A reality TV star and influencer is under investigation, again, over domestic abuse allegations involving her ex-boyfriend, barely three years after she pled guilty to a similar felony charge against the same man.
31-year-old mom-of-three Taylor Frankie Paul, a main cast member on the hit Hulu series The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, has spent much of her time in the spotlight becoming embroiled in some fairly high profile scandals.
Paul, who is still set to take the leading role on the next season of The Bachelorette, first became a focus of international attention through the 'Swinging Scandal' when she revealed to the world in 2022 that some of the Mormon Wives were in fact having sex with each other's husbands.
This led her partner Tate Paul to seek a divorce, after she revealed the existence of the group to the world, and that she had fallen in love with one of the other women's husband. Viewers of season one are then introduced to her new love interest - recovering drug addict Dakota Mortensen.
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Paul would struggle to keep away from alcohol, a key part of her boyfriend's substance-free lifestyle, eventually leading to a domestic violence incident in 2023 where she threw a metal chair at Mortensen. She missed and hit one of her children in the head.
Court documents revealed: "A video of the incident shows Paul kick [the victim], put him in a chokehold and strike him multiple times."
The MomTok founder would ultimately plead guilty to one count of aggravated assault, a third-degree felony, so that the court would drop the more serious: two counts of domestic violence in the presence of a child, third-degree felonies, a class A misdemeanor charge of child abuse and a class B misdemeanor charge of criminal mischief.
This plea deal included a 'three year abeyance', which stated that the reality TV star's felony would not be lowered to a misdemeanor if she failed to meet terms set by the court.
But yesterday it emerged that the leading cast member of Secret Lives is under investigation for another domestic violence charge, stemming from an incident involving ex-boyfriend Mortensen in February.
The development came just days after the fourth season of her Hulu show dropped and barely a week before her debut on the latest series of The Bachelorette, which is set to air March 22.
Draper City Police Department confirmed that there was an 'open domestic assault investigation' involving the pair, with a spokesperson for the Utah force adding that 'allegations have been made in both directions' and that 'contact was made with involved parties on [Feb] 24th and 25th.'
Production on the fifth season of Secret Lives of Mormon Wives has been halted pending the police investigation, with one insider source telling People: "Taylor has some pretty serious stuff happening regarding her past, and they will see what happens.
"Until that resolves, they are off."
Another source close to the production told the publication: “The girls are very overwhelmed. They all banded together and they don’t want to come back right now.
"They were just getting tired of Taylor, honestly."
Other 'sources' told the publication that 'none of the women want to be associated with her' anymore after this fresh incident.
What Taylor Frankie Paul has said
But the next instalment of The Bachelorette looks like it's not stopping for the domestic violence investigation, with Paul attending a press call on Tuesday, March 17, to promote her upcoming season.
There, she told People: "Honestly, just like, my heart hurts to see it, to go through it, especially at this time.
"Just the timing is hard, and it's a big deal. I feel like every premiere that I've experienced, I've never enjoyed fully, so this is another one... it's extremely hard, and it took everything to get me here today."
She continued: "It's just heavy. It's a heavy time, and it's unfortunate.
"I'm struggling for sure, but also at the same time I feel like if I don't show up, then I'm just giving these opportunities away and not enjoying what we've worked on and something super exciting that's coming. I just feel like it was the right thing to do... show up even though it's hard."
But furious fans of the show on Reddit did not think this response was good enough, with one user remarking: "God, don’t you hate it when your reality tv premiere is overshadowed by your domestic violence case."
Topics: Domestic Abuse, Crime, Film and TV
William Morgan