Dakota Mortensen and Taylor Frankie Paul
The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives stars Taylor Frankie Paul and Dakota Mortensen have hit pause on their relationship, Us Weekly can confirm.
During an exclusive interview with Us, conducted prior to the recent social media speculation about their status, Taylor, 30, admitted that the twosome are going through a rough time after Dakota, 31, watched the show.
“I would say we’re working on things, and I actually have no idea where it goes with us from here,” Taylor told Us. “We are not fully together, but not fully done. I don’t know what the future holds with him and I.”
An emotional Taylor confirmed to Us that she is “heartbroken,” adding, “It’s just a lot. I’m trying to cope.”
While Taylor told Us that she doesn’t regret doing the show, Dakota was not happy with his portrayal.
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“He has a really good soft side, and I feel like that wasn’t shown on the show,” she explained. “He’s like, ‘I look like this a—— to you while you’re pregnant, when that’s just not the case of how I treated you the whole time. Yes, I did defend myself in [some] cases, but that’s not how I am to you. I look like this awful person when I’m not.’”
Taylor and Dakota got together months after she announced her split from ex-husband Tate in the wake of their Mormon friend group’s soft swinging scandal.
Hulu’s The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, which began streaming on September 6, captured Taylor and Dakota learning they were expecting their first baby together. She later suffered an ectopic pregnancy. In February 2023, Taylor was arrested for domestic violence after a drunk fight with Dakota, which was also captured on camera.
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Taylor was charged with aggravated assault, two counts of domestic violence in the presence of a child, child abuse with injury and criminal mischief after the incident. She pleaded guilty in August 2023 to aggravated assault, while the other four charges were dismissed with prejudice, reaching a plea deal the following month.
The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives continued to document Taylor and Dakota’s journey by picking cameras up months after the arrest when she was pregnant with son Ever.
“I’m pretty much known from my headlines of ‘Swinger Mom.’ I mean, the arrest, unfortunately, was another big all over the internet. And so I would say those things are pretty negative — obviously the [arrest] but the swinger one was also not a good thing I want to be known for the rest of my life,” Taylor told Us in a separate interview conducted in August. “So, for the show, I really wanted them to see me and more of me and my personality and a deeper level. I feel like I come off so different online than I actually am in a conversation. So I felt like this was my chance to tell my story and get a deeper look into who I am.”
Taylor accused Dakota of not being honest about any potential overlap between Taylor and other women he was seeing when they started dating. After the series debuted, Taylor said her and Dakota were committed to a future together following the birth of son Ever in March.
“I just want to take my time with this time around, this [would be] my second marriage. It is going to be very important to me, and I don’t want to end up in another situation of being divorced,” Taylor explained to Us in August (before the show started streaming). “So, I really just want everything to be really solid and have a foundation of trust. And so I feel like that takes time. I would love for that to be the end goal. But right now, I think building it up to that is where I’m at.”
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At the time, Taylor noted that neither she nor Dakota had seen what was captured of their relationship for The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.
“I feel like I might’ve vented to my mom and been a little harsh — and he’s very sensitive — so I feel like it could be a lot harder for him,” she added. “Also it could be triggering, too, to bring up these conversations. Especially, I think I’ve heard the [season] cliffhanger, so that in itself stirs up some stuff. We are doing good today, we’re going through work, so I really hope that not too much comes out.”
The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives is currently streaming on Hulu. For more from the Taylor and the cast, pick up the new issue of Us Weekly, on newsstands Wednesday.
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi
