Taylor Frankie Paul exploded onto the internet when she started sharing social media videos with a group of other Mormon moms during the coronavirus pandemic.
Paul, who is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, often teamed up with Whitney Leavitt, Miranda McWhorter, Demi Engemann, Mayci Neeley, Mikayla Matthews, Layla Taylor and Jen Affleck for a series of dance-based TikToks.
Amid MomTok’s rising popularity, Paul broke the internet when she claimed in 2022 that some of her friends were involved in a “soft-swinging” scandal that led to her divorce from husband Tate Paul. Nearly two years later, Taylor and her fellow MomTokers landed their own Hulu series, The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, to chronicle the fallout.
“I’m pretty much known from my headlines of Swinger Mom,” Taylor exclusively told Us Weekly in September 2024. “For the show, I really wanted them to see me and more of me and my personality and a deeper level. I feel like I come off so different online than I actually am in a conversation. So I felt like this was my chance to tell my story and get a deeper look into who I am.”
Throughout the first four seasons of Mormon Wives, Taylor documented her life as a single mom and her on-and-off relationship with Dakota Mortensen. Taylor was named the season 22 lead of The Bachelorette in 2025, though it was canceled days before the premiere over domestic violence allegations.
Keep scrolling to revisit Taylor’s highs and lows in the spotlight:
2020
Taylor Frankie Paul enlisted a group of fellow Mormon moms to make social media content together, featuring viral dance trends, beauty routines and other lifestyle vlogs.
2022
Nearly two years after MomTok went viral, Taylor Frankie Paul sent shockwaves through the fanbase when she announced her divorce from Tate Paul. (Taylor and Tate share daughter Indy and son Ocean.)
At the time, Taylor claimed in a June social media livestream that many members of the group had been hooking up with one another outside of their respective marriages.
“I think we were all drinking and partying and the guys were like, ‘You girls should make out,’ and that’s that. It wasn’t a big deal to me,” Taylor said on the “Viall Files” podcast in September 2024, listing the sexual activities she tried at cabin parties she and Tate hosted. “Making out in the same bed, intercourse in the same bed next to each other, the girls kissing and the husbands touching the other’s wife. It just starts to escalate.”
The other Mormon Wives stars, save for Miranda McWhorter and ex-husband Chase McWhorter, denied participating in any of the swinging parties.
For Taylor, her marriage ended after she had sex outside of her relationship. After her divorce, she started dating Dakota Mortensen.
2023
Taylor Frankie Paul was arrested in February after a heated argument with then-boyfriend Dakota Mortensen. The influencer was charged with aggravated assault, two counts of domestic violence in the presence of a child, child abuse with injury and criminal mischief. Taylor pleaded guilty to the aggravated assault charges, while the rest were dismissed.
After Taylor was released from police custody, she reconciled with Dakota. Amid their reunion, Taylor found out that she was pregnant with baby No. 3, her first with Dakota.
“The charges were all dropped,” Taylor claimed on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast in September 2025. “I never hurt my daughter, I never did anything intentionally with my children. I never have ever.”
In March 2026, TMZ obtained footage from the alleged altercation, in which Taylor threw a chair at Dakota. A rep for Taylor, however, claimed the footage had been “selectively edited.”
2024
The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives season 1 premiered on Hulu, soon breaking the platform’s streaming records. The show’s popularity landed them back-to-back renewals for seasons 2, 3, 4 and 5.
In her personal life, Taylor Frankie Paul and Dakota Mortensen welcomed son Ever True in March months before breaking up. They continued dating on and off, which was featured on Mormon Wives.
2025
Taylor Frankie Paul and Dakota Mortensen parted ways again in the fall, shortly before she was named as the season 22 lead of ABC’s The Bachelorette.
“I’m most looking forward to meeting a handful of people that are outside my bubble,” Taylor exclusively told Us Weekly in September 2025. “I’m just excited to get to know different perspectives and new parts about myself too.”
According to Taylor, it was her “goal” to meet The One and get engaged on the reality TV show.
“I’m going to take my time, I’m going to kind of, like, get to know people,” she teased. “Maybe I learned things I didn’t like or do like, that I didn’t even know. I think this is gonna be really good for the long-term effect.”
Days before production began, Taylor and Dakota hooked up again during filming for Mormon Wives season 4. The Bachelor Nation season eventually wrapped filming in December.
2026
Taylor Frankie Paul’s season of The Bachelorette was scheduled to premiere on ABC in March. Weeks earlier, local Utah police showed up at her house following an alleged February confrontation with ex Dakota Mortensen.
While The Bachelorette had already been filmed and Taylor denied the allegations, ABC ultimately pulled the plug days before the premiere date.
“We have made the decision to not move forward with the new season of The Bachelorette at this time,” a spokesperson for Disney Entertainment Television told Us in a statement. “Our focus is on supporting the family.”
Mormon Wives was filming season 5 at the time, but Hulu paused production.
