Taylor Frankie Paul Says She Knows She Is 'Fully Not Innocent' in Lengthy Post: 'I Blame Nobody More Than My Own Damn Self'

Becca LongmireFri, May 15, 2026 at 12:59 PM UTC

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Taylor Frankie Paul and Dakota Mortensen in court on April 30, 2026
Credit: Bethany Baker - Pool/Getty -

Taylor Frankie Paul has shared a lengthy social media post two weeks after a judge granted her and ex Dakota Mortensen mutual protective orders for three years in a Salt Lake City courtroom on April 30

The hearing came amid the ongoing legal battle over the custody of their 2-year-old son, Ever

Paul said in an Instagram post that “truth always prevails,” adding, “This all ties together in some way. Some are absolutely out to see me fall and that isn’t an assumption, that is fact. Say what you will I’ve heard it all"

Taylor Frankie Paul is speaking out amid her ongoing legal battle with her ex Dakota Mortensen over the custody of their 2-year-old son, Ever.

On Thursday, May 14, Paul, 31, shared a lengthy Instagram post two weeks after a judge granted her and Mortensen, 33, mutual protective orders for three years in a Salt Lake City courtroom on April 30 following domestic violence allegations earlier this year.

The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star insisted that the “truth always prevails,” adding in a caption, “This all ties together in some way. Some are absolutely out to see me fall and that isn’t an assumption, that is fact. Say what you will I’ve heard it all,” writing that she was sharing the message alongside a selfie in which she’d been crying.

Paul then wrote in a lengthy message on a slide included in the social media post, “It's so sad because nobody wants to be like this. I hate that I am no longer myself. I hate that I stayed for so long. I blame nobody more than my own damn self, because how did | allow this for my kids and myself for so long? I'm sorry to THEM. I don't need to log off and remain silent. I've already admitted in court I'm fully NOT INNOCENT, I know that. None of it is okay, period.”

She said she’d been “in survival mode for years with miscarriages, pregnancy, postpartum, and horrible betrayal with so many lies told which added to the trauma on my body physically, hormonally, mentally, and emotionally.”

Paul insisted she was “scared to call for help” as she was on probation while she was ”pregnant [and] postpartum healing internally.”

The reality star wrote, “You solely believe you're the only insane one because they twist everything that you eventually feel insane. Then to find out you weren't insane, in fact I was right about it all which is gut-wrenching to learn. Was always projection.”

Taylor Frankie Paul in court on April 30, 2026
Credit: Bethany Baker/Pool/Getty

Paul — who is also mother to daughter Indy, 8, and Ocean, 5, whom she shares with her ex-husband Tate Paul — claimed it’s “a human response to eventually snap.”

The lengthy post included, “Even after learning a lot of that, you STILL want to be held by that same person. It's twisted I know. And then there is the ‘Why didn't you leave sooner?’… which is valid and let's look at how it ended for me when I finally did,” claiming that she was “love bombed” and “manipulated.”

Paul wcontinued, without naming Mortensen in the post, “The difference between us, my love was real for him without gaining anything, and people know that. Not sure it was the same in return.”

“I cried the whole way home after court, allowing the pain through. I wish he had been the person he pretended to be. I experienced enough, I saw too much. The mask fell off, and not only with me. We're both in the wrong. What I can say is I didn't want to ruin his life, call cops on him, take his child away or claim complete innocence that's the difference between us,” she added.

Paul concluded, referencing her Secret Lives of Mormon Wives costar Mikayla Matthews, “And then we have friends like Mikayla that come at me during all this, and now she wants me to apologize? Absolutely not. She can go kick rocks instead of kicking me right now.”

Paul and Matthews, 26, have been trading jabs online recently, with Matthews being criticized by fans for calling out Paul in several comments and not supporting her.

PEOPLE has reached out to Mortensen’s attorney for comment.

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Paul has been sharing multiple social media posts amid the legal battle with her ex, while he said last month that he’d made the decision to take “a step back and had time away from the chaos” in an Instagram post on April 19.

The recent court appearance marked the first time that Paul and Mortensen had publicly appeared together since news broke of multiple domestic violence investigations involving them earlier this year.

During the live-streamed hearing, Commissioner Russell Minas told the courtroom that the former couple can’t be in the same place at the same time for very long before “it turns violent."

Minas said, "I'm finding that there's been violence both ways between these parties." He also told Paul and Mortensen, “You're linked together for the remainder of your lives. This is your legacy."

Dakota Mortensen in court on April 30, 2026
Credit: Bethany Baker - Pool/Getty

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The pair will receive a recommendation about parenting time before their upcoming June 1 hearing.

A judge previously granted Mortensen custody of Ever on April 7, with up to eight hours per week of visitation for Paul under the watch of a paid supervisor or someone vetted by the guardian ad litem, which remained in effect until the April 30 hearing. Ahead of Mother's Day on Sunday, May 10, a judge granted Paul up to 12 hours per week of parent-time with Ever and an additional 12 hours on the holiday.

Last month’s ruling came after both the Draper City Police Department and the West Jordan Police Department opened separate domestic violence cases in February involving Paul and Mortensen.

The cases stemmed from a series of allegations, each made that the other acted violently in a series of altercations that month. The Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office and the Draper City Prosecutor both declined to file charges against Paul in April, citing insufficient evidence to prove allegations beyond a reasonable doubt.

Amid the ongoing police investigation, Mortensen filed for a protective order against Paul. She then filed for a protective order of her own against Mortensen several weeks later.

The investigations and allegations followed Paul's previous arrest — which was featured on the first season of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives — for an alleged domestic violence incident with Mortensen in 2023.

Paul, whose series of The Bachelorette was canceled by ABC in March just days before it was set to premiere, was accused of throwing metal chairs at Mortensen while her then-5-year-old daughter, Indy, was in the room. In August 2023, she pleaded guilty in abeyance to aggravated assault, and the other charges were dismissed with prejudice.

Though the arrest took place over three years ago, the case garnered new attention in March when TMZ published a video of the altercation, which showed Paul putting Mortensen in a headlock and throwing chairs at him while a child could be heard crying.

If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.

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