☆ FULL NAME: Preslee Grace St. James
☆ GENDER: Ciswoman
☆ PRONOUNS: She/Her
☆ AGE: 26 (November 12th, 1998)
☆ TYPE: Adopted sibling; twin to Joni Sylvester
☆ HOMETOWN: Salt Lake City, Utah
☆ JOB: Owner of Saints & Sippers soda shop
☆ SCHOOL: Freshman, majoring in Interior Design; minoring in Photography
☆ SEXUALITY: Bisexual (Closeted)
☆ FACECLAIM: Madelyn Cline
"Preslee Grace came to me in a dream."
The story has been told so many times now, both on their show and in big church talks. Hailed "inspirational" by their ward leader, the story goes that Clara St. James woke up one night in a cold sweat, a little girl with blonde hair and hazel eyes named Preslee Grace needed her; she was going to come into her life so soon, and Clara was going to save her. So, when only months later, she and her husband, registered with the adoption agency already, received a late night phone call that a newborn baby girl needed an emergency placement, her planned adoption falling through when the person who came for her and her twin decided to take only the first born, Clara and Gideon were both appalled and elated. They took her in without question, naming her Preslee Grace, and her adoption was finalized soon after.
Despite being her mom's "dream girl", Preslee was always Daddy’s little princess, especially because she loved the Lord and easily brought in views for their eventual TV show with her bubbly personality, unwavering faith and, more importantly, fashion sense. Preslee was a fan favorite among the younger generation of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives’ viewers, partially due to her relatability, partially due to how unrelatable her life was. Young girls dreamed of coming from a background of money, being naturally beautiful and having all of the popularity in the world, so Preslee served as a symbol for their own desires. Her perfect life, however, didn't come without its downsides.
As a good, respectable Mormon girl, drinking and fraternising with the opposite sex was more than frowned upon, but especially when underage. So, when a sixteen year old Preslee came home wasted one evening with a bright purple hickey on her neck, the cameras having left only moments before her arrival, her father saw red. He screamed at her about what a disappointment she was, and what would they have done if she’d shown up in this mess an hour earlier when the cameras were rolling? He raised his voice to her for the first time, and for the first time, Preslee felt real fear.
Despite being used constantly as a story of inspiration and example, her adoption had never really been a thought to her, but somewhere deep down, the fear of abandonment had burned itself into her from day one, and the possibility of disappointing her father so much that he might not want her anymore flickered through her mind as well. Of course, he gave her no hint that that was the case, but through fear of it becoming so, Preslee decided she never wanted to upset him like that again, she never wanted to give him or her mother any reason to not want her anymore. She forced herself to stay in line from then on, and acted with caution, but an itch within her to spread her wings and get out of their community's watchful eye began to claw it's way to the surface.
Preslee, not the most academic of people, had never really considered college, but as soon as she graduated high school, she decided it was the logical next step to some semblance of freedom, so followed her brother to PSU, where she enrolled to major in Fashion Design and Merchandising. No longer under the watchful eye of her parents, Preslee thought college was going to give her the independence she so desperately wanted. Unfortunately, though, that wasn't the case. Without their parents there to enforce the rules, Jesse seemed to take it upon himself to become Preslee's personal keeper, and if she had to hear the words "modest is hottest!" from him one more time, she was sure she would scream.
She couldn't just drop out of school without repercussions; she knew her parents wouldn't approve, so came to them with a business idea instead: rather than going to school, she'd open a Utah-style soda shop close to PSU. She'd be doing something productive and fulfilling, and while they had to pray about it for a little while, her parents eventually agreed. With their approval and funding, Saints & Sippers was born. Preslee was incredibly proud of her achievement, and it was fun for a while, owning a business and calling the shots, taking charge of a team. Unfortunately, however, it was also restricting, and soon that itch of wanderlust started to claw its way back to the forefront, until finally it won, and Preslee took off to see the world.
Throughout her years as a travelling college dropout who'd left her business to be managed solely by her co-owner with very little notice, Preslee began to question big aspects of her life, such as her religion and sexuality. A series of same-sex hookups showed Preslee she certainly wasn’t straight, although she wasn’t entirely gay either. Bisexual was the label that felt the most comfortable to her. For a while, she tried to ignore it, but then decided if she was going to embrace her freedom fully, she had to be true to herself. She doesn't advertise it, not wanting it to get back to her parents, but if Preslee grows close enough to a woman to know she can trust her, she doesn't hold herself back.
