Following the release of a video showing Taylor Frankie Paul assaulting her then-boyfriend, her season of The Bachelorette was cancelled. But how can ABC act like this is a moral decision when it’s morally bankrupt – and already knew about the assault? Capsule’s Bachelor expert Sarah Lang dives into it
TRIGGER WARNING: Family Violence, Domestic Violence, Assault
When I saw that Taylor Frankie Paul’s season of The Bachelorette had been cancelled, and just three days before the premiere date, I was shocked.
Cancelling a filmed season of The Bachelor or The Bachelorette is unprecedented in a franchise that has produced 50 seasons since 2002. I was once a superfan, but haven’t watched it for several seasons because of how production treats some cast members. But I follow along through Bachelor Fantake’s YouTube channel, Dave Neal’s YouTube videos, the Game of Roses podcast, and the Your Mom and Dad podcast. (I know, I know.)
Unless you’ve spent the last week with your phone on ‘do not disturb’, you’ve likely heard the name Frankie Taylor Paul crop up. She’s the star of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, a reality-TV series that follows a group of well-off Utah-based TikTok influencers. The “MomTok” founder became famous by breaking the ‘no sex’ rule of ‘soft swinging’ with others within their circle. Taylor and her husband Tate Paul then divorced, and now share custody of their two kids: daughter Indy, and son Ocean. She also has two-year-old Ever with ex-boyfriend Dakota Mortensen.
Their chaotic, toxic, on-off relationship is central to Secret Lives. The 2024 season actually opened with police bodycam footage showing Paul being arrested (after a neighbour called police). But there was a big development last week.
On March 19, TMZ released a video that showed an assault in full swing. It’s way worse than you might imagine. Mortensen is filming on his phone with one arm outstretched, while trying to fend off Paul with the other, repeatedly asking her to stop. She gets him in a headlock. She throws a metal bar stool at him. He screams “your daughter is sitting right there” as Paul throws the second stool at him. Then she throws a third stool, which accidentally hit her five-year-old daughter. Paul doesn’t immediately check on her daughter, who is crying, and allegedly ends up with a ‘goose egg’ on her head. Mortensen ends up with swelling on his elbow and around his eyes, scratches, and a laceration to his neck. New bodycam obtained by TMZ on March 24 shows police officers separating the pair as a clearly intoxicated Paul lunges at Mortensen.
Yep, Mortensen probably leaked the video, and on their son’s birthday, which can certainly be seen as petty. But the content is more important than the timing. The violence was so visceral that the video went viral. It’s one thing to read about an assault and another to see it.
I think the central question is whether physical abuse is acceptable under any circumstances except self-defence of yourself or others. I think the answer is no. Yes, it’s possible he physically or psychologically abused her or intentionally triggered her before recording the incident. Yes, he’s bigger than her. But being smaller doesn’t necessarily make a difference when you’re hurling dangerous objects hard at someone. However, if evidence comes out that Mortensen is the aggressor, please charge him, cancel him, do all the things. Certainly, Mortensen has a lot of red flags including cheating, and struggles with addiction.
Paul was initially charged with misdemeanour counts of assault, criminal mischief, and commission of domestic violence in the presence of a child. She pleaded guilty to aggravated assault, while the other charges were dismissed. Under the terms of her (ongoing) probation, she has been required to violate no laws, obtain a substance-abuse and domestic-violence evaluation, successfully complete any recommended treatments, and ordered to not use, consume or possess alcohol or illegal drugs. Over six months, she regained 50% custody of the kids.
BTW, it’s mind-blowing that she and Mortensen went on to have a child after that.
Complicating matters even further, on March 26 Paul was accused of yet another account of domestic violence by Mortensen. According to NBC news, the most recent allegations centre on an incident that took place in 2024.
They really did it
After the video sparked outrage online, many people wanted Paul’s Bachelorette season cancelled, but weren’t expecting it to happen, given millions of dollars were involved. I don’t think Paul expected it either. She’d been at the Oscars, on Good Morning America, continuing a media blitz when suddenly it was over before it began.
