Mikayla Matthews left Utah for Hawaii on Wednesday, telling followers she was traveling to “heal my skin” as she keeps looking for relief from chronic inflammatory response syndrome. The 26-year-old star of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives said she packed up for the move with two of her four children and an oversized suitcase that cost her $200 at the airport.
Matthews said she was “officially starting the new chapter” at the Westin Maui and called the resort “the most beautiful place,” adding that she was “so excited to be here” and in “positive vibes.” She said the trip was hopefully going to help her combat the condition that has kept her dealing with recurring skin problems, even as she continues the kind of travel she says is part of her search for healing.
The move came just a week after she said on April 22 that she was “terrified” of returning to Utah after spending three weeks in California and five days in Costa Rica. After a month away, she said she felt “a little more normal without these flares,” but her skin almost immediately reacted once she got back to Utah. She said then that life at home left her “just surviving.”
Matthews has been open about the strain of the condition in recent weeks, saying it has “completely stripped me of so much happiness, of so much time with my kids that I’m never going to get back.” She also said, “I want to go to Switzerland and do a detox retreat,” and described the stress of managing illness, children and bills as overwhelming. In a separate Instagram video posted Wednesday, she said she was grateful to be able to afford treatment and move at a moment’s notice, and said she would pay for a follower’s flight and treatment at the detox center she plans to visit in Europe.
That openness has made Matthews one of the more closely watched figures from The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, where she has documented her health struggles and, in season 4, her separation from Jace Terry amid intimacy issues. Her latest move suggests the answer to the question hanging over her posts is blunt: she is still chasing a fix, and right now she is chasing it wherever she thinks it might work.
