It’s no question that “The Bachelorette” needed a big change. After Jenn Tran’s season ended in 2024 with yet another failed engagement and the show went on hiatus the next year, whoever ABC picked as the lead for Season 22 was going to have to be someone who could recapture America’s attention. Well, as evidenced by ABC pulling the show indefinitely — it was meant to premiere on Sunday — after a video was leaked of a 2023 domestic violence incident between Taylor Frankie Paul and her on again-off again boyfriend Dakota Mortensen, the network and producer Warner Bros. Studio have done just that. But this is surely the companies’ nightmare scenario.
They should have seen it coming, though — the clues were all on screen on the hit Hulu series “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.” In September, the announcement that the 31-year-old “Mormon Wives” star had been chosen as the Bachelorette sent shockwaves through Bachelor Nation. It marked the first time in “Bachelorette” history that the star of a season had not previously appeared on “The Bachelor” or been linked to the franchise in any way. But a splashy reveal on Alex Cooper’s “Call Her Daddy” podcast and the rabid fanbase for Paul’s own Hulu reality show promised to deliver exactly what “The Bachelorette” needed: viewers.
But casting Paul on “The Bachelorette” was always going to be a risk, because the writing has always been on the wall with her public persona. Though it’s fueled the success of “Mormon Wives,” Paul’s brand is chaos — and as the de facto leader of #MomTok, chaos follows her wherever she goes. And she’s not hiding it; it’s the opposite, in fact. Season 4 of “Mormon Wives,” which Hulu dropped in a binge on March 12, almost seemed to be a negative advertisement for “The Bachelorette,” which was supposed to premiere 10 days later. Throughout the season, Paul can’t quit hooking up with Mortensen, despite everything. No matter how much her friends and her family warn her — and even though she’s risking her own mental health, as well as the well-being of their child and the children she has with her ex-husband — Paul wouldn’t listen to reason. Her future opportunities because of the success of “Mormon Wives,” #MomTok and her being the lead on “The Bachelorette” — none of those things seem to matter to her. She’s clearly addicted to Mortensen, everything else be damned.
The Season 4 finale ends with Paul jetting from Utah to Los Angeles to begin filming “The Bachelorette.” But there’s a problem: She had yet again spent the night with Mortensen, so when her friends go to the airport to send her off with fanfare, they see only Paul’s mom and sister, who are going ahead without her. When the friends go to Paul’s house, literally breaking in to try to talk sense to her, Paul claims to be sick. She does eventually head to L.A. that night, but there’s never been more of an ominous start of a journey to find love — which is the alleged purpose of “The Bachelor” franchise.
Paul certainly does know how to create a spectacle, that’s for sure. A single mom from Utah, Paul first blew up on TikTok for revealing that she and her (now ex) husband had been hooking up with other Mormon couples, also known as “soft-swinging.” Paul’s honest, slightly unhinged admission — which was delivered on TikTok Live and ignited a war of words on the platform between those involved — became part of her appeal. Here was a young woman who would unabashedly speak her mind, no matter who she pissed off. Needless to say, the internet loved it — and then Hulu came knocking to document how the fallout affected Paul and her fellow young, Mormon influencer friends (aka #MomTok). “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” which premiered in September 2024 and is already airing its fourth season, was an immediate hit, delivering Hulu’s most-watched unscripted premiere of that year. Its second season, which premiered last spring, was even nominated for a primetime Emmy. Why wouldn’t ABC and “The Bachelorette” want a piece of that?
But there was something darker looming in the background. The pilot episode of “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” ends with Paul’s February 2023 arrest after an altercation with her and Mortensen, whom she had just started dating at the time. She allegedly hit, choked and threw metal chairs at him, with one of the chairs allegedly hitting one of her children from her previous relationship. Paul pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated assault, while charges of domestic violence in the presence of a child, child abuse and criminal mischief were dismissed. She’s still serving three years of probation and therefore couldn’t leave the country for “The Bachelorette’s” typical globe-trotting, meaning production had to adjust travel.
The 2023 incident was just the start of a toxic cycle. Episode 2 picks up one year later, when Paul is pregnant with Mortensen’s child. Through the next three seasons, viewers see Paul and Mortensen break up, make up, sleep together and do it all over again. It’s a classic case of an abusive relationship, with bad behavior seemingly coming from both sides.
In the days leading up to “The Bachelorette” premiere, the news cycle around Paul exploded. Earlier this week, production on Season 5 of “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” was put on hold due to a new domestic violence incident between Paul and Mortensen, with both currently under investigation by the Draper City Police Department in Utah.
Even then, though, Paul’s “Bachelorette” publicity schedule continued unabated. ABC continued to put Paul at events and press appearances — and she didn’t shy away from talking to reporters. At a “Bachelorette” event in New York City on Tuesday, Paul told People that she’s “struggling for sure.” The next morning, during a live spot on “Good Morning America,” she was questioned about the “Mormon Wives” production pause and said she “doesn’t call the shots with production,” even though “GMA” anchor Lara Spencer aptly pointed out that she’s an executive producer.
“I think just because we share our lives and we produce like, our own lives… but I don’t know necessarily what that means,” Paul said about her role. Regarding the allegations against her, she said: “I’m a person that will always speak my truth, you know, that’s what I’m known for. And so when the time is right, I will be.”
But on Thursday, TMZ obtained and released a video of the 2023 incident. As Paul and Mortensen yell at each other, she throws three metal bar stools at him, one of which lands near her child, who starts to cry. Though it’s impossible to know the exact events leading up to that moment — a rep for Paul said that it “omits context” and is a “reprehensible attempt to distract from his own behavior” — the video doesn’t paint Paul in a good light. Though the details of the arrest were all in the public record, several of the charges had been dropped against Paul, and sources at Disney say they hadn’t seen the video of the 2023 incident until TMZ posted it.
In a statement released after ABC pulled the show, Paul’s publicist claimed Mortensen has been abusive, saying, “There are too many women who are suffering in silence as they survive aggressive, jealous ex-partners who refuse to let them move on with their lives.”
Clearly, airing Paul’s season would not only be irresponsible, but outright dangerous — both for the credibility of “The Bachelorette,” ABC and parent company Disney, producer Warner Bros. and, most of all, for Paul’s well-being.
The thing is that Paul should never have been cast on “The Bachelorette” in the first place. It’s clear to any casual viewer of “Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” that she has been struggling with her mental health, and all too often in the reality TV world, the most vulnerable people are exploited for entertainment and viewers. Of course, Paul is more than deserving of love — but until she truly heals and breaks the cycle of abuse with Mortensen, what’s the point of having her date 30 men in front of the world? As the incident this week sadly proves, starring on another reality show didn’t solve Paul’s problems.
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