The Real World’s Julie Stoffer Hints That ‘Homecoming’ Will Explain ‘Complex’ Reason She Left Mormonism

usmagazine.com:

Familiar faces in familiar places. After the success of The Real World Homecoming‘s New York and Los Angeles editions, the show is returning for a third season — and this time the original New Orleans cast is coming back.“This is lightning striking twice,” Julie Stoffer exclusively told Us Weekly ahead of the show’s Wednesday, April 20, premiere. “It’s just mind-boggling, to be honest.”The Wisconsin native, 42, became the first Mormon to appear on The Real World when she starred in the show’s first New Orleans season, which aired in 2000.

She famously got suspended from Brigham Young University because her participation in the series violated the school’s honor code, which stated that unmarried students could not have non-family roommates of the opposite sex.More than 20 years later, Julie is no longer part of the Mormon church, and she says Homecoming will explore the reasons she decided to leave the faith.“There’s gonna be attention paid to my faith transitions over the years, and kind of, like, what my religious life looks like now,” she told Us. “It’s a little complex, so I’ll just say that it’s not an uninteresting story.”The MTV personality explained that she decided to double down on her religion after leaving BYU because she wanted to be “that good Mormon girl.” Once she did more research, however, she realized that some of the faith’s cornerstones weren’t compatible with her personal beliefs.“When I did my due diligence and I studied and really sat down and was honest with myself over time, I started to realize that the values of the religion did not align with my own,” she told Us. “I had philosophical differences with the core tenets of the faith.”Julie noted that her exit from the church was “a process of