to manage privately explode on camera.

Below are highlights from the conversation, adapted from the Not Skinny But Not Fat podcast.

How did you really feel about Layla confronting you on camera?

“I was really blindsided. That was genuinely—I was finding out in that moment. It was like the worst night of my life…This is a big situation and we’re close enough where I thought she would have called me and been like, ‘Hey, this is what’s going on…’

…I talked to her about it after and she was like, ‘I was terrified because it was such a big deal’ and she also didn’t know if it was true…I don’t think she expected there to be any validity. And then there was.”

Why did you get involved with Marciano in the first place?

“I was in such a weird place mentally that I just, I always say it could have been anyone. Like I was just looking for validation in the sh*tty situation I was in, my confidence was beaten down…not that it’s okay, but like it wasn’t him. It was just someone being nice to me and giving me attention and that was something I hadn’t had in my marriage…For me, I look back and I’m like, what was I thinking?”

Were you planning to keep the affair secret?

Jordan knew two weeks after it happened. So for six months, Jordan and I knew about this, did not tell anyone. We were working through it on our own…he told me during that time, he said, ‘If anyone ever finds out about this, let’s just say we were separated because then it’s easier.’ And I think he was embarrassed and didn’t want to be, I think in the season he’s like, I’m emasculated. He was just embarrassed. So he said that. So when Layla confronted me, I panicked and I was like, ‘Sh*t, Jordan’s going to want me to say we were separated.’ That was the plan if this ever came out. So I panicked and I said that. And then the next day I cleared it up with Layla because I went home to Jordan and I told him and he’s like, ‘Oh, we should just tell the truth.’ I’m like, ‘No, you’re right…’

…So I tell Layla the next day, it might have been off camera, that we weren’t really separated, but [production] kept in that I said that. So I was like, wait, kind of nice for me because the narrative sounds better, but it’s not true. So we were together, but we were struggling. It was for sure cheating, but I had been emotionally abused for about four years. Like it was a really bad situation and not to make it okay, like I take full accountability.”

What’s going on inside your marriage? Did you reconcile with Jordan?

“We were separated for 90 days and we’re back together now. And I will say as weird as it is, it kind of needed to happen because it forced us to look at ourselves and be like, this has to change. And we’ve been in therapy and it’s getting better. I’m feeling hopeful about that and we’ll see what happens, but we’re definitely working through it…

…I would say it was hard obviously when he found out. Then we dealt with it for six months and then my cast found out. So then we had to film. It kind of reopened the wound…and then I would say like watching the show back, we made an agreement not to watch it with each other because we knew we were honest with each other…we watched a few episodes together, not the whole thing.”

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Why do you think Demi didn’t come back?

“She didn’t want to get caught in her lies. And she’s stubborn, like she wants more money. She thinks she’s worthy of it. She was a fan favorite and that went straight to her head. Like I saw.”

Are you friends with Demi?

“We tried for a minute, like you’ll see at the end of the season, like we come together and everyone apologizes, but they didn’t…and I will say at that point I was so exhausted of my marriage falling apart, separation, fighting with Demi. I was like, ‘I’m just going to try to put it to the side. Then a few months later I saw her true colors again. So I’m like, ‘I’m done with you.’ Like I’ll never ever be her friend again.

What’s the truth behind the business drama?

“The pro is that Jay-Z Styles is the only landmark on Secret Lives that you can go visit. Like people stop in and take pictures and we film our confessionals there at the warehouse. So people get to see us sometimes. We’re usually there. People love that and it’s been great for the business. When season one came out, our curling iron sold out in 24 hours. It was great. The downsides are when people attack it or say bad things, like it scares me and I’m so protective of it because it’s my family. Like it’s our family business. We’ve built this from nothing and I employ literally my family—my dad’s my business partner…

…Like, what it’s done for my stylist, like they’re all so busy now, it’s worth it. But it sucks when I feel like I have to defend it when I’m pretty well respected in the industry. Like I’ve been teaching hair classes for 7 years. I had a multi-million dollar business before the show. So it wasn’t just an overnight success because of the show. I just get defensive because I’m like, I’ve worked for 10 years for this.”

Did reality TV change the way you see yourself?

“I got so many hate comments. ‘You look old,’ ‘You look like a man,’ like ‘You are so ugly.’ Like it was really flooded, my comments. I had a lot of filler. Looking back, I’m like, ‘Oh, I do look old’ and I dissolved it all and that made a huge difference. I did start to feel self-conscious because of the comments I got…so I went to the doctor. My husband got a hair transplant through this doctor and I just was in Jordan’s appointment with him and just asked him about it [her nose procedure] and he’s like, ‘Oh, you don’t even need a nose job. We could just tuck. It’s like a 10 minute procedure…’ I got the CO2 laser, melted my face off. I looked like a raisin and I did the nose at the same time because we had three weeks off filming…so I’ve done that, the nose. I did an under eye pinch. Very subtle as well. Basically the same thing as the nose. It’s not a full bleph, they just take a tiny bit. You don’t have to be put under and just like if you have bags or like loose skin, it just tightens it a little…

…But yeah, just minor tweaks that I feel like have helped me. I don’t think I’ll ever go overboard. Like I don’t want to be getting 20 plastic surgeries or anything. But they’ve helped me a little bit with my confidence. And you know what, a lot of celebrities do this and they just don’t talk about it.”

You mention you’re ‘about to be divorced twice’ in the show. You were married before?

“I was divorced. I was married for 5 years and it was ironic because me and Jordan were at five years when we separated. So I was like, ‘It’s the 5 year curse.’ Like I can’t make it past five years. I was divorced…like it’s always hard going through that, especially when you’ve been with someone. I got married at 22 and I got divorced at 27…I haven’t talked to him. He’s remarried, I think and happy, so I’m happy for him, but it was a traumatic experience and I jumped into Jordan very quickly. And I think that’s another reason we struggled is I just was like headfirst, I didn’t even recover from my divorce. I just got remarried. I was divorced in December, married by March, so it was very fast…

…So like, honestly, during my separation with Jordan, I was processing my first divorce at the same time because it brought up all those wounds where I was like, whoa, like I didn’t even deal with this.”

To listen to Jessi’s full conversation, check out Not Skinny But Not Fat wherever you get your podcasts.