Taylor Frankie Paul, the next leading lady of The Bachelorette, is no stranger to reality TV.
Taylor made her onscreen debut with The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, which premiered in 2024 and chronicles the lives of eight Utah-based influencers. The series began production amid the aftermath of a 2022 soft-swinging sex scandal involving Taylor and the father of her two eldest children, Tate Paul.
The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives has since documented the ups and downs of her relationship with ex Dakota Mortensen, with whom she has been split from since 2024.
“I’ve been officially single for about a year now. September is my year mark,” she exclusively told Us Weekly after the Wednesday, September 10, Bachelorette announcement. “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].”
Scroll down to learn more about Taylor:
Taylor Frankie Paul Has Previously Been Married
Taylor and Tate divorced in 2022, with her later moving on with Dakota. Taylor got candid about her current coparenting relationship with Tate while exclusively speaking to Us in May.
“We’ve obviously come a long way to navigate it. It’s different from my first husband [Tate] because there’s obviously a friendship there. We adjusted,” she said. “Whereas [with] Dakota, everything’s fresh. It’s something that we necessarily didn’t want to do but needed to separate. So it’s an adjustment and we’ve had to learn through the obstacles of this experience to do what’s best for our son.”
Taylor Frankie Paul Is a Mom of 3
Taylor welcomed daughter Indy and son Ocean with ex-husband Tate in 2017 and 2020, respectively. She became a mom of 3 with the birth of son Ever, whom she welcomed with Dakota in 2024.
Taylor Frankie Paul Has Previously Been Arrested
After a fight with Dakota in 2023, Taylor was booked for aggravated assault, two counts of domestic violence in the presence of a child, child abuse with injury and criminal mischief. She pleaded guilty that year to aggravated assault, while the other four charges were dismissed. She went on to reach a plea deal.
Taylor Frankie Paul Is a Practicing Mormon
Taylor shared in season 1 of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives that she is a practicing Mormon, wanting to reconnect with her religion after the swinging scandal. As she looks for The One on The Bachelorette, Taylor exclusively told Us that her suitors don’t have to be Mormon.
“I would love to talk to anyone on the subject, and definitely the very last people,” she said. “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.”
She continued, “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.”
Taylor Frankie Paul Was Previously Considered as a Housewife
Before her stint handing out roses, Taylor admitted that she had been in consideration to be a Real Housewife.
“I actually did get interviewed for the [The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City]. I had an interview I think a few months prior [to The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives], maybe a little longer,” Taylor said on a September 2024 episode of Scheana Shay’s “Scheananigans” podcast. “And basically … a little birdie told me, ‘You didn’t have enough drama in your life.’”
Taylor shared that she was not divulging details about the swinging scandal, adding, “I was obviously not admitting to what we were up to.”
