Taylor Frankie Paul and Jesse Palmer on 'The Bachelorette.' Disney/Bahareh Ritter Logo text ABC has decided to pull Taylor Frankie Paul‘s season of The Bachelorette, which was slated to premiere on Sunday.
“In light of the newly released video just surfaced today, we have made the decision to not move forward with the new season of The Bachelorette at this time, and our focus is on supporting the family,” a Disney Entertainment Television spokesperson said in a statement.
The network’s decision to pull the forthcoming season arrives amid reports of a “domestic assault investigation” between the reality star and her ex Dakota Mortensen. Amid the news, production on season five of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives has also been paused.
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Paul was previously arrested for domestic violence in February 2023, in another incident involving Mortensen. The fallout from her arrest, and her turbulent relationship and pregnancy with Mortensen, was captured for the first season of Mormon Wives, which catapulted to quick success for Hulu.
Footage of the alleged 2023 incident between Paul and Mortensen was leaked to TMZ on Thursday, where she can be seen kicking her former partner and throwing chairs at him. In the footage, TMZ points out where Paul’s daughter was sitting in close contact to the conflict, with Mortensen yelling out, “Your daughter is right here,” as she launched another chair his way.
Towards the end of the video posted to the outlet’s socials (a longer cut was posted on their website), Paul threw an additional chair at Mortensen, and a child can be heard crying.
Paul told The Hollywood Reporter Tuesday that she’s “struggling,” but also “trying to show up” amid the domestic assault investigation.
“I think it’s been really difficult and heavy given, you know, all the headlines and what’s going on,” she continued. “But I would say I am handling it like any normal human would, like struggling, but trying to show up at the same time.”
Paul and Mortensen share one child, Ever True, who was born in March 2024. She has two additional children from her first marriage.
The Mormon Wives star was cast as the next Bachelorette lead when news of her 2023 arrest was already made fully public. The incident was covered during season one of the Hulu series, and her casting drew in backlash because of her past domestic violence arrest.
Amid confirmation of Mormon Wives season five being on a pause in production, a source told People that her cast is distancing themselves from Paul amid the situation: “None of the women want to be associated with her,” they said. On Wednesday, Mikayla Matthews confirmed that it was the cast of Mormon Wives‘ decision to take a break from filming.
“It was a decision that all us girls came up with and agreed on,” Matthews wrote. “We didn’t feel comfortable filming with everything that has happened.”
When asked what she would say to a Bachelor Nation fan who may judge her for her past, Paul told THR in November 2025 “I feel like it’s very fair to see some things and be like, ‘Oh, not a fan,’ if you’re looking at just very few things.”
“What I will say is maybe tune in to make sure you’re really getting a read on who and how I am. Because if you'[ve] not really seen anything [I’m in], then you maybe only know my news headlines, which maybe aren’t the prettiest ones,” she added. “I feel like if you were to ever watch me, hear my story, I think I come off a little bit differently than people would just assume. I think maybe just give me a shot and see.”
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