Dakota Mortensen admitted he was “obsessed” with Taylor Frankie Paul in the trailer for Season 5 of “Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.”
In the shocking scene, Mortensen showed off a fresh inner-lip tattoo of Paul’s initials over FaceTime.
“Why did you my initials tattooed on your lips?” Paul asked. “It’s giving obsessed.”
“I am obsessed,” he responded, pulling down his lip to show her.
In another part of the trailer, production asked Paul’s co-stars what their reaction was to ABC’s decision to cancel Paul’s season of “The Bachelorette,” after a video of a horrifying 2023 domestic dispute between her and Mortensen was leaked in March.
“There’s so much stuff the public doesn’t know,” Mayci Neeley responded in a confessional.
“How did she get here?” Miranda Hope said in a scene as the trailer cut to a shot of Paul sobbing and being hugged by Neeley, Mikayla Matthews and Jessi Draper.
Paul, notably, was arrested over the 2023 incident and charged with three felonies — one count of aggravated assault and two of domestic violence in the presence of a child — as well as one misdemeanor count each of child abuse and criminal mischief.
She pleaded guilty to the aggravated assault under a plea deal that would reduce the charge to a misdemeanor if she abided by her three-year probation. The other charges were dismissed.
Although her arrest was already covered during Season 1 of the Hulu series, the horrifying footage put Paul back at the forefront of scandal and prompted ABC’s decision to axe her “Bachelorette” season.
Another domestic violence investigation into Paul over an alleged February incident also forced “SLOMW” to halt the filming of Season 5.
Shortly after the video was released, a spokesperson for Paul railed against the release of the “selectively edited” video, “which conveniently omits context,” dubbing it part of Mortensen’s “never-ending, desperate, attention-seeking, destructive campaign to harm Taylor without any regard for the consequences for their child.”
Mortensen also told Page Six, “As anyone who has seen the video will understand, this is a deeply upsetting situation. I 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.”
From there, they continued to hurl claims of domestic abuse at one another and filed restraining orders against each other.
The exes — who began their on-again, off-again relationship in 2022 — also became embroiled in a messy custody battle over their two-year-old son, Ever.
The “MomTok” member lost temporary custody of Ever on March 19 following the investigation into a another alleged domestic violence incident in February.
In turn, Mortensen was granted “temporary custody” of their son.
The two have battled it out in court and at the last custody hearing last month, Paul got her parenting time expanded.
Season 5 of “SLOMW” premieres on Hulu on Sept. 15.
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or text START to 88788.
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