Taylor Frankie Paul ‘Bachelorette’ controversy, defined : NPR

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Mike Coppola/Getty Photos The brand new season of ABC's actuality TV collection The Bachelorette was all filmed and set to premiere on Sunday. However guardian firm Disney now says it won't air as deliberate.

The choice to shelve the present's twenty second season got here on Thursday, after TMZ printed a video it says exhibits would-be bachelorette Taylor Frankie Paul bodily attacking her then-boyfriend, Dakota Mortensen, in 2023.

"In mild of the newly launched video simply surfaced right now, now we have made the choice to not transfer ahead with the brand new season of 'The Bachelorette' at the moment, and our focus is on supporting the household," Disney Leisure mentioned in an announcement reported by the Related Press, New York Instances and others.

The video, filmed by Mortensen, seems to indicate Paul hitting, grabbing and throwing three barstools at him. A baby could be heard crying on the sofa close by, and Mortensen says at one level: "Your daughter is sitting proper there."

Paul has three youngsters: two along with her ex-husband Tate Paul and one, born in 2024, with Mortensen. She confirmed the top of their three-year on-again, off-again relationship in Could 2025. NPR has reached out to each of their representatives.

In an announcement shared with NBC Information, Paul's consultant known as the video the "newest installment of [Mortensen's] unending, determined, attention-seeking, harmful marketing campaign to hurt Taylor with none regard for the results for his or her little one."

Paul's consultant advised Folks in an announcement that Paul is "exploring all of her choices, in search of assist, and making ready to personal and share her story," and "very grateful for ABC's assist as she prioritizes her household's security and safety."

Mortenesen advised Leisure Weekly that he categorically denies "these baseless claims about me and our relationship," calling it "a deeply upsetting state of affairs."

"I'm specializing in our son and his security, and hope that Taylor will do the identical," he added.

NPR has not independently verified the authenticity of the video, which TMZ says was used as proof in authorized proceedings. Nevertheless it matches Utah's Herriman Metropolis Police Division's description of a February 2023 incident that led to Paul's arrest on prices of assault, prison mischief and fee of home violence within the presence of a kid.

Courtroom information obtained by NPR present that Paul agreed to plead responsible to the third-degree felony of aggravated assault and has been serving 36 months of probation. When requested concerning the incident on a 2025 podcast, she acknowledged that her youngsters had been current however mentioned she "by no means had damage" her daughter and "by no means deliberately did something with my youngsters."

The couple's turbulent relationship was a central plot level of the opposite actuality TV present that made Paul well-known: The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, which premiered in 2024 and simply launched its fourth season final week.

Earlier this week, Folks and different leisure shops reported that filming of the present's fifth season had been halted amid experiences of an investigation into home assault allegations involving Paul and Mortensen — presumably a separate incident, although particulars are scarce.

An unnamed spokesperson with Utah's Draper Metropolis Police Division advised Those who "allegations have been made in each instructions," and "contact was made with concerned events" on Feb. 24 and 25, although declined to elaborate because the investigation is ongoing. NPR has reached out to Draper police, however didn't hear again in time for publication.

There's quite a bit we nonetheless do not know. However should you're simply tuning in, we can assist fill in some gaps.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3000x2000+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F9e%2Feb%2F7e52f0bd4b30b5c3af80e4360081%2Fgettyimages-2214126180.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3000x2000+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F9e%2Feb%2F7e52f0bd4b30b5c3af80e4360081%2Fgettyimages-2214126180.jpg" class="img" alt="(L-R) Jennifer Affleck, Mayci Neeley, Mikayla Matthews, Taylor Frankie Paul, and Miranda McWhorter of "The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives" attend an event at SiriusXM Studios in May 2025." loading="lazy"/> (Left-right) Jennifer Affleck, Mayci Neeley, Mikayla Matthews, Taylor Frankie Paul, and Miranda McWhorter of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives attend an occasion at SiriusXM Studios in Could 2025. Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Photos conceal caption

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Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Photos Who're we speaking about? On the heart of the controversy is Taylor Frankie Paul.

She's a 31-year-old influencer greatest generally known as the self-proclaimed creator of "MomTok," a good friend group-slash-collective of Utah-based Mormon mothers that rose to social media fame in 2020.

They posted dance tendencies, magnificence routines, skits and way of life movies to TikTok, selling a extra trendy facet of Mormonism and difficult its conventional gender roles. Nevertheless it did not take lengthy for controversy to strike, within the type of the 2022 "smooth swinging scandal."

