Trigger Warning: This story contains descriptions of domestic violence.
The Taylor Frankie Paul drama continued Tuesday in a Utah courtroom, with the Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star facing off with her ex and baby daddy Dakota Mortensen over mutual domestic violence accusations, as well as temporary custody of their son, Ever.
Us Weekly confirmed that Taylor filed for (and, on Wednesday, was granted) a temporary restraining order against Dakota, weeks after he was granted one against her. Dakota’s restraining order stipulated that Taylor was not to have any contact with him or their two-year-old son Ever until their court date on Tuesday.
During Tuesday’s hearing– which reportedly lasted hours— a judge granted the fired Bachelorette star up to eight hours of parenting time with Ever per week until their next court date on April 30, where the exes’ custody agreement can be reevaluated. These eight hours can be split up into two- or three-hour increments throughout the week. However, all of Taylor’s time with Ever must be supervised.
While the judge ruled that Dakota is to continue being Ever’s primary caregiver at this time, he has been barred from drinking or using drugs before or during Taylor’s visitation.
Third District Court Commissioner Russell Minas expressed his concerns “going both ways” for Taylor and Dakota, adding that, “Even if [Dakota] was trying to provoke a response, the actions that occurred are very troubling.”
For her restraining order request– which was granted Wednesday– Taylor’s legal team reportedly submitted new evidence showing bruises on her knee and forehead from an alleged domestic assault in February. This incident, which TMZ reported on in mid-March, allegedly involved Taylor choking Dakota, ripping his necklace off, and grabbing at his throat and face while Ever was in the room.
Taylor’s attorneys also submitted images that are said to show general injuries sustained from a separate assault in May 2025. Additionally, Taylor’s team reportedly submitted multiple screenshots of text messages that allege that Dakota was “possessive” and included a screenshot where Dakota asked for sex following the exes’ domestic incident in February.
According to TMZ, Dakota has been ordered to stay 100 yards away from Taylor until their hearing later this month, at which point the court will determine if either Taylor or Dakota will be granted a permanent restraining order against the other. (According to the Associated Press, Dakota already requested this week that his short-term protective order against Taylor be turned into a long-term protective order.)
Following Tuesday’s hearing, Dakota’s lawyer, Joel Kittrell, issued a statement to People, in which he accused Taylor of attempting to “assassinate Dakota’s character.”
“Today’s hearing was used by [Taylor] to assassinate Dakota’s character as a dad, whose only concern is for the welfare of his son, Ever,” the statement read. “We look forward to the [April] 30th [hearing] to tell the true story.”
Dakota and Taylor have both publicly accused each other of domestic violence in recent months following the February leak by TMZ. Just days after the first story broke, the outlet shared a video of a separate altercation from 2023 where Taylor kicked, hit and threw metal stools at her ex, one of which hit her then-five-year-old daughter– one of the two children Taylor shares with ex-husband Tate Paul.
Taylor was arrested and charged with abeyance to aggravated assault in 2023 before being placed on probation, which is set to end this August. In a plea deal, she agreed to plead guilty in exchange for her other charges– domestic violence in the presence of a child, child abuse and criminal mischief– to be dropped.
Both parties deny all allegations of domestic violence and child abuse made against them.
In response to the allegations, Taylor’s upcoming season of The Bachelorette was cancelled and filming on Season 5 of ‘Mormon Wives’ was paused indefinitely prior to the 2023 video being leaked.
Meanwhile, Lisa Vanderpump confirmed last week that Dakota has been almost entirely edited out of the upcoming season of Vanderpump Villa ahead of its release next week. However, Dakota is still scheduled to appear on Alex Cooper’s Unwell Winter Games on YouTube.
RELATED STORY: Jessi Draper Defends Taylor Frankie Paul & Says Her Friend Is “Caught in a Really Bad Cycle”; Addresses Pause in ‘Mormon Wives’ Filming
(Photos: Hulu; Instagram)
5 Responses
i definitely believe taylor’s claims against dakota but i also believe dakotas claims about taylor, the true victims in this situation is her children and taylor should be ashamed of herself for not using the tools she learned to prevent this type of trauma they’ve already endured and quit blaming her mommy and daddy issues when she’s 32 and has 3 young children
Great. Dakota the drug addict is the primary caretaker of a toddler.
Taylor is truly crazy. Like she can sit there with so much love and understanding toward female friends but it seems like all Dakota has to do is enter the room and she goes wild. He does plenty on his end, he’s no saint. But she needs to learn to be accountable for her own choice to continue the toxic cycle. She claims to not want him then loses her absolute 💩 when he goes with anyone else. Everyone is required to walk on egg shells and coddle her, it’s weird and enabling. She’s a grown woman with three kids and a divorce under her belt. She needs to focus on her issues and stop acting like Dakota is the whole problem.
I have started binging the show and she seems to get more toxic and unstable with each episode. They will be broken up where she has declared for the 100th time “I’m done with him. Never again”. Then she will hear through the grapevine that he spoke to a girl and she loses her shit and starts throwing a fit. She is extremely immature and plays these little manipulative high school games with him. She doesn’t act like a stable mother of 3. She acts like a hormonal teenager in a pair of Nike’s. She needs to grow up.