SALT LAKE CITY (KTVX) — Taylor Frankie Paul, the star of reality show “Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” is headed to a new reality franchise. Paul announced Wednesday that she is going to be the lead in season 22 of “The Bachelorette.”
Paul shared the news on an episode of Alex Cooper’s “Call Her Daddy” podcast.
Paul, 31, will be the first Bachelorette in the history of the show to come from outside the franchise. Typically, the show casts a female lead from the group of contestants competing on the prior season of “The Bachelor.”
“Right now, in this moment, I’m just thinking about it and it’s like it’s not real. It’s not real. It’s not gonna be until — I think [when I am] at the limos pulling up and I’ll be meeting the people, so nervous. How did I get here? In my head, I’m like, ‘How is this happening?'” Paul said.
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Taylor Frankie Paul of ‘The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives’ visits SiriusXM Studios on September 11, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Santiago Felipe/Getty Images) -
Taylor Frankie Paul at “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” season 2 Los Angeles premiere held at Paramount Theatre on May 09, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by JC Olivera/Variety via Getty Images) -
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – MAY 09: Miranda McWhorter, Jessi Ngatikaura, Layla Taylor, Mikayla Matthews, Mayci Neeley, Taylor Frankie Paul, Jennifer Affleck, Whitney Leavitt and Demi Engemann attend the Los Angeles Premiere and FYC Event of Hulu’s “The Secret Lives Of Mormon Wives” Season 2 at Paramount Studios on May 09, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Araya Doheny/Getty Images)
Who is Taylor Frankie Paul?
Taylor Frankie Paul started as an influencer who grew an audience on TikTok as part of a group of Mormon moms in Utah. The group of women refer to themselves as #MomTok.
The single mom of three went viral in 2022 when she started discussing Salt Lake City’s “soft-swinging scene” in her videos. She told her followers she had “stepped out” of an agreement with her husband in terms of relationships with other couples involving “soft-swinging” (a form of partner-swapping), and they were getting divorced.
That viral fame led to a Hulu show about the women called “Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” which chronicled the lives of several of the #MomTok women, their husbands and their children.
The show also follows Paul’s tumultuous relationship with Dakota Mortensen, the father of her third child. In February 2023, Paul was arrested and charged with aggravated assault and other offenses, including domestic violence in the presence of a child, during a dispute with Mortensen. She pleaded guilty in August 2023 to a misdemeanor charge of aggravated assault; the other charges were dismissed.
Paul has more than 5.5 million followers on TikTok, and more than 1.6 million followers on Instagram.
Some of the other “Secret Lives” cast members have also been cast in another reality show, “Dancing With the Stars.” (All the shows air on or are streamed by the same parent company. ABC and Hulu are both owned by Disney.)
What Paul is looking for on ‘The Bachelorette’?
As a single mother, Paul told Cooper that she did have concerns about going on the show and being the new Bachelorette, but decided to do it anyways.
“For me, I’m like, ‘Is this possible for me to do as a single mom? Can I make it work realistically no matter how much I want this?’ And you know, I was like, ‘I can. If I want to, I can. You can do anything you want if you want,'” she said.
Paul said that she has family, an assistant, and a nanny that will help while she is filming.
Cooper asked Paul if she would be ready to get engaged at the end of “The Bachelorette,” as is customary on the show.
“I am not one that’s gonna do it unless I feel that I’m ready for it. But let’s just say I do find the man in my dreams and he’s there and I fall in love. If we get engaged, I still, again, I do want to take the time to be engaged and still get to know him because obviously it’s no secret that this is a short-lived process, so I do want to take that time,” Paul responded.
Paul said that she is looking for a hardworking man in his thirties or early forties who is willing to move to Utah.
“I’m sorry if that is a make or break for them, but yeah, I am in Utah and I have two baby daddies. I’m going nowhere, so you will be moving to me in Utah,” she said.
Paul said that her ideal partner does not have to be Mormon.
“The Bachelorette” will air on ABC in 2026. Before then, Paul will also appear in the third season of “Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” which comes out in November.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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