The what scandal? Paul revealed in a Could 2022 livestream video that she and her then-husband, Tate Paul, had been "smooth swinging" with different {couples} of their social circle. She described it as "if you hook up however do not go all the best way."

"The settlement was identical to, so long as we had been each there and we noticed it and we knew it, it was okay, and the second it goes behind with out one another, you then've stepped out of the settlement," she mentioned. "And I did that."

Paul and her then-husband, who had been in an open relationship, divorced later that yr (she known as the swinging state of affairs "the tip of the iceberg" of their issues). Her confession additionally prompted rifts within the MomTok group, since she had claimed — with out naming names — that different members had been concerned within the swinging group.

When did Mortensen enter (and go away) the image? Paul and Mortensen confirmed their relationship on TikTok in September 2022, a number of months after she hinted at it on-line. It shortly turned rocky.

The couple broke up in December, then acquired again collectively in January 2023 — a month earlier than the home violence incident that prompted Paul's arrest. The connection, whereas turbulent, continued, and Paul introduced her being pregnant in September. Their son, Ever, was born in March 2024.

The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, the documentary-style present following Paul and her #MomTok circle, premiered on Hulu later that yr.

The primary season ended with the beginning of Paul's son and cliffhanger claims about Mortensen's alleged infidelity, raised by one other forged member, which he has denied. The 2 break up in December 2024, however sparked reconciliation rumors the next spring. Their dynamic has remained a spotlight of the TV present, together with in the latest season.

What about these Mormon wives? The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, aka SLOMW, follows eight Mormon moms-slash-influencers (and their households) as they navigate marriages, friendships, religion and more and more, the non-public {and professional} pressures of fame.

"I really feel like if something, it is had a constructive impression and it exhibits folks that they do not must be excellent to be a part of a faith, and be near God and Jesus," forged member Macyi Neeley advised NPR final yr.

Filming for the primary season started in 2023, although paused and resumed after Paul's arrest.

The primary episode of its first season, which premiered in September 2024, exhibits Paul making an attempt to easy issues over with the mothers after the swinging scandal. It additionally covers the home violence incident, that includes physique digital camera footage of police arresting a tearful Paul exterior the home (although no footage of what transpired inside).

Hulu mentioned the present's premiere was its most-watched unscripted season debut of 2024, surpassing The Kardashians and resulting in a speedy renewal of extra episodes.

SLOMW has maintained a near-constant filming schedule, releasing two 10-episode seasons in 2025 and one other earlier this month. Season 4 covers the autumn of 2025, as Paul was making ready to movie The Bachelorette.

The present's recognition has catapulted a number of of its stars, not simply Paul, into different high-profile roles. Two forged members, Whitney Leavitt and Jennifer Affleck, appeared on Dancing with the Stars. Leavitt is now doing a stint as Roxie in Chicago on Broadway, and helped the present smash its box-office report this week.

How did Paul develop into The Bachelorette? Paul confirmed her relationship with Mortensen was formally over on a September 2025 episode of the Name Her Daddy podcast. That is additionally the place she introduced she had been chosen because the bachelorette.

It was an uncommon decide, not solely due to Paul's sophisticated relationship along with her ex and her excessive profile, however as a result of she hadn't beforehand competed within the Bachelor franchise. That is a primary: Every bachelorette to date has been a fan-favorite contestant from the season of The Bachelor earlier than it.

Disney is the guardian firm of each Hulu (SLOWM) and ABC (The Bachelorette). The selection to usher in an present influencer-slash-reality star was seen as a transfer to revitalize the Bachelorette, which has seen a pointy decline in viewership in recent times. A part of that's, satirically, attributable to casting controversies together with surprising, post-season revelations about contestants on either side of the rose.

What's subsequent for every present? ABC plans to air a rerun of American Idol within the present's place on Sunday. It isn't clear if Paul's season of The Bachelorette will ever air. NPR has reached out to Disney for remark.

It is also not clear when or whether or not filming of SLOMW will resume. At a press occasion for The Bachelorette earlier this week, Paul weighed in on the manufacturing pause, telling Folks: "my coronary heart hurts to see it, to undergo it, particularly at the moment."

"It is a heavy time, and it is unlucky," she continued. "I am struggling for positive, but additionally on the similar time I really feel like if I do not present up, then I am simply giving these alternatives away and never having fun with what we have labored on and one thing tremendous thrilling that is coming."