A contestant from season 22 of The Bachelorette is addressing rumors that Taylor Frankie Paul abruptly left their date while filming.
“There’s been some articles about Taylor specifically storming off on one of the dates, and obviously we can’t really go into super details, but maybe you can confirm, deny, tease a little bit? What was that like?” cohost Charity Lawson asked on the Thursday, April 2, episode of the “Bachelor Happy Hour” podcast, to which suitor Casey Hux replied, “Yeah, I’ll deny and tease a little bit.”
Casey, 30, noted that he didn’t know “where [the rumors] came from,” but TMZ previously reported that Taylor, 31, had “stormed off the set” when he asked about her 2023 domestic violence arrest. (Taylor was charged with aggravated assault, domestic violence in the presence of a child, child abuse and criminal mischief. She pleaded guilty to felony aggravated assault in exchange for the other charges being dropped.)
“We were hanging out at an undisclosed place at an undisclosed time, and she brought up what happened and went into it in very intensive detail, just like with the incident with her kid,” Casey said.
Bachelorette’s Taylor Spoke With Cast About Dakota ‘Several’ Times
Days before Taylor’s season of The Bachelorette was set to premiere in March, TMZ released footage from a 2023 incident of Taylor physically assaulting and throwing multiple chairs at her then-boyfriend, Dakota Mortensen, while in the presence of her daughter, Indy. (Taylor shares Indy, now 8, and son Ocean, 5, with ex-husband Tate Paul. She’s also the mom of son Ever, 2, with Dakota.)
“When that video came out, she had already very fully described it to me. Like, I had a mental image of that same scene. So it was not something she shied away from,” he explained. “She was asking us these same questions. She would ask the tough questions and needed to know these, and as someone that’s here with intentionality and someone that’s like, ‘I’m making a lifetime decision,’ you should know these things and should ask these questions.”
He continued, “She was the one that brought it up originally, and when she did, it took me a little while to process it. So she brought that up, and we were having a really good night at that time, and it just wasn’t the time or the place, and I didn’t really know how I was feeling.”
The next time he saw Taylor, Casey recalled bringing up the situation again. He claimed that Taylor was “super cool, calm and collected about it.”
Taylor Frankie Paul Teased Her ‘Bachelorette’ Ending Before Cancellation
“There was no storming off,” he added. “There was no anger. There was sadness. The only thing that I could imagine is being worse than the person on the receiving end of that is the person that knows they did that and has to live with that for the rest of their lives. If it was me, I would be beating myself up over that every day, and it would make it so hard, like, not to go back to that and not to lose control again because you’re just on edge all the time.”
He continued, “But I brought it up and explained like, ‘Hey, this is why I ended my relationship. This is kind of a sore subject for me. This is probably something that, I don’t know, is close to me.’ And she was like, ‘Yeah, it was the worst day of my life, and I did something about it. I gave up drinking after that.’ And it’s like, to me, that was enough.”
Casey noted that he didn’t need to hear “some long sob story about what happened” from Taylor, noting that the Bachelorette lead “took an actionable change about what happened and showed intention and has followed through on that and was accountable for it.”
“That meant the world,” he said. “I thought it was a really powerful moment between us two, and I’m really glad we got the opportunity to just sit down one-on-one and and talk about it like that because if it was me reading a news article and coming up with my own opinions on what happened with limited information and not being able to talk to her in a vulnerable state, who knows what I would have thought.”
Bachelor Nation Weighs In Before Taylor Frankie Paul’s Season Premiere
Last month, ABC announced its decision to pull season 22 of The Bachelorette amid allegations of another domestic dispute between Taylor and Dakota.
“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,” a Disney Entertainment Television spokesperson told Us in a statement at the time.
Taylor later addressed ABC’s decision in a statement via her rep and shared her gratitude for the network showing her “support as she prioritizes her family’s safety and security.”
“After years of silently suffering extensive mental and physical abuse as well as threats of retaliation, Taylor is finally gaining the strength to face her accuser and taking steps to ensure that she and her children are protected from any further harm,” the rep said. “There are too many women who are suffering in silence as they survive aggressive, jealous ex-partners who refuse to let them move on with their lives. Taylor has remained silent out of fear of further abuse, retaliation and public shaming. She is currently exploring all of her options, seeking support and preparing to own and share her story.”
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 for confidential support.
