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Jessi Draper has clearly changed her mind when it comes to Taylor Frankie Paul … because she bashed her costar in a voice memo to Dakota Mortensen just two months ago — but now she’s providing a full-throated defense of Taylor instead.
Here’s the deal … we’ve obtained the voice memo Jessi sent to Dakota on March 5 … in the wake of production pausing on ‘SLOMW’ over a new bout of domestic violence allegations involving Taylor and Dakota.
In the message, Jessi tells Dakota the cast is aligned in holding back on any public support for Taylor … she says they know the “truth” about Taylor … and she claims production and management on ‘SLOMW’ is gaslighting the cast by painting Taylor as a victim and Dakota as a liar.
Jessi says the show’s cast views the situation between Taylor and Dakota as not only serious, but also dangerous … particularly when it comes to Taylor and Dakota’s kids … and Jessi says the group feels a lack of accountability from Taylor would be harmful.
What’s more, Jessi suggests it might help things if the cast members were able to see videos of Taylor being violent … and she singles out Mikayla Matthews as being “the most vocal” about wanting to see footage.
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Unclear if the cast ever saw footage related to the 2026 domestic violence claims … but a couple weeks after Jessi sent the message to Dakota, TMZ obtained and published video of Taylor’s brutal 2023 attack on Dakota … which led to Taylor’s ‘Bachelorette’ season getting shelved.
Jessi ends her message expressing sympathy for both Taylor and Dakota … lamenting, “no one wins.”
Jessi has since done an about-face … as we told you, Jessi is now helping Taylor in her restraining order battle against Dakota — filing a declaration on her behalf.
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During the hearing Thursday, Taylor’s lawyer mentioned a conversation Jessi walked in on … where she found Dakota and his roommate, Cru Ethan, kicking around a plan to release the infamous video of Taylor throwing a barstool at Dakota.
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What’s more … Draper somehow learned we planned to publish the audio — and has now hopped online to explain the voice memo. She says she was in a relationship with an abusive partner — Jordan Ngatikaura — who was best friends with Dakota, and she always felt pressured to take Dakota’s side over Taylor’s.
She says she doesn’t remember what she said in the audio … but it doesn’t reflect how she feels about Taylor now — adding the two have become best friends in recent months.
Jessi adds Season 5 of ‘SLOMW’ provides a ton of necessary context to explain how everyone was feeling when she sent the voice memo … but, obviously, fans won’t hear that side of the story until the next season drops.
Bottom line … Jessi says she’s felt the way she did at the time — but, now she’s a Team Taylor ride or die.