As for her relationship with God, while she has always loved her Lord and believed in His power, she has never been one to preach, nor to follow all of the rules set out by the church. In her independence, Preslee made the decision to set the scriptures and their ideals aside, realizing she could still love God and be loved by God in return without having to follow the manmade rules preached in their church. So, Preslee still believes in God, she is still a Mormon, only in her own way now, and she is much happier for it. Her life, however, for all it was fun and exciting, over the years began to feel stale, and with adulthood came the contradictory, surprising itch for Preslee to do something more stable, something worthwhile.
Going back to college became her next real option. Still interested in fashion, she considered going back to her previous major, but for some reason it just didn’t really excite her anymore. Instead, Preslee decided to capitalize on two loves she'd discovered throughout her time travelling the globe. The different, creative designs of the countless places she'd stayed had captured Preslee's attention, and became something of an inspiration to her. So, after some soul-searching and a little bit of praying, she bit the bullet, took herself back to LA and applied to PSU, this time to major in Interior Design with a minor in Photography.
Being back in LA means plenty of things for Preslee, some she isn't too sure how she feels about. Firstly, she'll be closer to her parents and her older brother, therefore she'll have to keep her lifestyle more tightly under-wraps. Secondly, she'll be back in the same area as her business, and Preslee knows the mature thing to do is to go and help out again. There are also exciting prospects for her, though: the idea of settling down doesn't sound horrible to her anymore, maybe because she's slightly older, and being in one place for a decent amount of time seems appealing to her. On top of that, she'll finally be in the same place as her twin, who Preslee has spoken to online a few times, but never actually met in person. This time, Preslee plans to take her life more seriously, though whether she will or not, only time will tell.
The St. James family, consisting of Prophet Seer and Revelator Joseph St. James, his eldest son, Apostle Brigham St. James, and his eldest son, a member of the First Quorums, Gideon St. James, are perhaps the most influential LDS family in Salt Lake City, Utah, with the McKay family a close second. Therefore, when Gideon and the McKay’s eldest daughter, Clara, became of age, they were pushed together and encouraged to wed immediately. Luckily, they did hit it off, so while their marriage was not arranged but encouraged, the connection was there, and the two were married within three months of their official first date, their honeymoon baby coming along shortly after—and their family continuing to expand ever since.
Together, Gideon, Clara and their growing brood of children—both biological and adopted—climbed the ranks within the Mormon church, holding a number of leadership callings, including a three-year overseas trip with Gideon as the mission president to London, England, and making a bigger and bigger name for themselves with their business and social status among the LDS community worldwide. Upon their return to the US, the influential family were approached by the same production company responsible for the popular reality show Wilde Faith, and asked to headline their own show, The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. With prayer and family counsel, they eventually considered this a calling to bring positive exposure to their oftentimes misrepresented religion. They uprooted to LA to begin production soon after.
At first, the show was relatively tame, focusing mainly on the wives thrown together to make up the cast and each of their growing families. Entertainment came in the form of gossip and the lavish, old money lifestyles each family led, and the general public couldn’t get enough. It was renewed for season after season, its scandal picking up with each new addition to the cast—some thrown in purely for the drama. The St. James’ were seen as the main family, the ones in charge, but as time went on and their children grew into adults themselves, production decided it was time for the original cast to take more of a backseat role while new, fresh faces were brought in to lead the newest season.
Unfortunately, their drama far surpassed anything seen on the show before, the addition of the “Momtok” scandal (if you know, you know) making a mockery of the LDS community in the St. James’ eyes. The season aired before they knew anything about it, therefore there was nothing they could do to stop it. With their names attached so heavily to the show, the backlash they have received from within the church has been insane, and the St. James’ are now doing whatever they can to fix their tarnished image. Their daughter, Lilee, has recently started a YouTube channel, Lilee and the Littles, where she does fun, family-friendly games with their younger siblings while showing off how clean and wholesome the family still is—or at least how they want the public to see them, anyway.
