Photo-Illustration: by The Cut; Photos: Getty Images
On Tuesday, Taylor Frankie Paul filed for a temporary restraining order against her ex, Dakota Mortensen. The order was reportedly filed about an hour before Paul and Mortensen met for a court hearing to discuss the protective order Mortensen filed against Paul last month.
In Tuesday’s filing, which was obtained by People, Paul claimed Mortensen displayed a “pattern of abusive conduct and coercive control” during their relationship, and she accused him of filing his restraining order against her in an “effort to sabotage my career.” Paul reportedly accused Mortensen of physical abuse and included photos of bruises she said she sustained during altercations with Mortensen. In one alleged incident on February 23, per People, Paul claimed Mortensen “assaulted” her by “slamming her head against the dashboard of his truck and striking her knee and elbow” after driving her away from her home against her will.
During Tuesday’s court hearing shortly after Paul’s filing, per NBC, an attorney for Mortensen said he was requesting a third party to supervise child visitation, calling Paul “completely out of control.” In response, Paul’s lawyer questioned Mortensen’s credibility and described him as “vindictive,” noting that both parties have “a lot of allegations against the other.”
Paul’s legal battles with Mortensen led Disney to pull the plug on her starring season of The Bachelorette last month after video came out of a 2023 incident for which Paul was arrested on domestic-violence and child-abuse charges. (She eventually pleaded guilty to a third-degree felony count of aggravated assault in abeyance, and the other charges were dismissed.) On March 19, the same day the video emerged, Mortensen was granted temporary custody of their 2-year-old son, Ever, per People. Shortly beforehand, filming on Secret Lives of Mormon Wives was halted over what police described as a “domestic assault investigation” between Paul and Mortensen, with authorities saying “allegations have been made in both directions.” Later in March, police said they were also investigating Paul for a third allegation of domestic violence stemming from a 2024 incident.
In a statement to The Cut after The Bachelorette’s cancellation last month, a rep for Paul alluded to the allegations she made in Tuesday’s filing, saying she had spent years “silently suffering extensive mental and physical abuse as well as threats of retaliation.” The rep said Paul had “remained silent out of fear of further abuse, retaliation, and public shaming.”
The Cut has reached out to representatives for Mortensen and will update this post if we hear back.
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