Taylor Frankie Paul has upgraded from social media to TV by appearing on Hulu’s “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.”
The new series, out on Friday, goes behind the scenes in the lives of Paul and a group of Mormon #MomTok influencers in the years following a “soft-swinging” scandal.
In 2022, Paul said in a TikTok Live that members of the group had been soft-swinging, where couples share sexual partners but don’t have penetrative sex. Other members denied being involved, but were swept up in the resulting drama.
Mormon MomTokers are the latest group of influencers to get their own reality show, as streaming companies like Netflix and Hulu try to capitalize on the social media platform’s success.
Paul is the most popular member of the Mormon MomTok group, with 4.1 million followers on the platform, and is a focus of the early episodes of “The Secret Lives of Mormon Lives.”
Here’s what to know about her.
Taylor Frankie Paul has three children.
Paul, 30, grew up and lives in Salt Lake City. She began documenting her pregnancy on TikTok in 2020, and slowly amassed a following through viral videos of her dancing and showing her life as a non-stereotypical Mormon mother.
In the first episode of “The Secret Lives of Mormon Lives,” Paul said Mormon MomTok came about when she started collaborating with other Mormon mothers like Whitney Leavitt, Mayci Neeley, and Mikayla Matthews. The group has grown since then.
At the time of her first post, Paul had a daughter, Indy, with her former husband, Tate Paul, and another on the way. Ocean, her second child with Paul, was born in June 2022.
In March 2024, Paul had a third child with her new partner, Dakota Mortensen.
Paul divorced her first husband following the soft-swinging scandal.
During a TikTok live video in May 2022, Paul said that her husband was divorcing her because she broke the rules of their swinging arrangement with the Mormon MomTokers.
Paul said she had “stepped out of that agreement” by getting drunk and messing around with one of her friend’s husbands. Paul said she had developed feelings for the man, whom she didn’t name, but lost most of her friends because of the incident.
Paul did not mention who else was involved in the soft-swinging, and the rest of #Momtok denied involvement, leading to rampant speculation.
Paul dated Dakota Mortensen after the divorce.
In July 2022, Paul revealed on TikTok that she had a new boyfriend, Mortensen, a real-estate agent and TikToker who was also Mormon. Mortensen has posted about his journey of recovering from drug addiction.
Since getting together in 2022, the pair have dated on and off.
Paul reached a plea deal in a domestic violence case.
In February 2023, Herriman City Police Department said in a statement on X that Paul was arrested at a home in Salt Lake City for “the misdemeanor charges of assault, criminal mischief and commission of domestic violence in the presence of a child.”
The statement said detectives also received “additional video evidence” after the arrest that was sent to the District Attorney’s Office of Salt Lake County to be screened for felony assault charges and a misdemeanor charge of reckless child abuse.
In March 2023, E! News reported that Paul was 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.
E! News, citing court documents, reported a video of the incident showed Paul attacking her boyfriend, Mortensen, in his home in front of her two children, Indy and Ocean.
The video, according to the documents, showed Paul kicking Mortensen, putting him in a chokehold, and throwing chairs, with one striking Indy.
In August, the Salt Lake Tribune reported that Paul took a plea deal in abeyance, which dismissed all charges except for the aggravated assault charge and meant she was sentenced to one day in jail.
The publication reported, citing Paul’s plea agreement, that she must get a substance abuse evaluation and a domestic violence evaluation.
Paul must also submit to drug testing, not violate any laws above a minor traffic violation, and she was barred from any building where alcohol is the main item of sale.
Paul and Mortensen stayed together after the arrest, and are still dating.