You can read Paul’s statement to People here, alleging a long period of abuse, a claim which Mortensen calls baseless. The Bachelorette cancellation came days after Secret Lives reportedly halted production on season five. On March 7, 12 days before TMZ released the video, Paul’s Secret Lives co-stars allegedly had a Zoom call with three Disney/ABC executives including Rob Mills. They raised concerns about working with Paul given a current domestic-violence investigation; more on that soon. The rumour is that Mills told them he didn’t want to know too much.
Many other rumours are swirling. Is Paul suing ABC? Is ABC suing Paul? Both are unlikely. Could a breach of contract or morality clause come into play? Possibly. Could ABC retrieve the money they’ve paid her? Unlikely. Is her ex-husband trying to get full custody (possibly having never seen the video until we did)? Well, it’s alleged he did file a restraining order against her the same day Mortensen did.
Was there a video call between an exec and the 22 Bachelorette contestants basically saying be quiet and we’ll try to get you on Bachelor in Paradise? Likely. It seems the men knew about the arrest during filming, but not a lot. Reportedly, Paul stormed off set when one suitor asked about it. Many of the men will be pissed off by the cancellation of the season. Contestants have never been paid, and many are there for screentime that might lead to being the Bachelor, being on Bachelor in Paradise, or becoming an influencer.
One contestant gave an anonymous interview to E! News. “Part of me is just so f**king pissed… We treated her kindly and respectfully and gave her a second chance. We tried to let her turn over a new leaf and we all believed her when she said she did. Obviously the way she acted and the way she treated all of us in hindsight is just a waste of time, a waste of energy, a waste of emotional intelligence.”
But I’d argue these men should be far more pissed off at ABC for casting her in the first place. They did it to bring her unfiltered chaos and her social-media followers (six million on TikTok and two million on Instagram) to a tired Bachelor franchise needing reinvigoration as other dating shows are commanding more attention. Still, she was a very surprising choice, partly because a lead nearly always comes from a previous season.
But following a playful video where Paul said she’d like to be The Bachelorette, ABC exec Rob Mills flew to Utah, met her, sent her roses the next day and, as he said, “and the rest is history”.
It certainly is. An historic cancellation. Just three days before the planned premiere.
A spokesperson for ABC’s parent company Disney said, “In light of the newly released video just surfaced today, we have made the decision to not move forward with the new season of The Bachelorette at this time, and our focus is on supporting the family.” Support? You know they’re really thinking goddammit, this woman is a failed bet, we’ll lose millions but perhaps the wider show will survive. (Maybe it will. Maybe not.)
The Overlap
I don’t know how the Bachelor franchise and Secret Lives – both being ABC shows – approach information sharing, but the latter showed her sleeping with Mortensen the night before The Bachelorette filming began, meaning she missed her flight to L.A. Apparently she and The Bachelorette winner Doug Mason broke up a month after filming ended. Spoiler guru Reality Steve claims the breakup happened because she was never over Mortensen.
These two need a third-party child drop-off system. Because there’s now an open police investigation following two incidents in February, with Mortensen and Paul accusing each other of violence. With Mortensen alleging she choked him, a judge granted him a temporary restraining order against Paul, plus he gets full custody of their son until an April 7 hearing. Paul is still on probation, so new charges against her may impact her earlier plea deal. Jail is possible.
ABC was surely pissed off that the new incidents involving Mortensen effectively spoiled her season. The Bachelor franchise hates when a season is spoiled by its cast, especially by its lead. The show’s premise is finding love, and here’s their lead making this premise seem a sham! The only thing worse than spoiling the season is not being able to screen the season! Poor them!
They Knew
Let’s be real: ABC drew the line not at physical harm, but at visibility. It pulled the season because of the video going viral. But it absolutely knew about the 2023 incident before casting her. It was literally documented in a police report. This wasn’t a secret they failed to find. They didn’t care that Paul had committed assault, and in the presence of a child. They thought the incident was long enough ago that they could gloss over it onscreen as a life lesson or personal growth. When the video was released, they realised most viewers won’t be rooting for her, if watching at all. They simply couldn’t spin their way out of this.
