SALT LAKE CITY – Taylor Frankie Paul, a reality TV star from “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” and the father of her 2-year-old son appeared in a Utah courtroom Thursday afternoon to present dueling petitions for protective orders against each other in a case that could determine who gets custody of their child.
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EDITOR’S NOTE: This story includes discussion of domestic violence. If you or someone you know needs help, please call the national domestic violence hotline: 1-800-799-7233 in the U.S.
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Both Paul and her former partner, Dakota Mortensen, have asked a Utah court to turn short-term protective orders into long-term arrangements as the two have accused each other of domestic violence. Both of their families were also in the courtroom, but no other cast members from the Hulu reality show were present.
Attorneys offer competing interpretations of the same fights
Attorneys for Paul and Mortensen described several fights between the couple, offering competing versions of the same events — each suggesting the other party was the aggressor.
Paul's attorney Eric Swinyard told Third District Court Commissioner Russell Minas that Mortensen is much larger and stronger than Paul — and that when she when she was faced with physical intimidation from Mortensen during an argument, she responded the same way a lot of people would.
“He said, ‘Hit me,’ and she did,” Swinyard said.
One fight between the two came when Paul was dealing with two recent miscarriages, and she was frustrated because their child Ever had been sick. Paul felt that Mortensen had been blowing her off when she tried to talk to him about Ever's treatment, Swinyard said.
When Paul lost her footing and fell to the ground, Mortensen kicked her several times in the leg, Swinyard said. He told Minas that photographs of the bruising were included in the exhibits.
Mortensen's attorney Brent Salazar-Hall told Minas that his client was a victim of abuse from Paul, but that she kept luring him back with text messages inviting him over for intimacy.
During one argument, Paul and Mortensen were in Mortensen's truck and she tried to interfere with his driving by squeezing his face, Salazar-Hall said. In response, Mortensen shoved her away, he said. He said that's what actually happened when Paul claimed Mortensen had slammed her into the vehicle's dash.
Mortensen has Paul’s initials tattooed on the inside of his lip, which Paul’s attorney pointed to as an example of his possessive nature. Mortensen’s lawyer disagreed with that characterization and said all of the men on the show got lip tattoos of their partners’ names in a humorous scene that has not yet aired.
The court commissioner has said he is worried about both parties
Minas said at an April 7 hearing that he had “concerns going both ways” about the competing allegations. For now, Paul cannot spend unsupervised time with her son because of a history of volatile behavior directed at Mortensen while kids were present, Minas ruled at that hearing.
Paul and Mortensen, whose tumultuous relationship was featured heavily on the show, had been ordered to stay at least 100 feet (30 meters) away from each other before Thursday's hearing.
Leaked video of fight is one point of contention
Eleven fights between the exes were under examination in their protective order requests. A recently leaked video of one fight from 2023 prompted ABC to make the unprecedented move last month of shelving an already-filmed season of “The Bachelorette” starring Paul. Hulu also paused production of “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” and resumed filming last week.
In the video, Paul appeared to punch, kick and throw chairs at Mortensen while her daughter watched and cried.
Swinyard alleged that Mortensen leaked that video to the press to ruin Paul’s reality TV career just before her season of “The Bachelorette” was supposed to air.
“Our point with the video is he’s not just trying to come after her for custody. He’s not just trying to seek a protective order. He wants to literally destroy her,” Swinyard said.
Salazar-Hall said Mortensen has denied leaking the video.
Just after the fight, Paul was charged with aggravated assault and other offenses, including domestic violence in the presence of a child. The police body camera footage of her arrest was featured in the first season of the Hulu series.
Paul pleaded guilty to an assault charge, which will be reduced from a felony to a misdemeanor if she stays out of legal trouble for a three-year probationary period that ends in August. The other counts were dismissed.
Earlier this month, the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office declined to file new charges against Paul in recent fights with Mortensen. Any new charges would have violated Paul's probation from the 2023 assault.
Custody of their child is at stake
The lack of prosecution could help Paul and her attorneys make her case to the court commissioner as she fights to regain custody of her son.
A protective order in Utah can restrict or eliminate a parent’s ability to see their child. When one parent receives a protective order against the other, a court commissioner may also decide it is in the child's best interest give that parent custody. If both parents have protective orders against each other, the court relies heavily on the recommendations of an attorney appointed to investigate the child's best interests.
Paul and Mortensen's son, Ever, had a court-appointed attorney present at Thursday’s hearing to help the commissioner determine the safest arrangement for the boy.
The lawyer, Michael McDonald, said on April 7 that he had concerns about Paul’s tendency to fight with Mortensen in front of their son.