Taylor Frankie Paul was admittedly overwhelmed watching The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives season 4.
“I, for the first time, sat down and watched this season and it was extremely hard to do,” Taylor, 31, wrote via Instagram on Friday, March 13. “These aren’t just story lines, these are our actual lives we are sharing.”
She continued, “I’ll speak for myself on this, I’m not sharing to appease or switch ‘story lines’ for anyone’s entertainment. A big reason I continue on is to potentially help someone.”
Hulu’s The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives follows Taylor and her fellow members of the “MomTok” social media group — Whitney Leavitt, Jen Affleck, Jessi Ngatikaura, Mayci Neeley, Mikayla Matthews, Layla Taylor, Miranda McWhorter and Demi Engemann — throughout their daily lives as Mormon wives, moms and influencers.
Throughout season 4, Taylor balances her work and filming obligations with her coparenting responsibilities and seemingly endless relationship drama. (The Hulu star shares two children with ex-husband Tate Paul, as well as youngest son Ever with ex Dakota Mortensen.)
“I know this because I’ve personally watched and listened to people’s experience and it helped me,” she wrote on Friday. “Takes courage to share such vulnerable topics with an audience. My heart goes out to those around me that share and everyone else that continues to do so. The hugs will always outweigh the hate for me.”
During Mormon Wives production, Taylor also received an offer to lead season 22 of The Bachelorette.
“There was no other reason for me to do this other than I wanted to get outside of Utah and the toxicity that I’m in and venture off and really do something for myself,” Taylor exclusively told Us Weekly in the latest cover story of her decision to join Bachelor Nation. “Who gets this opportunity as a single mom to just purely focus on dating and love and yourself? It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. That is why I was there.”
Just before Taylor left to film The Bachelorette, she hooked up with Dakota, 33, as Mormon Wives cameras were rolling.
“Honestly, I think it was just still in the same cycle that I’ve been in for a while now, and it’s been really hard to get out,” she admitted to Us of her on-and-off status with Dakota. “It’s been so hard to remove myself from that.”
Once Taylor met her Bachelorette suitors, she made a consistent effort to reassure them that she was open to falling in love with (at least) one of them.
“It was a choice. Ready, at the end of the day, is a decision,” she stated. “I made the decision to leave for two months and try. I reassured them that was why I was here.”
According to Taylor, she went on The Bachelorette with the intent of “finding [her] person” — a goal that the reality TV star may have actually achieved.
“I’m happy in the moment,” she teased to Us, without giving away finale spoilers. “It ended in a Taylor way. Some people may know what that means, and some people might not.”
The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives is now streaming on Hulu. The Bachelorette premieres on ABC Sunday, March 22, at 8 p.m. ET.
