A Utah courtroom will be the scene Tuesday as a judge considers whether to extend protective measures against reality television personality Taylor Frankie Paul, the star whose upcoming ‘Bachelorette’ season was scrapped following domestic violence accusations.
Dakota Mortensen, who currently has temporary custody of the 2-year-old child he shares with Paul, is requesting the court convert a temporary restraining order into a permanent arrangement while law enforcement continues investigating domestic violence reports from February of this year.
Both Paul and Mortensen will join Tuesday’s proceedings via video conference while their legal representatives attend in person at the Salt Lake City courthouse. Court officials have kept the specifics of the temporary restraining order confidential.
Legal teams are anticipated to focus on the February incidents currently under investigation, rather than a 2023 altercation that resulted in Paul’s arrest and gained renewed attention just before her ‘Bachelorette’ debut, although the earlier incident may come up during discussions.
In an extraordinary decision last month, ABC chose to completely shelve a finished season of ‘The Bachelorette’ featuring Paul as the lead. The network and Disney cited a leaked video that TMZ published on March 19, showing footage from 2023 where Paul appears to physically attack Mortensen by punching, kicking and hurling furniture while her young daughter witnessed the violence and became distressed.
Footage from police body cameras during Paul’s 2023 arrest was included in the debut episode of ‘The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,’ which premiered in 2024. In that footage, Paul describes the incident as “the worst night of my life.” The actual fight video, seemingly recorded from Mortensen’s perspective, remained private until last month’s media leak.
Paul faced charges including aggravated assault and domestic violence committed in front of a minor. She entered a guilty plea to a reduced misdemeanor assault charge, leading to the dismissal of the remaining charges.
Paul is mother to two children from her previous marriage to Tate Paul, plus the son she had with Mortensen following their 2023 conflict.
Following the show’s cancellation, a spokesperson for Paul claimed she had been “silently suffering extensive mental and physical abuse as well as threats of retaliation” and was “finally gaining the strength to face her accuser.”
Mortensen responded with his own statement, saying he was “used to these baseless claims about me and our relationship, which I categorically deny.”
Disney has also suspended work on the fifth season of ‘The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,’ the Hulu program that launched Paul to reality TV fame. Her selection for ‘The Bachelorette’ created promotional opportunities between the shows for Disney, which controls both networks.
Paul gained recognition as a social media influencer within the #MomTok movement, a collective of women from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who document their experiences on TikTok. This community, along with Paul’s revelations about polyamory within the group, inspired the popular reality series.
This past Sunday, Paul revealed she was departing what is commonly called the Mormon church. She posted on Instagram that while she maintains “love and respect” for the Utah-headquartered religious organization, “It’s time to detach myself.”
