The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star Taylor Frankie Paul and friend Dakota Mortensen are still in the process of “building” their relationship.
The 30-year-old TikTok star told exclusively We weekly that she and Mortensen, 31, are in no rush to walk down the aisle after welcoming their first child together, son Ever, in March. (Taylor has two other children, daughter Indy, 7, and son Ocean, 4, with her ex-husband Tate Paul.)
“I just want to take my time this time, this is my second marriage. It will be very important to me and I don’t want to end up in a divorce again,” Taylor explained to Us about the possibility of getting engaged to Mortensen. “I really want everything to be really solid and have a foundation of trust. And I feel like that takes time. I would love for that to be the end goal. But right now I think I need to build it up to that point.”
The couple’s ups and downs from the past year are documented in the premiere season of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wivesand Taylor admitted it will be “extremely difficult” to look back.
“I feel like I vented to my mom and was a little harsh — and he’s very sensitive — so I think it might be a lot harder for him,” Taylor said. “Plus, bringing up those conversations might be triggering too. In particular, I think I heard the cliffhanger (of the season), so that in itself sets things in motion. We’re fine today, we’re working, so I really hope that not too much comes out.”
Season 1 ends with a shocking cliffhanger when Mayci Neeley calls a woman named Jenna about allegations that she cheated with Mortensen. Jenna claims she will tell Neeley “everything” before the episode abruptly ends.
Before Neeley called Jenna, she had already spoken to Taylor and Mortensen about the cheating allegations. Although Mortensen accused Neeley of trying to sabotage his relationship during the show, Taylor said Us She had “no problem” with Neeley calling Jenna.
“Ultimately, I was like, ‘Why is this an issue to call in?’ I had no problem with her calling her out because I was like, ‘What is there to hide?'” Taylor recalled. “If there’s nothing to hide, there shouldn’t be any questions. But that’s a very big trigger for me, and he knows that. So it wasn’t something he wanted to bring on the show. I guess at the end of the day, we’ll see how that plays out, because I don’t know. I don’t have a problem with it, though.”
Taylor and Mortensen began dating in July 2023, nearly a year after she announced that her ex-husband Tate was filing for divorce following their Mormon friend group’s soft swinging scandal. Taylor revealed details of the scandal via TikTok in June 2022, explaining that she and Tate engaged in soft swinging with many couples within their “MomTok” group, but she violated the group’s agreement by taking it too far with one of the other husbands. Taylor has since called the situation the “tip of the iceberg” of her and Tate’s split, noting that they had “a lot of other issues.”
Although everything seemed to be going smoothly between Taylor and Mortensen, she announced their separation six months later after suffering an ectopic pregnancy.
Sienna Miller, Josh Duhamel and other stars expanded their families in 2024. On January 3, it was announced that Miller had given birth to her second baby earlier this month, her first with boyfriend Oli Green. Miller also has older daughter Marlowe with ex-fiancé Tom Sturridge. “I spent so much time preparing for the birth (…)
The couple reunited in the following months, but made headlines again in February 2023 when Taylor was arrested for domestic violence after allegedly throwing a chair at Mortensen, which eventually hit her then-5-year-old daughter. Taylor was charged with aggravated assault, two counts of domestic violence in the presence of a child, child abuse causing injury and property damage, Herriman police in Salt Lake County said The New York Post. In August 2023, she pleaded guilty to aggravated assault, the outlet said, while the other four charges were dropped, and agreed to a deal the following month.
Despite the incident, Taylor, who said she began “healing” and taking “antidepressants” after the arrest, and Mortensen returned to social media in March 2023 with several amorous posts and have been together ever since.
Taylor told Us She hopes fans can see her true face and personality The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.
“I’m pretty well known for my ‘Swinger Mom’ headlines. I mean, the arrest was unfortunately another big blow all over the internet. And so I would say these things are pretty negative – of course the (arrest), but the swinger thing was also not a good thing, I want to be known for the rest of my life,” she said. “So for the show, I really wanted them to see me and more of me and my personality on a deeper level. I feel like I come across very differently 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 my personality.”
The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives Premieres on Hulu on Friday, September 6.
Reporting by Christina Garibaldi