The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives is also complicit. Yes, we like mess, but only to a degree. It was certainly a choice to open a season with police bodycam footage of Paul’s arrest. However, apparently it was this storyline that got the 2024 season greenlit. I’ve only watched clips of the show and recaps, but it’s clear Paul has anger issues and emotional instability, triggered intentionally or unintentionally by Mortensen. On the show, Demi Engemann says “shall we talk about the way you treat your boyfriend? Go get help, stop hurting people, take accountability for what you’re doing. It’s not okay.”
Despite all this, the show kept orchestrating scenes that threw Paul and Mortensen together. Despite all this, ABC cast her as the Bachelorette.
Insider Knowledge
Following this fiasco, Cassidy Gard, an Emmy-winning former TV producer, posted this on Instagram as @cassidygard.
“Story time. I was a cast producer in #Bachelor Nation. I know how the machine works. They cast Taylor Frankie Paul because chaos is content. But here is the question nobody is asking: if she was on probation when she was cast, who signed off on that? And why? This is not a defence [of her]. This is a reckoning with a system that profits off of women in crisis and then acts shocked when the crisis shows up on camera. We have all seen the video. A child was present. Yes, pulling the season was the right move.”
“But why was she cast at all if she was already on probation before cameras even rolled on Bachelorette Season 22? Who vetted this casting? The SLOMW heat was too tempting. Execs hoped that fire could breathe new life into the franchisee. But it may end up bringing it down completely. Audiences are more discerning than execs think, and the doubts about her were there form the start from Bachelor Nation. Captivating is castable. Crisis is not sustainable. They cast her because polarising people pull ratings.”
“To be clear, I’m not defending Taylor Frankie Paul. I’m questioning why the outrage is absolute here but selective everywhere else? She was exactly who she was from the beginning. That is the point of psych evaluations: to determine whether someone is emotionally, physically, and mentally fit for this level of exposure. This is not a pile on. This is a plea. Get her real support. Real resources. Real intervention. Not a storyline. Not a network that profits off her controversy for ratings and backs away the second it becomes too real. They wanted to monetise her dysfunction and emotional volatility.”
Let’s hope Paul now gets the help she needs rather than more TV time, or more TikToks making light of the situation. (Girl, no.)
Time For a Union?
Real Housewives of New York City star Bethenny Frankel has been calling for the creation of a union for reality-TV cast members. She told Variety that “just because you can exploit young, doe-eyed talent desperate for the platform TV gives them, it doesn’t mean you should. They don’t know what they don’t know. I was playing chess, but how do I help the people who may not know the game?”. Maybe some mentorships? Meanwhile the non-profit UCAN Foundation has been established to provide legal support and mental-health resources to reality-show cast members while advocating for improved industry practices and ethical treatment.
ABC didn’t act ethically. It did learn there are consequences for flying too close to the sun.
Where to get help:
- Need to talk?: Free call or text 1737 to talk to a trained counsellor.
- Healthline: Call 0800 611 116, available 24/7
- Shine: Call the Shine helpline on 0508 744 633 if you’re experiencing domestic abuse
- Safe to talk: a 24/7 confidential helpline: 0800 842 846, text 4334, webchat safetotalk.nz or email support@safetotalk.nz.
- Shakti: 0800 742 584, provides culturally specialist, confidential support services to women and their children of Asian, African and Middle Eastern origins
- Women’s Refuge: 0800 733 843 (females only)
- If it is an emergency or you or someone else is in immediate danger, call 111.
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About the Author:
Sarah Lang is Capsule’s feature writer. Her Deep Dives cover topics of real importance to NZ women, including the pink tax, pay equity, perimenopause, our ongoing series The Motherhood Penalty, and our What Working Women Really Want series. Her journalistic mantras are ‘make the invisible visible’ and ‘people like to read about people’. She is up for personal assignments like meeting her ‘future self’ via AI, enjoys a good rant, and has several popular-culture obsessions (ask her anything about The Bachelor!).
Sarah began her career 20 years ago at North & South magazine, winning several awards, then going on to freelance for stand-alone and newspaper-insert magazines including Canvas, Listener, Reader’s Digest, Monocle and website The Spinoff. She lives in Wellington with her husband and son.
