Shocking new footage has leaked showing the 2023 altercation between Taylor Frankie Paul and Dakota Mortensen that led to the Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star’s arrest.
TMZ released a clip on Thursday, March 19, that shows Taylor, 31, throwing multiple chairs at Dakota, 33, as they yell at each other. Taylor’s daughter, Indy, now 8, whom she shares with ex-husband Tate Paul, can be heard crying in the background as Taylor and Dakota argue after a physical altercation. (Taylor and Tate also share Ocean, 5, while Taylor and Dakota share son Ever, 2.)
A rep for Taylor addressed the footage, telling TMZ, “It’s sad to see the latest installment of his never-ending, desperate, attention-seeking, destructive campaign to harm Taylor without any regard for the consequences for their child. Releasing an old and selectively edited video on their son’s birthday is a reprehensible attempt to distract from his own behavior.”
The statement continued: “Thankfully, the public has seen this act before and knows who he is and sadly, many will recognize this pattern of manipulation, both in his actions on the show and from their own experiences.”
Before the show premiered on Hulu in September 2024, Taylor and Dakota started dating following her divorce from husband Tate due to a high-profile “soft swinging” sex scandal. After nearly one year together, Taylor was arrested in February 2023 for domestic violence.
Taylor was ultimately charged with aggravated assault, two counts of domestic violence in the presence of a child, child abuse with injury and criminal mischief after the incident. Taylor pleaded guilty six months later to aggravated assault, while the other four charges were dismissed with prejudice. She reached a plea deal the following month.
Dakota told the Daily Mail in an interview at the time that Taylor would never hurt anyone “intentionally,” adding, “She’s a good mom, she’s going through a lot in her life right now. Taylor’s been struggling, it’s been a hard year for her. She is racked with guilt [over] her cheating scandal that cost her her marriage.”
He elaborated on the “Viall Files” podcast in June 2025. “That was a really scary thing that night. You want to talk about being, like, in a position of, ‘What do you do?’ That’s how it felt,” he recalled. “I did take a video because I didn’t know what was going to happen. My truck was in the garage. I could not leave. I tried to leave. It just was so bad.”
Dakota claimed Taylor was “absolutely hammered,” adding, “The second we walked into the house, essentially it just turned into the most craziest thing ever.”
More recently, news broke on Monday, March 16, that Taylor’s show The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives halted production on season 5 after Taylor and Dakota were involved in a separate alleged domestic violence dispute. A spokesperson for the Draper City Police Department confirmed that there is an open “domestic assault investigation” involving the pair, noting that allegations were “made in both directions.”
The reality star broke her silence on the situation in an interview with Us Weekly.
“There’s more to the context to everything, and it’s unfortunate,” Taylor exclusively told Us on Tuesday, March 17. “It’s been hard. And it sucks to be in this position. And the mother that I am, that is something I will always stand my ground on. I believe that I am a good mother and I have always treated my kids very well.”
She continued: “The headlines that are out right now are very hard to see, because that’s not the truth of it. I have always treated my children with respect and I’ve never touched them. So it’s been really hard.”
Taylor noted that it was “unfortunate” to see the news make headlines ahead of her upcoming Bachelorette season 22 premiere, adding, “It’s another premiere that’s been taken away from me. I’ve never enjoyed a premiere for any one of my shows. So it’s just been very sad.”
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