‘Secret Lives of Mormon Wives’ Star Miranda Hope Talks Music Debut and Shares a Season 5 Update

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Miranda Hope is ready for people to see more sides of herself outside of being a reality TV star.

Hope, best known for starring on Hulu‘s Emmy-nominated The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, recently released her debut single, “FU4THAT,” a fiery country-pop anthem about reclaiming your power, choosing yourself and moving forward. The track marks the beginning of her music career, with Hope teasing that “an EP or an album would probably be the direction” for what comes next.

Her latest career move comes as The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives has remained in the headlines for months. In March, production on season five was halted after it was revealed that fellow cast member Taylor Frankie Paul was involved in a domestic assault investigation. Since then, MomTok has continued to generate buzz with Jessi Draper kissing Hope’s ex-husband Chase McWhorter, Whitney Leavitt announcing she’ll leave the show after season five, the announcement of a spinoff and more. Separately, Layla Taylor publicly came out as bisexual, earning support from fans and her castmates.

Amid all the “chaos,” as Hope describes it, one question has lingered: Can MomTok survive? In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Hope opens up about launching her music career, where things stand with season five of SLOMW, the future of the series, her relationships with several cast members and why she’d “never say never” to joining The Bachelor franchise one day.

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How long has music been something you’ve wanted to pursue? Has it always been a dream behind the scenes, or did there come a point where you realized you wanted to take it seriously?

Ever since I was a little girl, that’s been the route that I wanted to go. It didn’t really feel that realistic. I got engaged at 19, married at 20. I felt like my life’s purpose was very, you know, wife and mother — the true Mormon way. It wasn’t until the show and having that, amongst other things, that kind of sparked more of my creativity and made me want to go back to my roots a little bit. And obviously, I have so many more connections now and doors that have opened, so we decided to full-send it, and I’m just so grateful for the opportunity.

Viewers of Mormon Wives saw you at Stagecoach in season three, so it seemed like you already were a country music fan. But for people who may not know that side of you yet, what drew you to the country genre specifically?

I’m originally from a small town in Idaho, and I think that’s a big part of it. My family, even extended family, are very much country, and so I feel like it’s a lot more just my roots. I love all different genres of music, I think my writing style and even vocals, are suited for country music. But I don’t know, we’ll see. I also love pop music. I feel like the song that I just released is very country pop. So, we’ll see what direction I go in the future, but for now, I’ve been very country focused and just taking it back to my roots. It’s been fun.

“FU4THAT” has some pretty personal lyrics. What inspired the song? And what story were you hoping to tell through it?

I wrote the song with intention of it just being a story of me having this experience from going from a people pleaser stage to then coming into my own, and deciding I don’t like how I’m being treated. It was written with an intention of being about shitty men that I’ve dealt with in general. Obviously, we all know there are some pointed lines about my ex-husband, but as a whole, that was kind of the intention of writing the song. It shows the evolution of from where I used to be to now being like, “No, I’m not going to continue to be treated this way and take it from people.” So many people ask if it’s about friendships as well, and I’m like, “It wasn’t written with that in mind at all, but I’m also like, shoe fits.”

Has Chase shared his thoughts with you about it?

Yeah, I actually sent him my demo right after recording it, and he sent me a picture back of him crying. But not because his feelings were hurt, just because he was proud. He didn’t care. He was so excited about it. If anything, he just feels flattered that he has some lines about him, whether for better or worse, positive or negative, he’ll take it.

What’s the response to “FU4THAT” been like so far? Has the feedback changed how you’re thinking about future music projects?

I feel like it’s been pretty split. Half of the people who have listened love it; half hate it. But the thing is, a stream is a stream. Just like how a view is a view, and I don’t typically operate by all press is good press. I don’t necessarily like to buy into that, at least when it comes to filming reality TV. But with music and with your creativity, it feels more fitting in that regard, where I’m like, you know what, it doesn’t have to be your cup of tea. This is very new to me as well. It’s my first song I’ve ever released, and I don’t think the song wasn’t written with the intent to be a vocal showcase. It’s a fun, lighthearted, chant with your girlfriends in the car type of song. And I wanted that, as my first song to come out, as something that I think we can also have fun with, and collectively with your girlfriends, you’ve also been betrayed, bop too. In future releases, I’ve already written and recorded some songs that are more like a ballad, softer and a lot less F words. So, in the future, there will be a little more range, and it’ll be very different.

What does the future of your music career look like? Are you hoping to release an EP or an album, or maybe any live performances?

I think right now an EP or an album would probably be the direction. I’ve had some writing sessions since, while I was recently in Nashville, I did some writing sessions. Lots of exciting things in the work. We’ll see where it goes, but that’s what’s on the radar for now.

Shifting to Secret Lives, Whitney recently mentioned on a podcast that the next season will be just five episodes. Is that accurate, or is that something you can’t really speak to yet?

