Taylor Frankie Paul spoke out for the first time on Thursday about the unexpected cancellation of her season of The Bachelorette.
Since early this month, when reports surfaced that police were looking into claims she attacked her former boyfriend, Dakota Mortensen, in February, 27-year-old Ashley Hodges, known from the show Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, has largely stayed out of the public eye.
Paul spoke to her 2.5 million Instagram followers with a couple of posts, thanking her friends but only hinting at the recent controversies she’s been involved in.
The Daily Mail has reached out to Paul for additional comment but has yet to receive a response.
Paul skillfully avoided drawing attention to herself by sharing a scenic photo of a winding mountain road lined with pine trees, bathed in sunlight.
‘Thank you 🙏 to every check-in, call, prayer sent,’ she wrote on her photo. ‘
‘Your unconditional kindness and check in can be someone’s life line,’ she added.
Paul still didn’t directly talk about the cancellation of her season of The Bachelorette or her ongoing legal problems in her latest social media post. However, she hinted that she’s finding strength in her faith during this difficult time.
She shared a photo of a vase filled with colorful flowers – oranges, yellows, and whites – sitting on a desk. Beside the flowers was a large bible, personalized with her name written on the cover in gold lettering.
Paul had a copy of Charlotte Freeman’s book, This Was Meant To Find You, prominently displayed in front of her.
She finished the photo by including a notebook displaying the word ‘Gratitude’ on its open page, suggesting she intended to write in it.
Paul shared a message with a photo, saying he tries to finish each day by finding something to be thankful for, even if it’s just a small positive thing.
On Thursday, news emerged that Paul might face legal charges. A district attorney is reviewing a February incident, reportedly involving domestic violence, to determine if charges should be filed.
Draper Police Chief Rich Ferguson has forwarded a case to Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill for review.
Okay, so I’ve been glued to every update, and apparently Chief Ferguson just told TMZ that it’s all in the hands of the Salt Lake County DA now! They’re the ones who decide if they’re going to press charges against Paul – seriously, they hold all the power now. I’m so anxious to find out what happens!
The Daily Mail contacted the Draper Police Department and Paul for a statement, but they haven’t responded yet.
Dakota Mortensen, Paul’s former partner, has requested a restraining order in Utah. This request follows an alleged domestic violence incident from February 2026 and is now a key factor in the decision of whether or not to file charges against Paul.
Mortensen claimed the reality star attacked him by choking him, hitting him, and then pushing him into a window.
Even if the Salt Lake County District Attorney doesn’t press charges against her, the situation isn’t over. According to Chief Ferguson, the city prosecutor could still decide to pursue the case.
Mortensen claimed the reality star attacked him by choking him, hitting him, and then pushing him into a window.
Paul is in a difficult situation because she’s still on probation. This stems from an August 2023 incident where she admitted guilt to aggravated assault, but the conviction was suspended.
As part of the agreement, four other charges against her were dismissed and cannot be brought up again.
A representative for Viggo Mortensen stated that his top priority is the well-being of his son, Ever.
According to a statement, Mortensen was aware the allegations of domestic assault might surface, but he didn’t want to be the one to bring it up himself, as he’s always hoped to maintain a good relationship with Taylor.
‘It’s been really hard to achieve that, but he wants to co-parent well.’
The documents state that the argument happened at Paul’s house in February while their two-year-old son, Ever, was there.
According to Mortensen, a disagreement with Paul turned violent, and Paul reportedly choked him.
Let me tell you, dealing with conflict is never easy, but this situation was particularly scary. She actually grabbed at my neck, and I had to gently but firmly move her hands away. Unfortunately, it didn’t stop there – she then pushed me towards a window and hit me. It was a really frightening experience, and I had to protect myself.
According to TMZ, Mortensen described the scene as ‘chaotic’ and ‘frightening,’ explaining that their son was woken up by the noise, including Paul screaming and yelling.
The petition also mentioned Paul’s earlier arrest in 2023, when he alleged that Mortensen had thrown chairs at him.
In his court documents, he’s asked for temporary custody of Ever and requested that Paul not be allowed to drink alcohol or use drugs while Ever is in his care.
