Weeks Before Horrifying Video Surfaced, ‘Mormon Wives’ Cast Warned ABC About Taylor Frankie Paul

Taylor Frankie Paul, the star of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, was set to be this season’s star on Hulu’s The Bachelorette.

However, ABC pulled the plug days before its Sunday premiere after a video surfaced of a 2023 domestic as*ault incident involving Paul and her former partner, Dakota Mortensen.

According to subsequent reports, cast members of Mormon Wives expressed concern to ABC executives about Paul during a Zoom call.

The meeting took place after a spokesperson for the Draper Police Department in Utah said there is an open domestic as*ault investigation involving Paul and Mortensen.

On March 7, Mormon Wives cast members voiced their worries over the show’s reputation and the future of their careers in light of the continued allegations against Taylor Frankie Paul.

A source shared an audio recording of the call with NBC News and said that the Zoom meeting’s objective was to reassure the cast that ABC cared about their safety and mental health amid the situation.

One cast member confessed on the call that they were not comfortable filming alongside Paul while the latter was being investigated, according to the source.

“It’s a dangerous situation, it’s a sad situation, and we don’t know how to navigate it, because Taylor is our friend," they said, as per the recording.

Several others said Paul’s behavior in certain video recordings was “distressing” and “upsetting,” but did not share the content of said videos.

There were three Disney executives at the meeting, including Rob Mills, the executive vice president of Unscripted and Alternative Entertainment at Walt Disney Television. Mills allegedly refused to inquire or know further details about Paul’s conduct.

When one cast member asked if he knew Paul had hurt a child, Mills said that it wasn’t right for them to get into it. However, he emphasized that the company was “never going to hide anything that is wrong for the sake of business.”

One cast member said it was “concerning” that the brass did not seem to want to know what was in the videos.

“The production company engaged a seasoned law firm to conduct an investigation of the competing and conflicting allegations that Taylor and Dakota had toward one another," the source revealed, “and it would have been inappropriate to engage in a dialogue regarding an ongoing investigation.”

However, Disney did release a statement confirming the decision not to move forward with the new season of The Bachelorette in light of the newly released video, and said that their focus was on supporting the family.

Work on Mormon Wives was reportedly halted after the revelation as well. A source told PEOPLE that until the network resolved the “pretty serious stuff” with Paul, filming would not resume.

In 2023, Paul was charged with as*ault, criminal mischief, and domestic violence in the presence of a child.

It stemmed from a dispute involving Mortensen, separate from the ongoing investigation, and was featured in the Season One storyline of Mormon Wives.

Court records indicate that Paul pleaded guilty in abeyance to an aggravated as*ault charge in August 2025, and the other four charges were dismissed with prejudice. She was placed on three years’ probation, which would end in August 2026.

On March 19, TMZ published a video that appeared to be a recording of the altercation that led to the 2023 arrest.

The video, which does not reveal what led to the fight, showed Paul shoving and kicking Mortensen as he repeatedly said, “Let me go.”

Mortensen, who was filming the video with difficulty, said: “This is called physical ab*se. Your daughter is right here.”

Paul also threw multiple barstools at Mortensen, one of which seemingly hit her daughter, Indy, now eight years old, in the head. The child, who was seated nearby on a sofa, could be heard crying.

“Your daughter just got hit in the head by a metal chair,” Mortensen told Paul.

TMZ claimed that this video was viewed by the officers who arrested Paul and later used by prosecutors in the case against her in court.

Paul shares a two-year-old son, Ever, with Mortensen. They reconciled after the 2023 incident, but broke up definitively in December 2024.

She also has another son, Ocean, with ex-husband Tate Paul, who is the father of Indy.

A representative for Taylor Frankie Paul shared a statement with media outlets after TMZ released the video.

“It’s sad to see the latest installment of [Mortensen’s] never-ending, desperate, attention-seeking, destructive campaign to harm Taylor without any regard for the consequences for their child,” the representative said. “Releasing an old and selectively edited video on their son's birthday is a reprehensible attempt to distract from his own behavior."

“Thankfully, the public has seen this act before and knows who he is, and sadly, many will recognize this pattern of manipulation, both in his actions on the show and from their own experiences.”

A source told Entertainment Weekly that Mortensen was not behind the leak of the video, and his priority is the safety of their son, Ever.

Mortensen himself spoke with PEOPLE after the leak: "As anyone who has seen the video will understand, this is a deeply upsetting situation.

“I am, unfortunately, used to these baseless claims about me and our relationship, which I categorically deny,” he added. “I am focusing on our son and his safety, and hope that Taylor will do the same.”

Two days before the video was published, Mortensen filed for a protective order in Utah over a new alleged incident from February, according to TMZ.