After The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives season 4 showed Taylor Frankie Paul and ex Dakota Mortensen together hours before she left for The Bachelorette, the question on everyone’s mind is: how open was she with the contestants about how recent that relationship had been?
“I feel like I was very open with them, especially those that asked, because I really told everyone as a whole if there’s anything you want to know, please let me know, because I wasn’t trying to shove everything down their throat of that in my life,” Taylor, 31, exclusively told Us Weekly at a New York City press dinner on Tuesday, March 17. “I wanted to tell them what they wanted to know.”
Taylor recalled being “very adamant” with the men on The Bachelorette that she would be willing to discuss her past with them.
“Like, ‘Please ask anything. I am [a] very open book,’” she recalled. “Especially the ones towards the end, I was open with the situation. So yeah, I was very honest, I feel like.”
Days before season 22 of The Bachelorette airs on Sunday, March 22, multiple outlets reported that Taylor and Dakota were involved in an incident the previous month — which led to season 5 of Mormon Wives to halt production. (Taylor and Dakota are parents to son Ever, 23 months. She also shares daughter Indy and son Ocean with ex-husband Tate Paul.)
At the time, spokesperson for the Draper City Police Department in Utah confirmed to Us that there was an open “domestic assault investigation” concerning Taylor and Dakota and allegations were “made in both directions.”
Taylor, for her part, addressed the alleged dispute in her interview with Us and claimed that there’s “more to the context to everything.”
“It’s been hard. And it sucks to be in this position,” she said. “And the mother that I am, that is something I will always stand my ground on. I believe that I am a good mother and I have always treated my kids very well. So the headlines that are out right now are very hard to see because that’s not the truth of it. I have always treated my children with respect and I’ve never touched them. So it’s been really hard.”
Taylor noted that The Bachelorette premiere and Tuesday’s event was “unfortunate” timing amid the ongoing allegations.
“It’s another premiere that’s been taken away from me,” she said. “I’ve never enjoyed a premiere for any one of my shows. So it’s just been very sad.”
As for Taylor’s future with Mormon Wives, she admitted to Good Morning America on Wednesday, March 18, that it’s “hard to see” past what’s happening in her life right now.
“When your life is broadcasted out there in these headlines, it’s like the end of the world. That’s what it feels like, I’m not going to lie,” she said. “But I will say, I’ve been here before and I got through it and shared my story … so I’m hoping that I can do that again.”
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 for confidential support.
