{"id":550042,"date":"2026-03-20T23:55:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T23:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/550042\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T23:55:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T23:55:11","slug":"taylor-frankie-pauls-ex-asks-for-sole-custody-of-child-files-protective-order-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/550042\/","title":{"rendered":"Taylor Frankie Paul\u2019s ex asks for sole custody of child, files protective order – National"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dakota Mortensen is seeking a protective order against his ex-girlfriend Taylor Frankie Paul<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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On Thursday, Mortensen, 33, filed a protective order in Utah against Paul, 31, according to court documents viewed by People<\/a>, E! News<\/a> and NBC News<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The filing was sent back for a correction and an amended petition.<\/p>\n

In the filing, obtained by TMZ<\/a>, Mortensen, who shares two-year-old son Ever with Paul, reportedly detailed the incidents that he claims took place<\/a> on Feb. 23 and 24, referring to the situation as \u201cchaotic\u201d and frightening,\u201d and alleging that Paul was \u201cemotionally volatile.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mortensen also says he and Paul got into a serious disagreement on Feb. 24.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was unable to safely leave while this was happening, and my child had been left inside the home during the chaos under her watch due to our custody agreement,\u201d Mortensen claimed. \u201c[I am] genuinely concerned for my safety and the safety and well-being of my child.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Mortensen\u2019s court filing reportedly requested temporary custody of Ever and that Paul not drink alcohol or use drugs during her parenting time, according to TMZ. A hearing has been set for April 7.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTaylor Frankie Paul domestic violence video causes \u2018The Bachelorette\u2019 to be cancelled\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Paul, who stars in The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, has not commented on the protective order but she did release a statement on Thursday after ABC decided to pull Season 22 of\u00a0The Bachelorette<\/a> after a video surfaced, released by TMZ<\/a>, allegedly showing a 2023 domestic violence incident involving Paul and Mortensen.<\/p>\n

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Paul said in a statement from her spokesperson: \u201cTaylor is very grateful for ABC\u2019s support as she prioritizes her family\u2019s safety and security. After years of silently suffering extensive mental and physical abuse as well as threats of retaliation, Taylor is finally gaining the strength to face her accuser and taking steps to ensure that she and her children are protected from any further harm.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere are too many women who are suffering in silence as they survive aggressive, jealous ex-partners who refuse to let them move on with their lives. Taylor has remained silent out of fear of further abuse, retaliation and public shaming. She is currently exploring all of her options, seeking support, and preparing to own and share her story.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the video was released, a spokesperson for reality TV\u00a0star said in an earlier statement that it\u2019s \u201csad to see the latest installment\u201d of Mortensen\u2019s \u201cnever-ending, desperate, attention-seeking, destructive campaign to harm Taylor without any regard for the consequences for their child.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cReleasing an old video, which conveniently omits context, on their son\u2019s birthday is a reprehensible attempt to distract from his own behavior. 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,\u201d her rep added.<\/p>\n

In response, Mortensen said, \u201cAs anyone who has seen the video will understand, this is a deeply upsetting situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am, unfortunately, used to these baseless claims about me and our relationship, which I categorically deny. I am focusing on our son and his safety, and hope that Taylor will do the same,\u201d his statement said.<\/p>\n

Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star Miranda Hope became the first cast member to publicly speak out following the recent news on Friday.<\/p>\n

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Hope took to her Instagram Stories, writing, \u201cI\u2019ve honestly been a little at a loss for words trying to process this all. Everything has been really heavy to see.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDomestic violence and abuse of any kind is something I take very seriously. As a human, and especially a mother, I cannot support that kind of behavior. My heart is with the children in this and I hope they\u2019re safe, supported and surrounded by love,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tA screenshot of Miranda Hope\u2019s Instagram Stories.\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t@miranda__hope \/ Instagram\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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The protective order from Mortensen came after recent reports of a domestic violence incident<\/a> between Paul and Mortensen.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the Draper City Police Department confirmed to People<\/a> and local affiliate ABC4 Utah<\/a> that there is an open \u201cdomestic assault investigation\u201d regarding Paul and Mortensen.<\/p>\n

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The spokesperson confirmed that \u201callegations have been made in both directions\u201d and \u201ccontact was made with involved parties on [Feb.] 24th and 25th,\u201d People reports.<\/p>\n

In responses to other outlets, the police department has not revealed any details about the case, citing \u201cprivacy\u201d and its \u201cactive investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Global News has reached out to the Draper City Police Department for further information.<\/p>\n

After news of the investigation spread, Paul told People on Tuesday<\/a> that her \u201cheart hurts to see it, to go through it, especially at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJust the timing is hard, and it\u2019s a big deal. I feel like every premiere that I\u2019ve experienced, I\u2019ve never enjoyed fully, so this is another one\u2026. It\u2019s extremely hard, and it took everything to get me here today,\u201d she said of the investigation and the since-cancelled premiere of The Bachelorette.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just heavy. It\u2019s a heavy time, and it\u2019s unfortunate,\u201d the influencer continued. \u201cI\u2019m struggling for sure, but also at the same time I feel like if I don\u2019t show up, then I\u2019m just giving these opportunities away and not enjoying what we\u2019ve worked on and something super exciting that\u2019s coming.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mortensen\u2019s representative addressed the reports of the domestic assault investigation in a statement to Entertainment Weekly on Wednesday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\u201cHis number one priority here is protecting Ever,\u201d his rep said on Wednesday. \u201cHe knew there was a possibility it could come out, but he was not going to be the one to proactively do that because he has always wanted a decent relationship with Taylor.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been really hard to achieve that, but he wants to co-parent well,\u201d his rep added.<\/p>\n

Mortensen\u2019s rep also denied that he was the reason the situation became public and said he was hoping the drama would de-escalate.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was just hoping that if he says nothing, as he usually does, it would go away. He\u2019s never done any kind of sit-down interview about his side,\u201d the rep continued. \u201cHe kind of just lets it all happen to him, and I think he realizes with the severity of everything now that he just can\u2019t do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 With files from The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dakota Mortensen is seeking a protective order against his ex-girlfriend Taylor Frankie Paul. On Thursday, Mortensen, 33, filed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":550043,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[49,48,213179,75,212460,72742,519],"class_list":["post-550042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-dakota-mortensen","tag-entertainment","tag-secret-lives-of-mormon-wives","tag-taylor-frankie-paul","tag-trending"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=550042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550042\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/550043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=550042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=550042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=550042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}