Trigger Warning: This story contains mentions of domestic violence.
Just when you thought we’d finally heard the last of Dakota Mortensen, think again!
On Friday, TMZ broke the news that the former “Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” star is suing Hulu, Ludwig Productions, and Jeff Jenkins Productions for defamation, claiming that they intentionally manipulated scenes to misrepresent him as being abusive to his baby mama Taylor Frankie Paul.
According to the court docs obtained by ABC4 Salt Lake City, Dakota claimed that Seasons 3, 4, and 5 of the show “presented Mortensen to millions of viewers as a domestic abuser, as a man who retaliated against the mother of his child by reporting her to Child Protective Services, and as a serial adulterer.”
He alleges that multiple scenes were staged and lacked full context, claiming that production knowingly left out large chunks of footage to emphasize his domestic violence storyline and downplay allegations against Taylor, despite claiming that production knew the allegations against him were false.
In April, Salt Lake City District Attorney dropped both Taylor and Dakota’s domestic violence investigations due to lack of “specificity as to when and what actually occurred or corroboration.” However, they maintain the right to reopen either of the cases if new evidence comes up, so Dakota is not out of the clear.
According to Dakota, production told him while filming the Season 3 Reunion episode that he would have the opportunity to refute Taylor’s accusations of cheating on her with a longtime family friend. However, when the episode aired, his confessional denying all of her claims was never aired. He also alleged that the family friend made a statement confirming that “no such relationship existed” between them, but her statement never aired either.
Also in Season 3, Dakota says that production hid Taylor’s domestic violence allegations and changed the narrative surrounding her therapy retreat. The show claimed that Taylor was going on a two-week therapy retreat to process her breakup with Dakota, address toxic relationship behavior, and take some time away from #MomTok.
However, Dakota claims that Taylor’s retreat was really triggered after the domestic violence incident where she allegedly choked him, ripped his necklace off, and grabbed his throat and face, all in front of their two-year-old son, Ever. (Get the details of the fallout after that incident here.)
He claims that in Season 5, Taylor was caught on camera hitting him with a pizza box, which he claims was the only time any physical violence between the two of them had ever been filmed. Although he demanded the footage be aired, production chose to cut it, while including the reportedly false accusation from Taylor that he called Child Protective Services on her.
Dakota’s lawyers claim in the suit that, by choosing to exclude that clip and hide the real reason for Taylor’s therapy retreat, production perpetuated “a false narrative” that Dakota was the aggressor and Taylor was the victim.
“The knowingly false portrayal of Mortensen as the abuser in the relationship continued uninterrupted, while the only footage of physical aggression between the two, aggression by Paul against Mortensen, was intentionally withheld from viewers to promote a false narrative.”
Dakota claims that, because of the misrepresentation of his character on the show, he has sustained injury to his reputation, lost work opportunities, and received unceasing hate online, causing great emotional distress and humiliation. According to TMZ, he is requesting a jury trial and over $300,000 in damages, but that number has yet to be corroborated.
It’s no surprise to anyone, but Dakota will not be returning to ‘Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,’ which has been renewed for 20 more episodes on Hulu. Taylor has also quit the show, claiming that her costars were bullying her about her ongoing legal battles with Dakota and ex-husband Tate Paul. (Click here to get the latest update on her custody battles.)
Dakota, Taylor, and Hulu have yet to issue statements regarding the lawsuit.
RELATED STORY: Taylor Frankie Paul Quits ‘Secret Lives of Mormon Wives’ & Accuses Co-Stars of “Bullying” Her About Her Legal Issues
(Photos: Hulu)