Day to day, we are always learning new information. Kind of feels like the blind leading the blind here, where we are. We don’t really have any 100 percent concrete information, and people keep asking for release dates and stuff. I’m like, “Unfortunately, we don’t know any of that information.” I wish they gave it to us, but yeah, as far as now, we know very little. So there’s not a whole lot I can speak to now, but hopefully in the very near future, there will be more information on that.

Season five was halted in March because of an investigation involving Taylor. It resumed a month later. Has filming completed for you? Have you completed your confessionals and your portion yet?

Everything regarding filming, just in general, is so up in the air. We still have some aspects in the works, and some conversations are still being had, but it’s been such a whirlwind ever since we stopped — nothing I would say is wrapped or not. It’s really just a bundle of chaos. (Laughs.) This is new territory for everybody involved. So, we’re all hoping that we’ll be able to have it back to business as usual as soon as possible.

Jessi made headlines by kissing Chase. Where do things stand between you and Jessi today? Are you on speaking terms?

It’s been a little bit, so I’m not as fired up about the situation as I was. Obviously, people saw a lot of stuff online about how I felt. I think I’m still dissecting entirely how I feel about it, to be honest. As a whole, everything’s just an entire whirlwind of ups and downs, but right now I’m feeling a lot more indifferent about the situation. I still have my feelings about it, but we’ll see how things go moving forward. I’m open to having more conversations down the line, but for now I’m just trying to focus on my music, and we’ll address that when it feels like the right time.

Shortly after your song’s release, Taylor commented on a TikTok post of yours, “this is so good.” Where do you two stand now? And from what you know, how is she doing?

Right now, I feel like I know very little. We’ve all been so incredibly busy in MomTok. For so long, there was just so much going on, and we all have so many things going on in our own regard, and I think we’re all kind of focused on that, so we haven’t really spoken recently. But I genuinely hope that she’s doing well, and from what I know and what I hear, it seems like and sounds like she’s doing better. I truly wish nothing but the best for her. As far as our relationship goes, it’s the same as Jessi, where I’m open to having conversations down the line when it feels like the right time, but for now I’m just hoping she is in a healthy and happy spot.

As the franchise continues to grow with spinoffs and everyone is branching out into different projects, where do you see Mormon Wives going over the next few years? Do you think that some of the off-camera headlines will help or make it more challenging for the show moving forward?

I think both. Some of those headlines, that’s how the show came to be — the swinging headlines. Sometimes I think it serves us. I think other times it hurts us, especially when it comes to storylines and things that the audience would love to have reserved for TV. A lot of the time, with our cast, it spills out online, and I hope that, moving forward, there can be more of a surprise element and a more intimate component between the show and our audience. When it all spills out online, I don’t want to say it necessarily ruins it, because sometimes it adds a layer of excitement, or people be like, “Oh, I can’t wait to hopefully watch more context behind that.” So, I wouldn’t say it necessarily helps or hurts distinctly one or the other. It’s a nuanced situation where both can be true, and so it sometimes does help us to have those headlines, and then other times I do think obviously, it does hurt us, which, partially, is why we are down right now with filming. But MomTok has continued to survive this long, so I see no reason why we can’t survive past this. (Writer’s Note: Shortly after this interview, cast members posted videos on social media together, appearing to be filming.)

You have a lot of friends in the Bachelor world. Is that something that attracts you to possibly join that franchise in the future?

I don’t know that I would want to be done dirty by 20, 30 men. I wrote a song about just a select few, I don’t know if I can do a whole slew of them. A hook would be that they would all be great people, but dating on reality TV — never say never, but I feel like, especially as a single mom, that makes things a lot more complicated, and then that with music, I think I have a lot on my plate. I like to consider myself open about future possibilities, but it’s not really at the top of my list. Also, dating in general, right now, isn’t top of my list either. (Laughs.)

I know some of the girls in Mormon Wives visited Taylor when she was filming The Bachelorette. Were you a part of that group?

I wasn’t. Well, we all had a bit of back-and-forth, but hopefully people will see it all unfold. But from the sounds of it, I think that it would be a really fun and interesting component to see. But even during filming, we all have so much going on that, unfortunately, we can’t make it to everything.

Layla recently publicly shared that she is bisexual. As one of her close friends, how proud are you of her for opening up about that part of her life?

I’m so proud. When she told me, I just cried. I’m so happy for her, and you can feel the relief, and authenticity just oozing from her, even just in our conversation about it. She truly is glowing, and she’s really, really come into her own over the last few years, especially this last year. It’s been such a beautiful thing to watch as a friend, and I’m really, really proud of her.

Have you had a chance to meet the person that she’s dating?

Not yet. I am hoping to soon, but we’ll see.

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“FU4THAT” is available to listen on Spotify and Apple Music.