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This week was supposed to be a fresh start for Taylor Frankie Paul. The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives staple was set to become the first-ever reality star to lead a season of The Bachelorette, and, with any luck, find healthy and stable love away from her toxic ex-boyfriend and baby daddy, Dakota Mortensen. Unfortunately, news of a physical dispute between the exes, that happened in late February and halted production of Mormon Wives, hit the headlines at the start of this week, and a damning video of Paul throwing metal barstools at Mortensen (one of which hit her young daughter) from the night of her 2023 arrest resulted in ABC and Disney canceling her season of The Bachelorette, which was slated to premiere this Sunday.
The issue has been widely debated, with many praising Disney’s decision to pull The Bachelorette in light of the horrific video, while others—mainly fans of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives—don’t understand why network executives would’ve offered the gig to Paul in the first place. While the video is new to the public, The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives aired the actual police body-cam footage from the night of her arrest in the first episode of the show. Paul pleaded guilty to aggravated assault, got sober, has been on probation for three years, and has openly talked about that fateful night in detail both in podcasts and on her show — she has even taken accountability for being the “aggressor” in that particular situation. It’s not new news to anyone who has actually paid attention. Does that make what she did right? Absolutely not! But it does make things even messier for the folks over at Disney who seemingly chose to turn a blind eye.
That being said, Paul has also come out and accused Mortensen of inflicting “extensive mental and physical abuse as well as threats of retaliation” over the years, claims he has denied. According to the Draper City Police Department, both Paul and Mortensen made abuse allegations about each other following their February 2026 dispute, and their case is currently under investigation. While Paul’s season of The Bachelorette was canceled with mere days until the premiere, Mortensen’s appearance on the upcoming season of Hulu’s Vanderpump Villa is still set to air — and that is something executives should strongly reconsider.
As seen in The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives Season 4, Jordan Ngatikaura—who filed for divorce from Jessi Draper this week—booked DadTok to visit Lisa Vanderpump‘s European estate for the third season of Vanderpump Villa, which comes out on April 16. Ngatikaura, Mortensen, Mayci Neeley‘s husband Jacob Neeley, Jen Affleck‘s husband Zac Affleck, Miranda Hope‘s ex-husband Chase McWhorter, and Layla Taylor‘s then-boyfriend Mason McWhorter flew out to England, where a weekend of salacious happenings and chaos ensued. When they returned home from their trip, it was revealed that Mortensen slept with someone at the Villa on national television, understandably sending Paul into an emotional spiral.
Photo: HuluPaul is self-admittedly far from perfect, but for four seasons of Mormon Wives, we have watched her try to get her life back on track, all while her ex has continued to sabotage every good moment that comes her way. After the 2023 arrest, she reconciled with Mortensen and she gave birth to their first son (her third child) in March 2024. Upon finding out that Mortensen was seeing another girl at the start of their relationship and lied about it, Paul ended their relationship in Season 2. They’ve continued to occasionally hook up with each other, usually after Mortensen charms his way into her bed with empty promises, only for him to turn around and sleep with other people adjacent to Paul’s inner circle. The way he has managed to keep her strung along—despite his lying, cheating, and manipulation tactics—is narcissism at best. Even her MomTok peers were worried that he would ruin her opportunity with The Bachelorette.
After four seasons of giving Mortensen’s emotional toxicity a platform, Hulu should rethink airing DadTok’s episodes of Vanderpump Villa. If a three-year-old video that everyone already knew about—and literally formed the foundation of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives—can cause enough of an outcry to cancel an entire season of The Bachelorette that not only was already filmed, but cost tens of millions of dollars to produce, then the allegations of abuse (both physical and emotional) Paul has made about Mortensen should be taken just as seriously.
It should be noted that Mortensen isn’t the only offender set to appear on Vanderpump Villa. In Season 1, we saw Zac berate Jen via text for going to a Chippendales show with her friends — and in the rage messages, he used a derogatory term to describe people with disabilities. In Season 3, Draper openly talked about the emotional abuse inflicted on her by Ngatikaura — and revealed during a Viall Files podcast episode that he was blackmailing her and threatening to release her texts with Vanderpump Villa star Maricano Brunette to the world. And, while Chase has become a fan-favorite on the internet lately, he was arrested for a DUI and alleged drug use back in July. So, my question here is, why are we putting all of the heat on Paul, while simultaneously ignoring the horrendous things the men of DadTok have done, too?
Disney, it’s time that you have the same energy for Mortensen as you have for Paul, and cut DadTok’s episodes of Vanderpump Villa. Thanks to The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, we already know what happens anyway!
If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic abuse, help is available. Call the National Domestic Violence Hotline 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 800-799-7233, or text START to 88788.
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