In the past couple of days, soon-to-be “Bachelorette” Taylor Frankie Paul has found herself in the middle of another scandal.
First reported by TMZ, and later confirmed by the Draper City Police Department, Paul and her ex, Dakota Mortensen, are currently in an open “domestic assault investigation.” And as filming of Paul’s other show “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” reaches a halt because of it, a new video is shining a light of Paul and Mortensen’s toxic dynamic more than ever before.
A New Resurfaced Video Shows Paul Assaulting Mortensen
As the investigation into the former couple continues, a video from 2023 filmed by Mortensen, which was posted by TMZ on Thursday, shows Paul hitting her ex multiple times.
“This is called physical abuse,” he says while filming. At the beginning of the video, Paul holds Mortensen in a chokehold. After that, she’s seen throwing chairs at him while her daughter, Indy, now 8, is present in the room.
At one point, one of the chairs seems to hit Indy and she starts crying. “Your daughter just got hit in the head by a metal chair,” Mortensen says in the video.
Paul, for her part, doesn’t stop screaming. “This is your fault, Dakota,” she says over and over again.
“I’m done taking the blame for you,” Mortensen says at another point. “I’m sorry, Indy,” he then says to the then 5-year-old. “Go and help your daughter, now!” he says.
Taylor Frankie Paul Has Responded to the Video
GettySince the video got resurfaced, Paul has shared a statement to People.
“It’s sad to see the latest installment of his never-ending, desperate, attention-seeking, destructive campaign to harm Taylor without any regard for the consequences for their child,” a spokesperson for Paul told the outlet. “Releasing an old video, which conveniently omits context, 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,” the statement concluded.
As a reminder, Paul was previously arrested for alleged domestic violence in 2023 following an argument with Mortensen, with whom she shares 2-year-old son Ever. She pled guilty in abeyance to aggravated assault, and the charges were dismissed.
Paul’s season of “The Bachelorette” is still set to air next week, on March 22. The show will air at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC, and be available to stream the next day on Hulu.
