Taylor and Dakota Tell All: Inside Their Rollercoaster Mormon Wives Romance — In Their Own Words

Taylor Frankie Paul and Dakota Mortensen have never exactly been subtle. Their relationship started in a tabloid tornado, rolled onto reality TV, and then spent the next few years ping-ponging between makeups, breakups, arrests, and a baby. If you lost the plot somewhere around the 'soft swinging' era, fair. Here’s the clean version.

The quick version

• Post-divorce, Taylor starts dating Dakota after her high-profile 'soft swinging' scandal with ex-husband Tate Paul (they share two kids, Indy and Ocean).
• February 2023: After nearly a year of dating, Taylor is arrested for domestic violence and later charged with aggravated assault, two counts of domestic violence in the presence of a child, child abuse with injury, and criminal mischief. Six months later, she pleads guilty to aggravated assault; the other four charges are dismissed with prejudice. She finalizes a plea deal the following month.
• March 2024: Taylor and Dakota welcome a son, Ever.
• September 2024: The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives premieres on Hulu. Taylor hopes the show shows more than her arrest; later says season 1 didn’t capture Dakota’s 'good soft side.'
• October 2024: After season 1 drops, Taylor says watching their fights back is brutal and their relationship status is 'complicated.'
• June 2025: On The Viall Files, Dakota talks about being scared of how much he liked Taylor, says he held back to avoid getting hurt, and details the night of her 2023 arrest.
• February 2026: While filming season 5, Taylor and Dakota are involved in a domestic dispute. March 2026: reports say production allegedly pauses. Draper City Police confirm an open domestic assault investigation involving the pair.
• March 2026: Taylor says she cut ties with Dakota and leaves to film The Bachelorette season 22.
• April 2026: The Salt Lake County District Attorney declines to file charges against Taylor in the February 2026 incident.

How this all started

Before Mormon Wives turned their private life into episodic television, Taylor and Dakota met in the fallout of her divorce from Tate Paul and the 'soft swinging' mess that made her a TikTok household name. Dakota was her first public boyfriend after Tate.

By the time the show launched in September 2024, they had already survived multiple breakups, one arrest, and then, in March 2024, introduced baby Ever to the chaos. Taylor was upfront about wanting the show to broaden the narrative beyond the arrest. After season 1, she said she was shocked the edit didn’t show Dakota’s softer side, only his defensive moments, which left him feeling like he looked like the jerk while she was pregnant.

On camera vs. what was actually happening

Season 1 soft-pedaled none of it. Taylor called Dakota a supportive partner and said she felt 'on cloud nine' and more confident in their future than ever — then immediately admitted trust was still a question mark. She also pumped the brakes on any engagement talk: second marriage, slower timeline, build the foundation first. Honestly, a sensible take.

When the episodes hit, it got harder to watch. In October 2024, Taylor said reliving those fights was rough because none of it was manufactured for TV. As for her relationship status with Dakota then? Not together, not done, somewhere in the murky middle — and she did not want to keep watching herself spiral on Hulu to find out.

Legal trouble, round 1 (2023)

In February 2023, after almost a year of dating, Taylor was arrested for domestic violence and later faced five charges. Six months after the incident, she pleaded guilty to aggravated assault; prosecutors dismissed the remaining four counts with prejudice, and she reached a plea deal the following month.

At the time, Dakota publicly defended her, telling the Daily Mail she would never intentionally hurt anyone and that she was a good mom dealing with a brutal year and a lot of guilt from the cheating scandal that ended her marriage.

On The Viall Files in June 2025, he gave his version of that night: he said it was terrifying, he tried to leave but his truck was blocked in the garage, he even recorded video because he didn’t know where it was headed, and that Taylor was 'absolutely hammered' when things escalated as soon as they got home.

Dakota, in his own words (2025)

That same podcast appearance was basically a therapy session with microphones. Dakota said he was scared of how much he liked Taylor and didn’t trust that giving her 100 percent wouldn’t get him hurt. He admitted he probably sabotaged things because of that fear — and that, in the end, he was the one who hurt her.

Legal trouble, round 2 (2026)

Then came the incident while filming season 5. The dispute happened in February 2026; the headlines landed in March saying Mormon Wives allegedly paused production. Draper City Police confirmed there was an open domestic assault investigation involving the two of them.

'After reviewing reports and evidence submitted to the Draper Police Department and West Jordan Police Department, the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office has declined to file charges against Taylor Frankie Paul.'

That decision came the following month.

Trying to break the pattern

Between the first arrest and the on-set blowup, they split and reconciled more than once. By March 2026, Taylor said she had to cut it off and left to film The Bachelorette season 22. She owned her part in the dysfunction: it wasn’t just him, it was both of them, stuck in the same loop — good days followed by fights, rinse, repeat. If she could snap out of it, she would; it’s just not that simple.

Days before the February 2026 dispute, she told Us Weekly she genuinely didn’t know where they stood: not together, not finished, 'ask me tomorrow.' Which, for this couple, feels like the most honest status update we’ve ever gotten.