MomTok, meet Bachelor Nation. On Wednesday, The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star Taylor Frankie Paul was introduced because the lead for the upcoming season of The Bachelorette. Paul, 31, formally introduced the information throughout an episode of Alex Cooper’s Name Her Daddy podcast.
“To be trustworthy, surreal. It has not hit me,” Paul stated of being forged. “Like proper now, on this second, I’m simply occupied with it, and it’s like not actual. It’s not actual. And it’s not going to be till I feel the limo’s pulling up, you realize? Assembly the individuals. So nervous.”
Paul’s announcement comes as a shock to Bachelor Nation for a couple of causes. As Cooper acknowledged in the course of the podcast episode, ABC was purported to announce the brand new lead for the upcoming season of The Bachelor, however determined to change issues up by asserting a brand new Bachelorette as a substitute. That the franchise selected a well-established influencer and actuality star in her personal proper can also be a primary. Sometimes, the leads for The Bachelor and The Bachelorette are former contestants. Paul, nonetheless, has no relation to the franchise.
“I don’t have notes of how this works,” Paul informed Cooper of The Bachelorette format.
Beneath, we’re breaking down the whole lot there’s to find out about Paul and her upcoming season of The Bachelorette.
Who’s Taylor Frankie Paul?
Paul skyrocketed to fame as an influencer on so-called #MomTok, a Utah-based TikTok group of Mormon moms who create content material (numerous dancing!) about their lives. In June 2022, she shocked the group when she introduced that she and her then husband, Tate Paul, with whom she shares youngsters Indy and Ocean, had been getting divorced. The influencer, now 31, all of the sudden discovered herself embroiled in a dishonest scandal, as rumors started circulating that she cheated on Tate along with her greatest good friend’s husband.
In response to the rumors, Paul uncovered that she and her group of pals from MomTok had been “soft-swinging” and had an association with each other. The Hulu actuality sequence, The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, wherein Paul stars, premiered in September 2024 and follows the aftermath of Paul’s marriage ending, together with the fallout of the “soft-swinging” scandal.
When will Season 22 of ‘The Bachelorette’ air?
Paul’s season of The Bachelorette is about to debut in 2026. No official premiere date has been introduced.
Will Paul nonetheless be on ‘The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives’?
Sure. The MomToker confirmed to Cooper that she is going to nonetheless proceed starring on The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. Followers will simply get to see her on The Bachelorette too.
Season 3 of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives premieres on Hulu in November.
How was Paul chosen as ‘The Bachelorette’?
After breaking apart for good along with her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Dakota Mortensen, with whom she shares a toddler, Paul determined to make a TikTok about being single — and desirous to star on The Bachelorette.
“It was a joke to me. Like, unattainable… After which, I feel, I heard there was some speaking, and it was like, we had a gathering. I nonetheless didn’t imagine it till, like, I acquired the invitation. ‘Will you be our subsequent Bachelorette?’” Paul informed Cooper on Name Her Daddy.
Paul shared that TikTok video again in June, alongside the phrases, “Sending this in for my probability as the following bachelorette.”
The 31-year-old influencer, nonetheless, was initially apprehensive about accepting the provide. How she’d navigate her homelife and coparenting her three youngsters whereas filming The Bachelorette was of concern.
“I’m a coparent. I’ve two child daddies, not one, proper? So I’m coping with two completely different individuals, proper? My youngsters, my dwelling base is right here [in Utah]. Can I journey that lengthy? Can I be gone that lengthy?” Paul puzzled. “So, for me, I’m like, ‘Is that this potential for me to do as a single mother? Can I make it work, realistically, regardless of how a lot I would like this?’”
Finally, Paul informed Cooper that she plans on making it work.
“I used to be like, ‘If I need to, I can. You are able to do something you need, in order for you.’ And it comes all the way down to that. So, I used to be identical to, ‘I’ll make it work. I’ve a staff of people who I don’t assume I make the most of.’ I can ask for assist extra, and I don’t normally,” she added of accepting ABC’s provide as the following Bachelorette.
What has Paul stated about her faith?
Whereas chatting with Yahoo in 2024, Paul opened up about her relationship with Mormonism. She identifies as a Sinner, which is a class of Mormons who’re extra lenient in regards to the guidelines surrounding their faith.
“I’m not by the e-book, clearly,” she informed Yahoo. “I feel that goes with out saying. However I do not go and be like, Oh, I am a very good Mormon woman. No. But it surely’s there once I need to go to church. Church is for the sinners. I might hate for somebody to enter church and really feel unhealthy for what they’ve finished. That is the place they are going as a result of they need to really feel higher — or I might assume that is why they are going, proper? That is the place I’m going. And that is that.”
Has Paul been in any relationships since getting divorced?
Sure. Along with exhibiting the aftermath of her marriage, The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives additionally adopted Paul’s tumultuous relationship with then-boyfriend Mortensen, whom she started relationship shortly after her divorce. Paul additionally shares son, Ever, with Mortensen.
Paul and Mortensen’s risky relationship is showcased in The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives season one, although they’ve since break up for good. In early 2023, the MomTok star was arrested on misdemeanor expenses of assault, felony mischief and fee of home violence within the presence of a kid, in keeping with police. Paul was allegedly intoxicated when she and Mortensen acquired into an argument. She admitted to throwing a number of gadgets at Mortensen, together with a picket playset, a cellphone and steel barstools. One barstool thrown by Paul allegedly hit her daughter, who was mendacity on a settee subsequent to Mortensen.
The influencer informed Cooper that it’ll “by no means be a subject” she will broach with out having a “lump in my throat as a result of it’s simply such a tough time in my life.”
Has Paul stated anything about her upcoming season of ‘The Bachelorette’?
On Wednesday’s episode of Good Morning America, Paul shared a couple of of the traits she’s on the lookout for in her subsequent accomplice.
“The way you deal with individuals is my No. 1, all the way down to issues of like, somebody is passing by or a neighbor or your server. One other massive one is, ‘Does he must be Mormon?’ and the reply is not any, he doesn’t. I might be open to relationship outdoors my faith, and studying about new religions and making an attempt them. That’s one thing I’ve at all times wished to do,” Paul stated.
The mother of three, whereas on Name Her Daddy, additionally revealed that she’s by no means dated a number of males without delay. Doing so on The Bachelorette, she added, will definitely be a primary for her.
“That is one thing so new for me as a result of clearly, I acquired married younger, divorced, after which the primary man I met was the following relationship,” Paul informed Cooper. “You know the way The Bachelor works. You’re relationship a number of individuals. I’ve by no means finished that, in order that’ll be new to me.”
