The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives stars Taylor Frankie Paul and Dakota Mortensen sparked split speculation after posting equally sad — but separate — Christmas celebrations.
Taylor, 30, took to TikTok on Wednesday, December 25, with a video of her crying. “Chaos to pure silence. Wouldn’t wish this pain upon anyone,” she wrote alongside the post. “If you’re there, take a drive, scream, cry, feel the pain, because I promise avoiding it will make it much worse.”
The reality star elaborated in the caption, adding, “I was told you got through this once, you’ll get through it again. #coparenting #loss #relationships.”
In the comments section, a follower noted that “Dakota’s TikTok brought” them to Taylor’s account. “Just happy he can have his day with him,” she replied in reference to her and Daktoa’s 8-month-old son, Ever.
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Dakota, meanwhile, uploaded a TikTok on Tuesday, December 24, of him preparing for the holiday festivities solo.
“Wrapping presents alone. But I am sober and can be there for my son’s first Christmas,” he captioned the video before adding in a separate post, “He is the only gift I’ll ever need in my life. I love being a dad.”
Fans of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives have become familiar with Taylor and Dakota’s public ups and downs. When the first season premiered in September, the couple found out onscreen that they were expecting their first baby together before Taylor subsequently suffered an ectopic pregnancy.
The season premiere ended with footage from Taylor’s February 2023 arrest for domestic violence. Taylor was ultimately charged with aggravated assault, two counts of domestic violence in the presence of a child, child abuse with injury and criminal mischief after the incident. She pleaded guilty in August 2023 to aggravated assault, while the other four charges were dismissed with prejudice, reaching a plea deal the following month.
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“The first few days [when the show came out], I was actually really busy that I couldn’t just binge it. I had my kids and for some reason I do feel uncomfortable with my kids watching it,” Taylor, who also shares daughter Indy, 7, and son Ocean, 4, with ex-husband Tate Paul, exclusively told Us Weekly one month later. “It makes me feel uncomfortable. And then it gives me anxiety.”
Months later, cameras picked back up when Taylor was pregnant with Ever.
“It’s really hard for me to watch [the ups and downs with me and Dakota] because it’s all such true feelings. None of it is fabricated or acting or nothing. It’s all real,” she noted. “So it’s really hard for me to watch that back to that. That’s probably one of the hardest moments.”
Hulu renewed the show for a second season as Taylor and Dakota attempted to figure out their future together. At the time, Taylor said she wished viewers saw more of Dakota’s “good soft side.”
“I feel like for him, that wasn’t shown on the show. It did show just defense,” she continued. “So he’s like, ‘I look like this asshole to you while you’re pregnant — when that’s just not the case of how I treated you the whole time. Yes, I did defend myself in cases, but that’s not how I am to you.’”
Taylor added: “I would say we’re working on things, and I actually have no idea where it goes with us from here. We are not fully together but not fully done. I don’t know where the future holds with him and I. It’s just a lot. So I’m coping and trying to cope. But I don’t want to watch the show.”
The pair have since offered glimpses at them spending time together — but also shared posts that have hinted they were no longer an item. Season 2 of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives is expected to premiere next year.
Us Weekly has reached out for comment.
