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Credit: Disney/Michael Kirchoff
Taylor Frankie Paul‘s season of The Bachelorette has officially been canceled.
Following a slew of domestic violence accusations, which came to a head with Thursday’s reveal of a shocking and disturbing video of the 31-year-old Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star nearly hitting her daughter with a chair she had thrown at ex-boyfriend Dakota Mortensen, 33, in 2023, the network’s parent company, Disney, confirmed the news.
On March 19, in a statement to TMZ, a spokesperson for Disney Entertainment said, “In light of the newly released video just surfaced today, we have made the decision to not move forward with the new season of ‘The Bachelorette’ at this time, and our focus is on supporting the family.”
The confirmation came just hours after TMZ published the upsetting clip, marking the first time execs had seen it.
In the video, Dakota, who shares a son, 2-year-old Ever, with Taylor, is seen attempting to evade an attack from her as he tells her that what she’s doing is “physical abuse.”
“See, Taylor, this is all you do,” he states as Taylor hits and kicks him. “It’s the only thing you know how to do is hurt me. Hon, you think this is okay? It’s not okay.”
Then, after declaring that she doesn’t “give a f*ck,” Taylor grabs a nearby chair and attempts to hit Dakota with it, despite her young daughter being seated on a couch nearby.
“Your daughter is right here,” Dakota warns.
As the daughter begins to cry, Dakota tells Taylor, “That is it! No more! You’re done. Please, stop.”
“I’m done taking the blame for you,” he continues as she tells him to “get the f*ck out.”
As fans have surely seen, Taylor and Dakota have been hurling abuse accusations against one another for years, leading the Utah Division of Children and Family Services to launch an investigation.
Prior to the release of the clip, Taylor attempted to portray herself as the innocent party.
“There’s more to the context to everything and it’s unfortunate,” she told Us Weekly. “It’s been hard. And it sucks to be in this position. And the mother that I am, that is something I will always stand my ground on. I believe that I am a good mother and I have always treated my kids very well. So the headlines that are out right now are very hard to see because that’s not the truth of it. I have always treated my children with respect and I’ve never touched them. So it’s been really hard.”
The Bachelorette season 22 was supposed to premiere this Sunday on ABC, and Taylor’s other show, Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, has been put on pause amid its fifth season.
