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Dakota Mortensen's Rep Addresses Taylor Frankie Paul Assault Allegation
Content warning: This article includes descriptions of domestic violence, including an incident involving a child.
There’s a new development in Taylor Frankie Paul and Dakota Mortensen’s history.
Days after Utah police confirmed an investigation into an alleged physical altercation between the former couple had been opened, video footage from a previous domestic incident between Dakota and Taylor, which led to her pleading guilty to aggravated assault in 2023, has been released by TMZ.
In the 2023 video, Dakota can be seen recording the incident on his phone while Taylor, whose then 5-year-old daughter was present during the incident, yells and attempts to strike him, at one point putting him in a headlock before trying to kick him.
“Look,” Dakota can be heard saying, “this is called physical abuse.”
As Dakota, whom Taylor dated on and off between 2022 and 2025, moves away, she grabs a metal barstool and throws it at him, before throwing a second and then trying to hit him with a third. As she grabs the second, Dakota—with whom Taylor shares 2-year-old son Ever—tells her, “Your daughter is right here.”
It is then that the child—who was on their couch and is the oldest of Taylor's two kids with ex-husband Tate Paul—appears to be hit by the third stool and begins to cry, later calling out for “Mommy.”
During the altercation, Taylor accuses Dakota of pushing her to the floor before he started recording, while he alleges, “You did this,” and asks her to help her 5-year-old. Later, Taylor can be heard yelling, “Get away from my daughter.”
Fred Hayes/Disney via Getty Images & Sara Jaye/Getty Images for Arby's
At the end of the three-and-a-half-minute video, police can be heard entering the house after being, per TMZ, called by a neighbor. The outlet notes, citing a police report, that the 5-year-old had “a goose egg on her head” after the confrontation. (Court documents obtained by E! News at the time noted police confirmed the child was hit by one of the stools and that officers had access to this video.)
E! News reached out to reps for Dakota but has not yet heard back. Shortly after the incident in 2023, he told the Daily Mail he and Taylor hadn’t argued and she “she never hurt anyone intentionally.”
After the video was published by TMZ, a spokesperson for Taylor called the video in a March 19 statement to E! News part of “a destructive campaign to harm Taylor,” claiming it “conveniently omits context,” and categorizes the release as “a reprehensible attempt to distract from his own behavior.” (TMZ did not specify from where they obtained the video.)
Instagram/Dakota Mortensen
Following the 2023 incident depicted in the video, Taylor was arrested and charged with one count of felony aggravated assault, two counts of felony domestic violence in the presence of a child causing injury, one count of misdemeanor child abuse and one count of misdemeanor criminal mischief, according to court documents released by the District Attorney for Salt Lake County and obtained by E! News at the time.
The 31-year-old pleaded guilty to aggravated assault that August, according to ABC4 Utah, while her other charges were dismissed. “I never had hurt my daughter,” Taylor said on a September episode of Call Her Daddy. “I never intentionally did anything with my children.”
Disney/Michael Kirchoff) (Photo by Michael Kirchoff/Disney via Getty Images
As for where Dakota and Taylor’s relationship has stood since she confirmed they had broken up in 2025, during a recent episode of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives season four he claimed to a costar they had been intimate the night before Taylor left to film her season of The Bachelorette. (The ABC show is scheduled to premiere March 22.)
Following the more recent incident in February—after which filming on Mormon Wives season five was paused—a source told E! News the altercation is not the same situation as the 2023 incident, noting Taylor “is in a very different state and position in her life now.”
“All she cares about is protecting her child," the source added, "and has been acting with this mind.”
For more information on domestic abuse or to get help for yourself or someone you love, visit the website for The National Domestic Violence Hotline (http://www.thehotline.org/) or call 1-800-799-7233.
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