Taylor Frankie Paul is making headlines for her personal life as she readies to become the next lead of ABC’s “The Bachelorette” this weekend, but she’d be lying if she said the “Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” drama wasn’t difficult to face in the public eye.
“Honestly, it’s been a heavy time to see the headlines, especially during this time of ‘The Bachelorette’ being released. It’s supposed to be a really exiting time,” she told Lara Spencer on “Good Morning America” on Wednesday. “I’m a person that will always speak my truth and that’s what I’m known for, so when the time is right, I will be. But right now, I’m just trying to be in the present moment and focus on this. The thing is, my kids do come first. My kids come first. So it’s been like a back and forth process — trying to stay in the present moment, worrying about home and headlines. It’s been stressful, to be honest.”
However, when asked about her Hulu docuseries pausing production on Season 5 reportedly due to a domestic violence incident with ex-boyfriend Dakota Mortensen, Taylor chose her words carefully … despite being an executive producer on the show.
“Honestly, I don’t call the shots with production, so as of now, I have gotten word that it also has been paused, but I do not call those shots. As far as I know, it was, but I don’t know for how long and why,” she told Spencer. “I got told that [I was an EP] this year, I was like, ‘What does that mean?’ I think just because we share our lives and we produce our own lives, but I don’t know necessarily what that means, really.”
But will she back for more “Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” in the future?
“Hard to say now, right? Just because of everything going on. It’s hard to see past this, I’m not gonna lie, this moment is so heavy,” Taylor shared. “When your life is broadcasted out there in these headlines, it’s like the end of the world. That’s what it feels like, I’m not going to lie. But I will say, I’ve been here before and I got through it and shared my story and my light, so I’m hoping that I can do that again.”
The MomToker also pointed to co-stars Whitney Leavitt and Jen Affleck’s success on “Dancing With the Stars” Season 34 as her inspiration for joining Season 22 of “The Bachelorette.”
“For me, the girls had gotten the opportunity to ‘Dancing With the Stars,’ right? So I looked at that and I was like, ‘If they can do it and they have kids and they are going out chasing their dreams, why can’t I?’ I want to do something that I want to do, in that sense,” Taylor said. “For me, dating as a mom of three is extremely difficult, so I was like, ‘OK. I get to go out, get away from my toxic cycle here in Utah, go date and then also have my kids come out and visit me?’ That to me seemed like, why not?”
“I will say, you don’t realize it can be exhausting, too, but you’re finding the love of your life, that’s what you’re striving for, so it was hard but so fun and exciting at the same time,” she concluded. “I’d be lying if I said it was just really easy. It wasn’t.”
“The Bachelorette” premieres Sunday on ABC before streaming on Hulu, while “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” just returned to the streamer for Season 4.
