[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]
Taylor Frankie Paul opened up about what led to her domestic violence arrest years before her new scandal!
Fans know that the very first episode ever of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives featured footage of the 31-year-old reality star being put in handcuffs after she brutally attacked Dakota Mortensen. Of course, what viewers did not see is what transpired that night. That video didn’t emerge until Thursday, days after the news broke that production for Season 5 of the show stopped due to another domestic dispute between the former couple, which is currently under investigation. And it is one of the most heartbreaking and disturbing things to watch.
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In it, Taylor hits him, puts him in a choke hold, kicks him, and more. The situation escalated when she started to throw metal chairs at him, and one ended up striking her then 5-year-old daughter, Indy Paul, whom she shares with ex-husband Tate Paul. See the video, which resulted in her season of The Bachelorette being cancelled (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
Horrifying…
The footage does not share what led up to the nasty fight, but Taylor shared the details during an appearance on The Viall Files podcast back in 2024. She told Nick Viall and Natalie Joy at the time:
“I feel like it was a build up, so not just that night. I had an ectopic [pregnancy] a few months prior, and then I had a chemical pregnancy. I don’t want to blame hormones, but I will put that into account. Like, I am pretty whack.”
Taylor claimed she felt lost and angry after the two events, so she drank that night. Following her arrest, she told a counselor, who deemed her an “intermediate problem drinker,” that she drank vodka during a girls’ night after not drinking for three months at the time. Just FYI. Taylor continued on the podcast:
“I was feeling so low I went and drank that night, and Dakota picks me up and he’s angry that I drank.”
The Hulu personality said she cried the entire drive home about how she “hate[s]” her life, and she thinks the alcohol lowered her “guard” enough for her to feel the emotions. At the time, Taylor shared that she felt “so sad” and wanted to “cling to something,” so she directed her anger towards Dakota:
“I remember like throwing things, and I don’t know my daughters on the couch. We had babysitters there, so I think they’re upstairs sleeping.”
In tears, Taylor explained she remembers throwing a chair and Dakota telling her that Indy was there. However, she said she was so far gone by that point:
“I’m like so gone I don’t care, and I throw another chair.”
She then had no idea if the chair really hit her, but the video indicates that she did — and blamed Dakota for it. A police report also confirmed the barstool did hit Indy, resulting in her having a “goose egg” on her head. Oof. However, Taylor claimed on the podcast that her mom took her daughter home that night and didn’t see any visible injuries:
“I think she was crying cause she saw me crying.”
Or because she got hit with a chair…
As for the arrest, Taylor went on to say she remembers telling Dakota:
“‘I’m hurting inside, like I can’t do it.’ I couldn’t cope. And then my daughter’s in the window watching me and I don’t care, I’m just so hurt.”
That part that hurt the most for Taylor, however, is the lack of carelessness:
“I didn’t care. And that’s what like hurts, is I didn’t think about her that night.”
Taylor was ultimately charged with one count of felony aggravated assault, two counts of felony domestic violence in the presence of a child causing injury, one count of misdemeanor child abuse, and one count of misdemeanor criminal mischief. Later, she took a plea deal and pleaded guilty to only aggravated assault, while her other charges got dismissed. She was sentenced to three years’ probation, which is supposed to end in August. Watch Taylor share her side of the story on The Viall Files (below):
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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 Nick Viall/YouTube, Dakota Mortensen/Instagram]
