{"id":544832,"date":"2026-03-25T18:33:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T18:33:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/544832\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T18:33:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T18:33:07","slug":"mormon-wives-star-addresses-taylor-frankie-paul-fallout-on-call-her-daddy-podcast-with-alex-cooper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/544832\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Mormon Wives’ star addresses Taylor Frankie Paul fallout on ‘Call Her Daddy’ podcast with Alex Cooper"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cSecret Lives of Mormon Wives\u201d star Jessi Draper is speaking out for the first time since ABC pulled co-star Taylor Frankie Paul\u2019s upcoming<\/a> season of \u201cThe Bachelorette\u201d amid allegations of domestic violence.<\/p>\n

Paul is under investigation in connection with at least three domestic violence incidents since 2023<\/a>, according to Utah authorities. Last week, ABC cancelled her upcoming<\/a> season of \u201cThe Bachelorette,\u201d hours after TMZ released a video<\/a> showing Paul attacking her ex-boyfriend, Dakota Mortensen, in front of her daughter in 2023.<\/p>\n

In a \u201cCall Her Daddy\u201d interview with Alex Cooper, released on Wednesday but recorded on March 20, Draper said she wouldn\u2019t judge Paul in her \u201cdarkest moment\u201d but admitted the newly released video was \u201cso hard\u201d to watch.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just…there\u2019s so much pain underneath the surface for Taylor. And I tell her this all the time, it\u2019s not who Taylor is,\u201d Draper said through tears.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe got caught in a really bad cycle and just seeing that video \u2014yes, the child being involved is awful \u2014 and everyone involved is really hard,\u201d Draper added. \u201cBut Taylor is such a good person, and she\u2019s made some mistakes, and so is Dakota, and I\u2019m not saying any of it is right\u2026I want this to be a wake-up call for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The video that surfaced last week stemmed from a February 2023 incident where Paul was charged<\/a> with assault, criminal mischief, and domestic violence in the presence of a child. Court records indicate that Paul pleaded guilty in abeyance to an aggravated assault charge in August 2023, and the other four charges were dismissed with prejudice.<\/p>\n

In the video of the incident, which does not capture what led up to the moment it began and appears to have been recorded by Mortensen, Paul is seen throwing three barstools at her ex. Shortly after a stool is thrown, her daughter, who was nearby on the sofa during the fight, can be heard crying.<\/p>\n

NBC News has not independently verified the TMZ video or viewed the original full video.<\/p>\n

It was released days after reports emerged of a separate domestic violence incident earlier this year involving both Paul and Mortensen that was called in last month<\/a>, which spurred a pause in filming for the fifth season of \u201cMormon Wives.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

On Tuesday, NBC News reported Paul is under investigation in connection with allegations of a third domestic violence incident<\/a> involving the former couple, who share a young son, from 2024. Police did not share the exact date of or details about the 2024 incident, citing an ongoing investigation.<\/p>\n

Representatives for Paul and Mortensen have declined to comment on Tuesday. In a brief phone call with NBC News last week, Paul said, \u201cI will have my truth.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the podcast, Draper told Cooper she spoke with Paul shortly before the March 20 interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe seemed pretty positive today, and I think she knows that this is going to be a long and scary journey,\u201d Draper said. \u201cAnd the thing about Taylor, she always tells the truth. You know, she\u2019s known for that, and I think she\u2019s going to handle this in the best way possible, and I think she\u2019s taking a beat to figure that out. She\u2019s not just running to TMZ and leaking stories.\u201d<\/p>\n

Throughout the nearly 90-minute-long interview, Draper also addressed her ongoing divorce from her husband, Jordan Ngatikaura. Draper said she asked for the divorce, but was \u201cblindsided\u201d when he filed last week. She said she found out he filed a report via a TMZ article.<\/a><\/p>\n

When asked if she thinks \u201cSecret Lives of Mormon Wives\u201d will return for a fifth season, Draper said: \u201cLet\u2019s get them healthy and happy and move forward, and I believe people can come back from things like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added that now \u201cthe world knows\u201d about the domestic violence incidents, the cast can film \u201cin a real way, rather than before we were like, we don\u2019t even know if this is going to get out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like all of us right now are just trying to like be like \u2018hey, we\u2019re human beings first and figure that out and then we\u2019ll get back to filming the show,\u2019\u201d Draper added. \u201cClearly there\u2019s no shortage of drama in our lives, so if we get another season, it\u2019s gonna be good.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cSecret Lives of Mormon Wives\u201d star Jessi Draper is speaking out for the first time since ABC pulled…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":544833,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[88],"class_list":{"0":"post-544832","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=544832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544832\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/544833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=544832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=544832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=544832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}