Forget The Bachelorette, Taylor Frankie Paul’s Legal Troubles Are Bad For Secret Lives Of Mormon Wives, Too

Taylor Frankie Paul is shown on The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.
(Image credit: Hulu)

Bachelor Nation has been thrown into chaos over the past couple of weeks, after a video from the night of Taylor Frankie Paul’s 2023 arrest went viral and caused ABC to pull The Bachelorette Season 22 from the 2026 TV schedule. However, as new domestic violence investigations are underway for alleged incidents between Paul and her ex-boyfriend Dakota Mortensen, The Bachelorette isn’t the only series being affected. The future of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives is also up in the air.

Season 4 of Taylor Frankie Paul’s first reality show became available to stream with a Hulu subscription on March 12, and just four days later, production on The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives Season 5 was halted amidst reports of new assault allegations "made in both directions" between Paul and Dakota Mortensen. That leaves huge questions for SLOMW’s future, as a source for OK! alleged:

The Mormon Wives cast [is] honestly terrified to film with Taylor right now. … The women have made it clear they don't want to be around her because they see her as a major liability. Now, many of them feel they've moved past the point of dealing with this kind of behavior and simply don't want to be put in that position again.

Since then a third domestic dispute has come to light, with Dakota Mortensen reportedly speaking to the West Jordan, Utah, Police Department and submitting video from an alleged incident in “early-to-mid 2024.”

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People reports the Secret Lives of Mormon Wives cast don’t “want to be associated” with Taylor Frankie Paul right now, with an insider claiming:

The girls are very overwhelmed. They all banded together and they don’t want to come back right now. They were just getting tired of Taylor, honestly.

There’s also the question of if network executives want SLOMW to continue, as a source for The Sun said Taylor Frankie Paul is allegedly “persona non grata” at Disney right now. They said:

The same execs that are making these decisions at ABC also oversee Hulu. … The new management doesn’t want this stain on their legacy and would rather just scrap this altogether.

The source claimed one option would be for The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives to “get rid of Taylor for good,” but other members of the cast are already starting to break off and do their own things.

After appearing on Dancing with the Stars, Whitney Leavitt landed the lead role in Chicago on Broadway and will star in a holiday rom-com later this year that she’s also executive producing. Jen Affleck, meanwhile, is set to lead her own Mormon Wives spinoff with nine new castmates.

Would The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives work without Taylor Frankie Paul, Whitney Leavitt and Jen Affleck, or will it be another 2026 TV cancellation? What will become of the already-filmed Season 5 footage? Can MomTok survive this latest scandal? That oft-asked question has seemingly never been so relevant.

Heidi Venable
Content Producer

Heidi Venable is a Content Producer for CinemaBlend, a mom of two and a hard-core '90s kid. She started freelancing for CinemaBlend in 2020 and officially came on board in 2021. Her job entails writing news stories and TV reactions from some of her favorite prime-time shows like Grey's Anatomy and The Bachelor. She graduated from Louisiana Tech University with a degree in Journalism and worked in the newspaper industry for almost two decades in multiple roles including Sports Editor, Page Designer and Online Editor. Unprovoked, will quote Friends in any situation. Thrives on New Orleans Saints football, The West Wing and taco trucks.

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