Okay, so things are getting more complicated for Paul. It looks like she’s facing potential legal trouble not just from her recent arrest last year, but now also because of a domestic incident that allegedly happened just last month. It’s definitely a developing situation, and it seems like more details are coming to light about both events.
Newly released police body camera footage, obtained by TMZ, shows previously unreleased clips of the night of the arrest. The footage depicts the individual arguing with an officer and appearing to be under the influence of alcohol.
Oh my god, it was heartbreaking! She was so upset, she actually pulled over and called her dad while this poor officer was trying to question her. And can you believe she had the nerve to ask him what his job even was? Like, seriously? It was just… wow. I felt so bad for everyone involved, honestly, but she was definitely pushing his buttons. I just couldn’t look away!
The video was filmed just before Paul was arrested. This happened after she confessed to throwing metal chairs at her boyfriend, Dakota Mortensen.
The Daily Mail has reached out to Paul and Mortensen to request comment.
From the beginning of this new video segment, Paul appears visibly upset. The scene opens with a strained interview taking place on her porch, while Mortensen is being interviewed inside the house.
She stumbled outside, confused about why she was out and he was still inside. Slurring her speech, she demanded they switch places, insisting the house belonged to her.
The officer, whose voice stays calm, offers to do just that ‘in a minute.’
He trailed off, saying he’d hoped the fresh, cold air would feel good, just as Paul turned and opened the front door while he was still speaking.
She marched into the house, where Mortensen was speaking to another officer, and interrupted them.
‘You’re upset, I’m upset. Get out of my house,’ she tells Mortensen wearily.
He mumbled something to her that wasn’t clear on the bodycam recording, and Paul seemed to repeat it back to him.
She tells him, “Get out of my house!” as she and Mortensen meet near her kitchen.
The officer seemed annoyed by the disruption, but Paul didn’t seem to notice, reaching for a glass of water.
‘Hey, Taylor, when I told you how this was going down, OK, we’re trying to be kind right now and just find out what’s going on, but if you stop listening to the things we’re saying —’ he says as Paul whips out her cell phone and begins dialing.
She said to the officer, seemingly dismissing his concerns, ‘You’re fine, I understand you’re trying to be helpful.’ She then looked down at her phone, as if searching for a contact number.
According to what seems to be captured on video, Paul says the man pushed her into the garage, near her child’s belongings, as the officer attempted to communicate with her.
‘Your children are here, and you need to stop yelling,’ he instructs her in a more forceful tone.
She agreed vaguely, saying ‘Yes, you’re right,’ as she lifted the phone to her ear to dial.
He went on to say that when he asked them not to make a call, and they did it anyway… Paul then wondered if that was against the law, but he was assured it wasn’t.
Paul suddenly becomes tearful as she says on the phone, ‘Dad, please come to my house.
‘Dakota pushed me in my garage, and the police are saying that I can’t talk about it,’ she gasps.
Ugh, it’s infuriating! He – the officer – just completely dismissed her, saying that wasn’t what she meant at all! And then, can you believe it, he told her to breathe deeply like she was the one with the problem? Apparently, according to him, she was just ‘very intoxicated.’ It’s so unfair, she’s clearly not! They’re just trying to discredit her, I know it!
He urges her again to keep her voice down because her children are trying to sleep.
She asked, ‘Upstairs? With the white noise machine?’ and gestured towards the second floor. The officer gently reminded her that one of her children was actually sleeping on the couch, right there in the room.
After he asks her to ‘chill,’ she interrupts to ask, ‘Are you married, with kids?’
He dismissed it as unimportant, but Paul disagreed, explaining that it helped explain her current feelings.
He added that his personal life wasn’t important at the moment, explaining that his priority was to help me relax.
He began to explain that he was prepared to assist, but she cut him off, asking for a glass of water.
‘You can have water,’ the officer replies, but Paul asks again, ‘Am I OK to get that.’
‘I said you are,’ he reiterates coldly before she smacks a plastic glass against the countertop.
As she gets a glass of water from the fridge, she starts thinking again about what he said about her being drunk.
