New Bachelorette Taylor Frankie Paul is as ready as she’ll ever be for her new journey.
On the heels of the Wednesday, September 10, announcement that the 31-year-old Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star will star on season 22 of The Bachelorette, Us Weekly spoke to Taylor for an exclusive interview.
“What I’m most looking forward to is meeting a handful of people that are outside my bubble — and even if there’s a couple in there, that’s OK — but I’m just excited to get to know different perspectives and new parts about myself too,” Taylor tells Us. “[But] it’s out of my comfort zone, so, obviously, it’s scary. You’re dealing with feelings — and you’re dealing with other people’s feelings — and I don’t really like to hurt other people’s feelings, especially when you’re being vulnerable and open.”
The Hulu star admits it’s going to be “really hard to hurt someone,” especially because you have to make “fast decisions” as the lead on the ABC dating show.
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“This isn’t, like, the longest process and time is ticking, so I’m nervous for that,” she tells Us. “It’s just hard for me. And to pick and choose [or] deciding — I’m very like, ‘Ahhh!’ So it’ll be interesting.”
If you’re not familiar, Taylor, one of the only Bachelor Nation leads in history not to come directly from the franchise, is the MomTok influencer who admitted to cheating on her husband in a soft-swinging scandal and subsequently landed her Utah-based group of social media stars a Hulu reality show. The series has documented her ups and downs in friendships, her rocky relationship with her first post-divorce boyfriend, Dakota Mortensen, and even her arrest. (Taylor was booked for aggravated assault, two counts of domestic violence in the presence of a child, child abuse with injury and criminal mischief after a fight with Dakota in 2023. She pleaded guilty that August to aggravated assault, while the other four charges were dismissed with prejudice. She later reached a plea deal.)
“If [the men on The Bachelorette] have seen the show, or if they’re going to watch the show, don’t go into it like, ‘That’s who she is,’” Taylor tells Us. “Because, to be honest, I feel like there is a side to me that is completely different [from how] I am perceived on social media and the show.”
Taylor says that there is “a very chill side to me that I feel like not a lot of people see.”
“That’s my main side,” she continues. “I think they’ll come in and it’s not something they’ll expect. So if I were to give a message out to all of them: I have a side to me that is not very seen, and it is a very relaxed, chill side. I just like to conversate and talk. And — I don’t know if it is because I’m petty on [Secret Lives] — but I’m not intimidating or mean or anything like that. I don’t know if I give off that energy, but everyone’s like, ‘You’re so nice. You’re actually nice.’”
Acknowledging that she’s still “very chaotic, all the time,” Taylor has grown a lot since fans met her via social media or reality TV.
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“It’s been a lot of learning lessons, for better or worse. And I think [that makes you] more wise and aware — or at least self-aware,” she says. “I can’t say that I’ll never make mistakes again. We’re human. We always will. But it’s learning, growing and then having the tools to navigate the next one.”
While The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives will return to Hulu on November 13, Taylor’s season of The Bachelorette is set to premiere on ABC in 2026. Below, Us Weekly answers Bachelor Nation’s burning questions about the surprising pick, with insight from Taylor herself.
Is Taylor Frankie Paul Associated With The Bachelor?
Taylor pitched herself to be the next lead on social media over the summer, and the franchise took notice as ABC and Hulu are all under the same Disney umbrella.
“Honestly, it was a joke. I was just throwing it out there, like, ‘What do I lose in a relationship sense?’” she tells Us. “I actually made [a different video] three years ago, and then I made another [in June], like, ‘This is my audition for The Bachelorette.’”
She adds, “It’s very surreal, and I think it’s not going to hit until that limo pulls up with that first guy coming out. I don’t know exactly what this looks like, but that’s the exciting part.”
When Did Taylor Frankie Paul and Dakota Break Up?
When her marriage to the father of her two oldest kids, Tate, didn’t survive the soft-swinging scandal, Taylor started seeing Dakota, and they welcomed a son in 2024.
