Updated

Updated · E! NEWS · Sep 4

Salt Lake County DA Declines New Charges Against Taylor Frankie Paul After 2 Utah Investigations

Updated

Updated · E! NEWS · Sep 4

Salt Lake County DA Declines New Charges Against Taylor Frankie Paul After 2 Utah Investigations

Q: What really happened when Taylor reconnected with her ex that instantly destroyed her secret engagement?

What Taylor Frankie Paul has publicly described is that the engagement collapsed almost immediately after she got home because she resumed contact with Dakota Mortensen, began texting him, and then he came over. Her comments strongly imply that the in-person reunion crossed a line that ended the new engagement. In the preview clip and related reporting, Paul said she returned from filming engaged to the man believed to be finalist Doug Mason, after an unexpected proposal she accepted. But once back in Utah, she and Mortensen — her ex and the father of her young son — were already communicating. She recalled messages along the lines of “When are you coming home?” and “When are you going to be home?” before saying, “I don’t know how it led to it, but he came over.” Neither Paul nor the reports explicitly spell out every detail of what happened after Mortensen arrived. Still, her castmates’ reactions and multiple entertainment outlets’ framing indicate the implication was that they hooked up or rekindled things physically or romantically, which effectively destroyed the engagement. So the clearest factual answer is that there was no single fully documented off-camera incident she has publicly detailed beyond this: she reconnected with Mortensen right away, invited or allowed him over after texting, and that reunion caused the engagement to fall apart. More specifics may emerge when The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives season 5 premieres.

3 articles · Updated · E! NEWS · Sep 4

Salt Lake County prosecutors said they will not bring new charges against Taylor Frankie Paul after separate domestic-violence investigations by police in Draper and West Jordan.
Two probes were opened after a February 2026 incident involving ex Dakota Mortensen and a separate alleged 2024 episode; the DA said multiple attorneys reviewed the cases because of Paul’s high profile.
The decision came a week after a court granted Paul supervised visitation with the 2-year-old son she shares with Mortensen, who had won temporary custody in March after seeking a protective order.
The investigations and resurfaced 2023 altercation footage had already derailed Paul’s planned season 22 of The Bachelorette, which ABC canceled in March while saying its focus was supporting the family.