She said she was barely drunk, rating her level of intoxication as a two out of ten, and then playfully asked for an explanation of why anyone would think otherwise.
She playfully challenged him to question her, and then jokingly suggested he use his breathalyzer – mispronouncing it as ‘blezaryzer’ before quickly correcting herself.
She adds that she got a ‘safe driver’ to take her home that evening from her ‘girls’ night.’
Paul then mentions her father is on his way to see what’s happening, but the officer doesn’t seem concerned. This leads the woman to accuse him of lacking compassion.
‘He just pushed me in the garage,’ she says of Mortensen as she begins to tear up again.
Okay, so I was trying to reassure her that I was just there to help her feel safe and get through this. The thing is, I couldn’t talk to her right away because my colleague was still speaking with Mr. Mortensen, and we needed to finish that conversation first before I could begin my interview with her. It’s all about following procedure and making sure everyone gets the attention they need.
Paul accuses him of being on ‘his side’ through her sobs.
He attempted to explain, but she cut him off, claiming her hand hurt. Despite this, she refused when the officer offered to call for medical assistance.
‘Yelling, is that a crime?’ she asks him, and he clarifies that it’s not illegal.
“I’m in so much pain!” Paul exclaimed, her sobs growing louder as she covered her face. When the officer offered to connect her with a crisis counselor, she simply said, “No, I just want him to go home.”
Paul then approached the sofa and seemed to apologize to her child, who was unconscious in the police video.
She simply said she wanted to wish everyone goodnight and go to sleep, then playfully asked if that was alright, even questioning if it was a crime.
Okay, so the officer explained I’d have to hang tight while they interviewed Mr. Mortensen first. And little Paul, who had finally calmed down from crying, sweetly asked if he could use the restroom. It was a bit of a stressful situation, but those small moments really stood out.
The officer questioned if she needed to do it immediately, and she replied it would only take ‘two seconds’ before shutting the bathroom door, which is where the video cuts off.
Earlier video showed Paul becoming very angry after her boyfriend wouldn’t drive her to a concert because she had too much to drink.
The mother, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, became extremely angry and threw chairs during an argument with her boyfriend, Dakota Mortensen. Sadly, one of the chairs accidentally struck her five-year-old daughter, Indy, in the head.
According to video footage, the influencer told police she was frightened during the incident in a Salt Lake City suburb, to the point of losing control of her bladder.
Paul was arrested on February 17 at her home in Herriman, Utah, on misdemeanor charges.
After Mr. Mortensen showed police a video of the chair striking the victim, the charges were increased to include aggravated assault, endangering a child, and domestic violence committed in front of a child.
Two weeks after the incident, the Salt Lake County District Attorney filed charges against Paul. These included two felony counts of domestic violence committed in front of a child resulting in injury, one misdemeanor charge of child abuse with injury, and a misdemeanor charge of criminal mischief.
If found guilty, she could receive up to five years in state prison for each of the three felony charges against her. Her next court date is April 14th.
Paul became well-known on TikTok, gaining over 4 million followers by sharing videos about her daily life, including her two children and her recent separation from her husband.
Last summer, she surprised her followers by announcing her divorce from Tate, explaining it stemmed from a boundary she crossed during a casual exploration of swinging.
Soft swinging involves couples swapping partners but not engaging in full sex.
After splitting with Tate — the father of her children — she started hooking up with Mortensen.
Police bodycam footage from the night of the arrest shows Herriman officers Ben Rugebregt and Alex Felsing approaching Paul’s home after a neighbor called 911.
Both Paul and Mortensen, her boyfriend of six months, are seen answering the door.
When the officers ask them what was going on, Dakota tells them Taylor was ‘hammered.’
Taylor replied, confirming the same about the other person. She then told the police that Dakota had pushed or thrown her into the garage.
Rugebregt and Felsing intervened and pulled the couple apart, leading Paul outside. Officers tried to speak with her, but she was visibly upset and struggling to speak clearly.
‘I’m emotionally hurting and going through a divorce,’ she tells them.
But seconds later she turns belligerent and says: ‘I don’t give a f*** anymore.
‘I don’t give a f*** about him,’ she says, referring to Mortensen. ‘I just want him out.
