HOLLYWOOD—The newest season of the ABC reality dating series, “The Bachelorette” was cancelled on Thursday, March 19 by ABC after video surfaced of a domestic violence incident involving its lead Taylor Frankie Paul. The video was released by TMZ which depicts Paul in a physical altercation with her child’s father, Dakota Mortensen.
Paul is known for her role on the Hulu reality series “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” which recently had its latest season halt production on filming after an incident involving Paul and Mortensen.
In the video obtained by TMZ, Paul can be seeing physically attacking Mortensen, who struggles to record the incident on his cellphone. Paul is seeing placing Dakota in a headlock and tries kicking him several times. She is also seen grabbing a metal barstool and throwing it at Dakota. Paul’s daughter is inside the home at the time of the incident, who can be heard crying and calling for her mother. The police report indicates the child had a bump on her head.
Officers arrived at the home, after a night called about the noise, and the officer can be heard in the video trying to separate Dakota and Taylor. Taylor notes that Dakota “threw” her several times, which is not depicted in the video. Taylor shares a son, Ever, with Dakota Mortensen. She was charged with three misdemeanors: assault, criminal mischief and domestic violence in the presence of a child. She reached a plea deal in her case, pleading guilty to aggravated assault and the other charges were dropped.
On March 20, Mortensen was granted a temporary protective order and Paul is not allowed to see her son Eve, until April. Dakota will hold temporary custody of their 2-year-old son until April 7 when they return to court TMZ reported.
Disney indicated the following in a statement on March 19:
“In light of the newly released video just surfaced today, we have made the decision to not move forward with the new season of ‘The Bachelorette’ at this time, and our focus is on supporting the family.”
Paul has lost her collaboration with the sweet treats company, Cinnabon after the video surfaced.
Paul gained notoriety for being one of the creators of #MomTok, a group of women in Utah who create viral dances with TikTok videos. Paul has 2 children with her ex-husband, Tate Paul, an 8-year-old daughter, and a 5-year-old son.
