The fallout from the newly released 2023 footage now reaches network television, Utah investigators and family court.
LOS ANGELES, CA — A video published this week showing reality TV figure Taylor Frankie Paul in a violent 2023 fight with ex-boyfriend Dakota Mortensen led ABC to cancel her already filmed season of “The Bachelorette” and added new pressure to an active Utah domestic assault investigation.
The decision landed just days before the season’s planned Sunday premiere and turned a long-running off-camera dispute into a broader public reckoning for the influencer and reality star. Paul, a central figure in Hulu’s “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” was already facing scrutiny over a fresh police investigation tied to allegations made by both her and Mortensen. The newly public footage, along with a protective-order filing and questions about her probation in an earlier case, quickly changed the stakes for her television future and her legal outlook.
The latest wave of fallout began Thursday, when TMZ published video from a February 2023 confrontation between Paul and Mortensen inside a Utah home. In the footage, Mortensen records as Paul appears to hit him, chase him and throw chairs while a child cries nearby. At one point, he says the child had been struck. The scene matched broad details that had been known from charging documents filed after Paul’s 2023 arrest, but the video gave the public a much closer look at the violence. Within hours, Disney Entertainment Television said it would not move forward with the new season of “The Bachelorette.” The show had already been filmed, promoted and scheduled to debut Sunday, making the abrupt reversal one of the most unusual cancellations in the franchise’s history. Paul’s representatives said the video lacked context and accused Mortensen of reviving a painful family conflict at a moment when her career was expanding.
The public record around the 2023 case was already serious before the footage surfaced. Herriman police responded that February to a domestic violence call at Paul’s home. Prosecutors alleged that during an argument with Mortensen, Paul threw her phone, a wooden play set and metal barstools. Court papers said one barstool damaged a wall and another hit Paul’s young daughter as she sat near Mortensen on a couch. Paul later pleaded guilty in abeyance to aggravated assault, a deal that allowed other charges to be dismissed if she met court-ordered conditions. That earlier case is now back in focus because Utah authorities are reviewing whether newer allegations could affect her probation, which is scheduled to run into August. Meanwhile, the current police matter remains open. A Draper police spokesperson said allegations were made by both Paul and Mortensen, and officers made contact with the parties on Feb. 24 and Feb. 25. Police have not publicly described any new charges.
Paul’s rise to this point had been fast and highly visible. She first gained wide attention through Utah’s “MomTok” social media circle and then became a breakout figure on “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” where her turbulent relationship with Mortensen often shaped the show’s story lines. ABC’s choice to cast her as the lead of “The Bachelorette” marked a major gamble for a franchise that had mostly drawn its stars from within its own dating-show world. By mid-March, she was still doing high-profile press appearances and speaking publicly about how difficult it had been to see headlines about the new investigation. She said her children came first and suggested she would speak more fully later. But the renewed focus on the 2023 case, followed by the leaked footage, shifted the conversation from comeback and reinvention to safety, accountability and whether a network should have moved ahead with her season at all. The fallout spread beyond ABC. Production on the fifth season of “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” was paused as the investigation continued.
The legal and procedural questions now stretch in several directions at once. Mortensen filed for a protective order on March 19, and a hearing is set for April 7. His filing came as he and Paul continued to dispute what happened in more recent incidents and who bears responsibility for the broader pattern of conflict. Paul’s team has said she endured years of abuse and stayed silent for too long. Mortensen has denied allegations against him and said his main concern is the safety of their young son. Separately, prosecutors are reviewing the police report tied to the newer allegations to determine whether the matter should move forward and whether it could affect Paul’s earlier plea agreement. None of those questions has been resolved in court. What is known is that the release of the old video changed the public and professional landscape immediately, before any new case has been fully tested through the legal process.
The scene around Paul has become one of collapsing opportunities and mounting uncertainty. Only days ago, she was promoting a leading role on a major broadcast franchise. By the end of Thursday, that season was gone from the schedule, her name was again linked to the 2023 assault case, and the focus had turned to family court, probation review and an open police investigation. For the people closest to the case, the language has stayed intensely personal. Mortensen’s side has framed the conflict around protecting their child and trying to preserve a workable co-parenting arrangement. Paul’s side has framed it as a long and damaging cycle that cannot be understood through one clip alone. Those competing accounts are likely to shape the next stage of the fight, both in public and in court, as the television fallout continues to widen.
As of Friday, Paul’s “Bachelorette” season remains shelved, the Draper investigation remains open, and the next clear public milestone is the April 7 hearing on Mortensen’s request for a protective order.
Author note: Last updated March 20, 2026.