It turns out Taylor Frankie Paul‘s ex-husband was kept in the dark about what really went down that night she attacked Dakota Mortensen three years ago…
Amid an investigation into another domestic dispute between Taylor and Dakota, a video surfaced this week of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star putting him into a chokehold, hitting him, kicking him, and more back in 2023.
As seen in the footage, the situation escalated when she started to throw metal barstools at him — and one of them ended up hitting her then 5-year-old daughter, Indy Paul, resulting in an injury. The child immediately broke down into tears, but Taylor didn’t run to help her, not even when she called out for her mother.
The 31-year-old television personality continued to fight with Dakota instead. It’s a heartbreaking and disturbing watch, but you can see part of the incident (below):
???? EXCLUSIVE: Taylor Frankie Paul repeatedly attacked Dakota Mortensen during the 2023 incident in which she pled guilty to aggravated assault; video shows that one of her children was struck during the fight.
Trigger Warning. https://t.co/77CKYpLxvn pic.twitter.com/avr49EacY3
— TMZ (@TMZ) March 19, 2026
Related: Bethenny Frankel Calls ABC Out For Cancelling Taylor’s Bachelorette Season
Taylor was arrested and charged with two counts of felony domestic violence in the presence of a child causing injury, one count of misdemeanor child abuse, one count of misdemeanor criminal mischief, and aggravated assault. She took a plea deal, pleading guilty to only aggravated assault, and was placed on probation for three years, which is supposed to end in August. Despite what happened, Indy and Ocean Paul were not removed from her custody at the time — and sources now reveal why. Tate Paul, the swinging ex–husband of Taylor, is also pissed by that outcome in light of everything coming out.
Insiders with direct knowledge told TMZ on Friday that Utah’s Division of Children and Family Services was informed of the incident afterward. Police are required to report in Utah, and insiders connected to DCFS say that is how the agency found out. However, DCFS reportedly did not remove her two older children from her home because they have a policy of only removing children from their parents when there is an immediate danger. The agency determined that in this case, there was none. The insider explained the video shows Taylor’s daughter was not the intended target when the MomTok star chucked the barstool. Instead, it ricocheted and hit her. When asked if it constituted negligence that Taylor didn’t check on her daughter after she was hit, the source replied they did not know how, or if, that factored into DCFS’s decision.
Following the domestic violence incident, Tate reportedly had his attorney reach out to Taylor’s lawyer to demand full custody of both children. Her lawyer agreed to change custody from joint to full custody, and she agreed to take alcohol education classes and undergo various exams. Six months later, Taylor regained around 50 percent custody of Indy and Ocean.
During all this, TMZ reports that neither the police nor DCFS would show Tate the video of the incident. Taylor also allegedly DENIED that she hit one of the kids with the barstool! We guess he took her word for it! However, Tate learned the truth when TMZ shared the video on Thursday! WTF! That’s wild!
Sources with direct knowledge say he is now outraged and would have pushed for prosecutors to go after Taylor for child abuse if he had seen the video. So we guess that’s why Tate rushed over to the courthouse on Thursday, just like Dakota, to file protective orders against her.
At this time, it is unknown if Tate will go for full custody of the kids again. We wouldn’t be surprised if he does. Taylor has since temporarily lost custody of her almost 2-year-old son, Ever, whom she shares with Dakota. The DadTok member filed several complaints to DCFS accusing her of abusing their son, and there is currently an open investigation.
Reactions, Perezcious readers? Let us know in the comments.
If you have sincere cause to suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, help is available. Consider calling the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233, or text START to 88788, or go to https://www.thehotline.org/.
[Image via Taylor Frankie Paul/Dakota Mortensen/Instagram, Call Her Daddy/YouTube]
