The cast members of Taylor Frankie Paul’s The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives have claimed that Dakota Mortensen continued to sabotage her behind the scenes, long before ABC shockingly canceled her season of The Bachelorette.
ABC has made the decision to cancel Paul’s season, which was scheduled to air on Sundays, in 2023 due to disturbing footage of Paul attacking Mortensen with a chair and his 8-year-old daughter Indi crying in the background.
A clip from Macy Neely and Layla Taylor’s May 2025 appearance on the Viall Files podcast, “Secrets of Mormon Wives,” has resurfaced, with Neely accusing Mortensen of intentionally messing with Paul’s thinking ahead of his big opportunity.
“Why do you think Taylor didn’t show up today? Of course, he’s always the one sabotaging things behind the scenes,” she said, referring to Paul’s absence during a podcast appearance.
When host Nick Viall asked, “So should we blame Dakota?” Neely and Taylor responded, “1000 percent.”
Neely claimed that whenever Paul was preparing for a big event, Mortensen would purposely pick fights with her to the point that Paul would cry and not want to do press coverage. Neely and Taylor said this happened multiple times in advance of the 2024 press event.
“He sabotages everything exciting,” Neely said.
She accused Mortensen of not wanting the best for Paul and that he felt it was a “competition” between them.
“Honestly, I think he’s so insecure that he has to bring her down to his level,” she said.
Neely later called Mortensen a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” and noted that while he had a likeable personality during filming, he was not the same behind closed doors.
Page Six reached out to Mortensen’s representatives, but did not immediately receive a response.
Paul, 31, spoke out after ABC decided to cancel The Bachelorette and accused Mortensen of not letting him continue on the show. The couple have a 2-year-old son, Ever.
“After enduring years of extensive emotional and physical abuse and threats of retribution in silence, Taylor has finally found the strength to confront her accusers and is taking steps to ensure she and her children are protected from further harm,” a spokesperson for Taylor told Page Six on Thursday.
“Too many women suffer in silence while surviving ex-partners who are aggressive, jealous and refuse to move on with their lives.”
In her own statement on Thursday, Mortensen, 33, denied Paul’s previous claims that he was “desperate” and engaged in a “destructive campaign to harm” her after a horrifying domestic violence video was released by TMZ.
Paul also claimed that the video “conveniently omits context.”
Mortensen told Page Six: “As anyone who has seen the video will understand, this is a very upsetting situation.”
“Unfortunately, I am no stranger to unsubstantiated claims about me and our relationship, which I categorically deny,” he continued. “I’m focused on my son and his safety, and I hope he does the same for Taylor.”
