Conner Leavitt from Mormon Wives Responds to Criticism of DWTS Casting
The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star Conner Leavitt has broken his silence after some fans of Dancing With the Stars voiced their dissatisfaction regarding his casting.
“Hello, I’m Whitney’s husband. Text ‘Conner L’ to 21523 😜,” Conner, 32, who has been married to DWTS season 34 contestant Whitney Leavitt since 2016, captioned a TikTok video on Monday, September 7.
The social media clip features Conner with his DWTS pro partner, Adele Zaikman, as they jokingly react to comments about him on his phone, becoming notably disheartened by what they read online.
“POV: You get cast on DWTS and discover that ‘nepo husband’ doesn’t qualify as ‘star,’” Conner humorously noted in the video.
Whitney, 33, also addressed the backlash in her own TikTok post, where she remarked, “When someone claims our nepo daddy isn’t a star.” In response to her supportive comment, Conner expressed, “You all are the reason I Nepo so hard 🤘🔥🖤 love you guys so much 🖤🥹.”
Fans of reality TV were introduced to the couple when The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives debuted in September 2024. In the season 1 premiere, Conner and Whitney moved from Hawaii to Utah, having returned after he confessed to maintaining a secret Tinder account to request NSFW images.
At that time, Conner and Whitney, who had two children, were committed to revitalizing their marriage and later welcomed a third child into the family.
“It requires time and considerable effort. I recall being in therapy when my therapist asked, ‘Before we dive into this, you need to determine if you want to work this out or if you don’t,’” Whitney shared exclusively with Us in September 2024. “I had to seriously contemplate whether I wanted to rebuild this trust. That doesn’t imply that I don’t still have triggers. When they arise, I plan to address them and keep moving forward.”
After viewers began speculating about Conner’s sexuality, the couple decided to make light of the comments.
“Do I need to release a sex tape or something? Trust me, we’re good. Everything is fine,” Whitney jokingly said on the “Off the Vine” podcast in October 2024. “I think it’s because during our personal struggles — and I know you haven’t seen it, but he dealt with a porn addiction — there’s a scene where one of my friends suggests, ‘Oh, I can see how he was confused sexually.’”
Conner has also shared his journey towards healing from trauma after experiencing sexual abuse during childhood.
“I struggled significantly with pornography. Additionally, I was involved on a dating site — not out of a lack of love for my wife but driven by a need for validation,” he explained during the season 2 reunion of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives in June 2025. “I realized I needed help. So, we began attending therapy to understand the reasons behind my actions — and I knew the root cause.”
Conner disclosed that he was only comfortable sharing his past “with Whitney, my therapist, and my family” before discussing it publicly.
“When I was a child, I was raped. When I finally confronted that emotion and memory, everything began to fall into place,” he revealed during a poignant joint interview with Whitney. “The validation I sought … I regret putting you through that. But I’m incredibly proud that I was honest with you and started addressing some truly challenging issues.”
Dancing With the Stars returns to ABC and Disney+ on Tuesday, September 15, at 8 p.m. ET.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
