Why Mormon Wives’ Mayci Stopped Sharing Kids on Social Media

The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star Mayci Neeley has decided to stop sharing her children’s images on social media.

On Sunday, July 26, Mayci, 31, shared on her Instagram Stories about her gradual process of removing her children from social media over the past year, coinciding with the premiere of Mormon Wives’ first season. She explained, “I was starting to see the negative impacts of having kids online that I didn’t understand before. Kids aren’t content, and I didn’t realize that when I initially began using social media.”

Before joining Hulu’s popular reality TV series showcasing young Mormon mothers, Mayci was a social media influencer. She is a mother to three children—daughters Harlow, 5, and Charli, 12 months, with husband Jacob Neeley, and son Hudson, 10, with her late ex Arik Mack, who passed away in a car accident while she was pregnant at 19.

Prior to her marriage to Jacob, 30, Mayci was an analyst at Goldman Sachs. She transitioned full-time into content creation well before Mormon Wives was approved. Hudson and Harlow occasionally appeared in her early social media posts.

Mayci expressed on Sunday, “I never forced my kids to participate in anything, but I believe children shouldn’t be the main focus of content. I thought it was fun and light-hearted, and I loved making videos until I realized that predators were online.”

She added, “I was naive and didn’t realize that there were people online likely watching the content.”

Following the highly-anticipated 2024 premiere of Mormon Wives, Mayci experienced a surge of online negativity.

“I received really nasty DMs about my kids, and some people mocked their appearance, which was absolutely vile and disgusting,” stated the Told You So author. “At that moment, I decided, ‘I’m completely done.’ I also learned about AI and [pedophiles] using children’s images for explicit material, which alarmed me.”

Overall, Mayci emphasized her decision to keep her children offline due to “safety and privacy” reasons.

She remarked, “I don’t want people approaching my kids or recognizing them,” while acknowledging that she “still needs to go through” her old Instagram posts to remove family photos. “I’ll be working on that in the next month or so. It’s unfortunate because I LOVE sharing my kids and wish I could because they bring me the most joy.”

Mayci concluded, “They are my greatest accomplishment, and I want to share some of the amazing moments. That’s why I still share them in a limited capacity. They are my world and the biggest part of my life, so it would feel strange not to share anything about them or share photos that they are in that I love.”