Scandal has lined every step of the way throughout Taylor Frankie Paul’s rise to fame, and the controversy surrounding the Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star is only becoming more complicated.
Just days away from the premiere of Paul’s already divisive turn as the lead of The Bachelorette, reports emerged that production on SLOMW’s fifth season has been paused amid what police confirmed is an active domestic assault allegation regarding Paul and her ex-boyfriend, Dakota Mortensen. The Draper City Police Department said that “allegations have been made in both directions,” but that no charges have been filed yet.
News of the alleged dispute, first reported by TMZ, came as a shock to SLOMW fans who had hoped that Paul’s recent search for love on ABC’s infamous dating show would put an end to her toxic on-and-off relationship with Mortensen — who is the father of her youngest child, Ever — after it was chronicled relentlessly on the hit Hulu reality show. Paul, 31, has not spoken out about the potential charges against her.
It is unclear if the incident will have any effect on the upcoming season of The Bachelorette, which reportedly finished filming in mid-December; however, the MomTok founder’s previous scandals did not stop her from being cast as the first lead on the show to be selected from outside the franchise.
Read ahead for a chronological overview of the drama surrounding Paul.
Soft swinging scandal
Paul, a Mormon mom influencer who grew a following of millions on TikTok for her content about her family’s life in Utah, made headlines in May 2022 by announcing her divorce to the world on TikTok Live.
During the announcement, she exposed a “soft swinging” agreement that she and her ex-husband, Tate, had with other MomTok couples that had contributed to the reasons for her divorce from Tate, the father of her two children. The bombshell confession sparked speculation over which influencers had participated in the affairs, and eventually led to the group of women landing their own Hulu reality series.
Volatile relationship with Dakota Mortensen
The first season of SLOMW — which was Hulu’s most-watched unscripted premiere of 2024 — showed Paul beginning a relationship with Mortensen, a recovering addict whom she met on TikTok. The pair’s relationship took a turn after they briefly broke up in December 2022 and got back together a month later.
Then, in February 2023, Paul was arrested and charged with three misdemeanors, including assault, criminal mischief and domestic violence in the presence of a child. Bodycam footage of the arrest, which was included in SLOMW, showed Paul crying and explaining that she had been fighting with Mortensen. In August of that year, she pleaded guilty to a third-degree felony count of aggravated assault, and the other charges against her were dropped.
Paul and Mortensen announced in September that they were pregnant with their first child together, which led to criticism from the Mormon church over Paul having a child with a man she had not married. However, Paul insisted that she was not ready to be married again, and she gave birth to Ever True in March 2024.
The pair ended up breaking up again later that year, and continued to break up and get back together several times before, in September 2025, Paul was named as ABC’s new Bachelorette.
Bachelorette drama
ABC’s decision to center the new season of The Bachelorette around Paul sparked backlash for several reasons, as some criticized the network’s decision to stray from the tradition of choosing contestants from previous seasons of The Bachelor.
Other critics wondered if it was fair to introduce Paul to 22 potential suitors, knowing about her toxic relationship with Mortensen, and with lingering questions about whether their relationship was really over.
Those concerns have now been validated with the news of SLOMW filming pausing due to a “blowup” between Mortensen and Paul. The Draper City Police Department told People that the former couple have both made allegations against each other after an incident between them on February 24 and 25. Draper police told The Independent they would not comment further due to the pending investigation.
During the hiatus, other reports by People have suggested that Paul’s fellow MomTok members are trying to distance themselves from Paul amid the drama.
None of the Mormon Wives have spoken out about the speculation except for Jessi Draper, who responded to a podcaster’s theory that the women are growing apart from Paul due to envy over her role as the Bachelorette by commenting: “It was never a jealousy thing lol.”
Despite the speculation, Variety reports that the pause in filming is “temporary” and that “the incident did not occur while cameras were rolling.”
The outlet also said that the police investigation will not impact the scheduled March 22 premiere of The Bachelorette. ABC and Hulu did not return The Independent’s requests for comment.
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