Books & Audiobooks
Mayci Neeley isn’t your typical millennial mom. At age thirty, she’s the CEO of her own maternity supplement company – Baby Mama – as well as a mom to three and of course, one of the stars of the hit reality TV show “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.” The show follows a group of modern Mormon (to varying degrees) women who make up #momtok, a group of moms that goes viral on TikTok and Instagram, sometimes for very scandalous reasons. As the loyal, often level-headed member of the group, Mayci quickly became a fan favourite. On the show she opens up about her difficult past, and in season three, announced that she was writing her memoir and had gotten a book deal. Told You So was released in October 2025.
The book itself starts with Mayci choosing where to attend college as a competitive tennis player. Multiple schools want her but she ultimately chooses Brigham Young University (BYU), which, in case you weren’t familiar, is a very Mormon institution. So much so that, at the time she attended, there was a strict honour code—meaning that drinking, partying, or engaging in other typical college behavior could easily get Mayci kicked out of school. Herein lies a big part of her trauma. While attending school, Mayci dated a man who abused and controlled her. He used BYU’s honour code as leverage against her if she broke things off with him for good or went to the authorities: he threatened to publicly share photos and videos of her breaking the code. Not wanting to lose her spot on the tennis team or her place at BYU, she remained stuck in this toxic relationship. Mayci recounts her experiences with this abuse and how it affected every aspect of her life, including her tennis career and own self worth.
Told You So is the story of Mayci’s bravery and endurance as she navigated this trauma alone and how she eventually broke free. However there’s so much more to Mayci’s story than just this one terrible man. She also writes about her first real love and how she experienced an unplanned pregnancy before the father tragically died in a car crash before their son was even born. She talks about her family and the strict gendered expectations placed on her as Mormon girl. How she never expected to grow up to have her own career, that going to school was only a way to meet a nice Mormon boy to take care of her and maybe play some tennis. Instead Mayci was forced to discard these notions to provide for her newborn son and stand on her own two feet.
Mayci recounts the traumas of her life as well as her growth from a scared, lost girl into the capable and successful business woman she is today. Told You So is an inspiring read; whether or not you’re familiar with Mayci, her story is truly an unforgettable one.