Hannah Schoenbaum and Andrew Dalton
Salt Lake City: Taylor Frankie Paul, one of the stars of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, can’t spend unsupervised time with her two-year-old son due to concerns about the volatile behaviour she displayed during confrontations between her and the boy’s father, a Utah court commissioner ruled Tuesday.
Third District Court Commissioner Russell Minas said “I have concerns going both ways” about duelling allegations between Dakota Mortensen and Paul, who was also set to star in most recent season of The Bachelorette before it was pulled days before airing.
But, Minas said, “Even if he was trying to provoke a response, the actions that occurred are very troubling.”
The hearing set the stage for an April 30 court battle in which Minas will assess duelling petitions for protective orders between the pair.
Mortensen, who shares son Ever with his ex, has asked the court to turn a short-term protective order against Paul into a long-term one. Paul filed her own request for a protective order just before Tuesday’s hearing. Both participated remotely while their lawyers were in court.
“We’ll have a showdown on the 30th,” said Paul’s lawyer Eric Swinyard.
“Hopefully it won’t be a showdown,” Minas said. “I’m hoping you can come to some resolution.”
Lawyers for the two sides and a court-appointed attorney for Ever addressed several heated and sometimes violent interactions between the couple, some of which were caught on video, revealing in their arguments details in protective order filings that had been sealed.
Swinyard gave an account of what he called “the truck tussle” in late February. In his request for a protective order, Mortensen said Paul threw a drink at him as they argued in a truck to not wake up children who were sleeping inside Paul’s home. But Swinyard said Mortensen slammed Paul’s head into the dashboard and punched her in the leg, showing Minas photos of her bruises.
That and another fight around the same time are under investigation by police in the Salt Lake City suburb of Draper City.
The sides generally agreed that Paul didn’t intentionally direct violence at their son or her other two children from a previous relationship. At issue was her willingness to lash out at Mortensen with children present.
Ever’s court-appointed lawyer pointed to a May 2025 video that has not been released publicly. He said it shows Paul pushing Mortensen and shouting for him to get out of her house while he’s holding their child.
“To me, that makes me very nervous about her ability to control herself, and her volatility,” said the lawyer, Michael McDonald. He said Paul has “a very difficult time with self-control. And I think that it puts my client at risk.”
Paul’s attorney, though, said Mortensen deliberately created that situation.
“He’s holding the child as his human shield, so to speak, and provoking my client and not getting out of her house,” Swinyard said.
Daniela Diaz, a lawyer for Mortensen, argued that Paul uses their shared child to perpetuate a cycle of abuse that keeps Mortensen coming back.
“He’s often invited back and his child is often used as a pawn, as a pawn to start fights,” Diaz said.
Minas ordered that Paul, who had primary custody of Ever, should get eight hours per week of supervised visits, emphasising it was a stopgap arrangement until the next hearing.
ABC, in an unprecedented move, announced last month that it was shelving the entire, already-filmed new season of The Bachelorette, which featured Paul in the title role. The network blamed the cancellation on a then-newly leaked video in which Paul appeared to punch, kick and throw chairs at Mortensen while her young daughter watched and cried.
That fight was a central part of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, which dealt with it in the first episode, including police body camera footage of Paul’s arrest.
Paul was charged with aggravated assault and other offences, including domestic violence in the presence of a child. She pleaded guilty to a misdemeanour assault charge, and the other counts were dismissed.
“We all know that social media has made up its mind about my client,” Swinyard said. “The court, unlike social media, actually has to get it right. The evidence we believe, on the 30th when viewed in its totality, will show who the real abuser is, who the real violent actor has been during the party’s relationship.”
Production has also been paused on the fifth season of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, the Hulu series that made Paul a reality star. She became known as an influencer in the #MomTok community, a group of women from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who share their lives on TikTok. The group, and Paul’s admissions of polyamory within it, helped spawn the hit reality show.
On Sunday, Paul announced she was leaving what is widely known as the Mormon church. She said on Instagram that she will always have love and respect for the Utah-based religious institution but, “It’s time to detach myself.”
Dalton reported from Los Angeles.
AP