“I’ve been officially single for about a year now. September is my year mark,” she tells Us. “I’ve not been in an actual relationship, but I was just trying to decide if I was going to make it work with my baby daddy. You’ll see that play out on the new season of [Secret Lives].”
Taylor says she opened the doors to dating again “recently” and “started to talk to people.” She adds that the men she’s been seeing were clued into her Bachelorette plans.
“I actually told them,” she tells Us. “I was just like, ‘So, I’m gonna be doing the Bachelorette here soon.’ Just to [be] fair, and not surprise them with it with the rest of the world. Because it’s so new, there’s not deep feelings there. So it’s just like, ‘Oh, like, best of luck. And if things work out, great, it’s not meant to be and if not, then, they’re there,’ type of thing.”
Will Taylor Frankie Paul’s Bachelorette Contestants Be Mormon?
“No, they don’t have to be Mormon is the easy answer,” Taylor tells Us.
Religion, however, is something she plans to discuss with her suitors.
“I would love to talk to anyone on the subject, and definitely the very last people,” she says. “I’m open to any religion. It doesn’t have to be Mormonism, but I would like to align, obviously, with the same values and morals, and at least someone that does believe in faith and God and whatnot. When you’re raising kids, it does become a factor. I don’t know if it’s a hard thing, because I’m also very open minded, and I want to hear other people’s perspectives, but when it comes down to raising kids, I think that’s where it gets more important — what we are going to teach them, what we believe in.”
While Taylor said on “Call Her Daddy” on Wednesday that she doesn’t plan to give away fantasy suite details, she tells Us that she isn’t going into the show with a set of rules for herself when it comes to exploring the connections.
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“The funny thing is, I never prepare. I kind of go into it blindly, which I don’t know if that helps me or what not. I think me over thinking or stressing about it, stresses me out more than just going into it and saying how I feel in that moment,” she says. “I’ve never experienced anything like this. So I’d hate to say something and then completely go back on it, which I guess would also be very me at the same time. A prime example — I don’t like kissing on the first date, per se, that is not something I would do, but I can’t speak for them. So if they were trying [to kiss me] and I felt like it was natural, then maybe. I wouldn’t do that myself, but it’s not like a hard boundary or anything. It’s just that I don’t like to kiss on the first date.”
Will Taylor Frankie Paul Get Engaged on The Bachelorette?
“Definitely, that’s the goal here,” she tells Us. “And as my mom likes to say, I do fall in love quickly, and that’s also the reason I did it. I always call myself a lover girl because I, like, fall for people and I have done that in the past. Obviously, I got married young, and the first guy I dated was my second baby daddy — so it was just very quick, and this time, it’s going to be really cool, because, yes, I have been opening up to dating, but now I’m about to date, you know, 20 [or] 30 guys, and I’ve never done that before. I’m going to take my time, I’m going to kind of, like, get to know people. Maybe I learned things I didn’t like or do like that I didn’t even know. So I think this is gonna be really good for the long-term effect.”
How Did MomTok React to Taylor Frankie Paul’s Bachelor Announcement?
Despite hiccups over the years, Taylor tells Us that the Secret Lives of Mormon Wives cast is “so excited” for her.
“In the beginning, [it was hard to keep a secret]. I have announced it to all my friends and family at this point,” she says. “And if I can bring them as much as I can on the journey, I would like to have a piece of home with me. I am nervous, and I don’t know how that works, but if they’re able to come help me, I would love that.”
Taylor names Mayci Neeley as someone who would give her the best advice.
“I think we all know Mayci is very hard to impress, which is nice, because I’m very easy to impress,” she tells Us. ‘“Oh, he opened the door for me.’ Like, ‘Yay.’ You know basic things, I get so excited about it. Where Mayci’s like, ‘Well, I would hope he would do, like, the bare minimum, sweetheart,’ and she’s really good at that, so I think she’d be the one that helped me out of it, and if I get, like, blinded by anything, she’ll be there to point it out.“