We got into a physical fight – I pushed and hit him, and he pushed back. Honestly, I’m not bothered by it. I lost my temper because he pushed me, and now I just want him to leave.
Let me tell you, as someone who talks to people about relationships all the time, hearing stories like this breaks my heart. A friend recently shared that after a fun night out with her girlfriends, her boyfriend completely tore her down on the drive home – a full-on verbal attack. It’s never okay to be spoken to like that, and it’s a huge red flag in any relationship. It’s crucial to remember you deserve respect, always.
Taylor told police she threw objects at Dakota out of fear, explaining that he had pushed her beforehand.
She also told police she wet her pants because she was scared.
In a video statement to police, 30-year-old Mortensen said he picked up Taylor after her night out with friends, and that she was intoxicated.
He said they had an agreement to stay away from alcohol as he’s a recovering addict.
He informed the police that Paul is dealing with personal difficulties, and alcohol makes the situation much worse, causing her to become very upset.
He had plans to attend a concert with a friend, but when Paul learned about it, she asked if she could join them and requested a ride from the party.
Oh my god, apparently, the plan was for him to swing by Paul’s place, just grab her ID, and then head straight to the concert. But the second he got there, he knew… she was a mess. Absolutely no way she could have gone. It was heartbreaking, honestly, but he said she was just… not up to it.
He said she then became angry and began to berate him on the drive back.
When they returned to her house, the family member who had been babysitting Indy and Paul’s son, Ocean, left.
Mortensen explained that he attempted to leave for the next hour and a half to calm things down, but Paul blocked him from leaving.
He claimed she threw her phone at him. She then grabbed his truck keys, climbed onto the vehicle, and repeatedly slammed the doors.
She threw a wooden toy set at him, and it struck his truck. She then aggressively threw metal chairs, damaging the walls and leaving holes.
Sergeant Rugebregt reported seeing several metal chairs and other things from around the house scattered on the floor near the front door. He believes the chairs may have been from a kitchen island.
‘I observed a case of roses on the ground by the kitchen island,’ he added.
Mortensen said all of this violence took place in front of Indy. Ocean was upstairs, asleep.
He explained to police that he became frightened for his safety as chairs were thrown at him. He said one chair struck his shoulder and then hit Indy on the head.
He admitted pushing Paul out of his way, because she wouldn’t let him leave.
‘She fell down because she was hammered,’ he said.
The cops clearly did not realize that Paul was an internet celebrity.
After Mortensen inquired about the potential release of her mugshot, an officer reportedly said it wasn’t a noteworthy event, implying it wouldn’t be publicized.
As police were arresting Paul for domestic violence, his partner asked the officer, confused, ‘So, he’s not getting arrested? He pushed me, but I’m the one being arrested?’
Even after being handcuffed, she kept asking the officer what she had done wrong and why she was being arrested.
Honestly, the whole situation was just surreal. I remember thinking, ‘If Dakota sees me being taken away, there’s no way he’ll let this happen!’ And then, complete panic set in – I was so shocked and stressed that, well, let’s just say I had an accident, and suddenly found myself under arrest. It was a truly mortifying experience.
During the arrest, Paul’s parents, Jeremy and Liann May, arrived to take the kids.
While being handcuffed, Paul told her mother: ‘I’m being arrested for pushing Dakota.’
Liann replied, ‘Yeah, that’s domestic violence.’
Even as officers put her in the patrol car, Paul continued to protest her arrest, telling the officer, “He hit me too, and I’m a woman.”
Before the police took her away, Paul’s mother spoke to her through the car window, clearly upset. She told her, ‘You shouldn’t have let my grandchildren witness this, and I can’t believe you’re acting this way.’
After a break from social media following her arrest, Paul shared on TikTok that she’s been managing her depression and anxiety with Zoloft and attending therapy to process past trauma.
She shared that she recently visited Mortensen’s family in Logan, Utah, and is very fond of them. She also mentioned she’s currently keeping her children off TikTok, though she doesn’t plan to do so permanently. She didn’t discuss her ongoing legal issues.
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2026-03-27 16:56