The reality star also reacts to fans thinking she wasn’t “ready” to hand out roses.

Taylor Frankie Paul promises the ending of The Bachelorette is ‘unpredictable’ despite ‘cycle’ with ex Dakota

The reality star also reacts to fans thinking she wasn't "ready" to hand out roses.

By Sarah Hearon

March 18, 2026 2:50 p.m. ET

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Taylor Frankie Paul as the Bachelorette. Credit:

Disney/Bahareh Ritter

Taylor Frankie Paul is hoping Bachelor Nation tunes in to her season of *The Bachelorette* to get the real story.

Those who watched season 4 of *The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives* saw Paul, 31, and ex Dakota Mortensen fall back into their "toxic" (Paul's words) cycle, with Mortensen alleging that they slept together the night before she left to film the dating show. Paul was also MIA for her flight to Los Angeles, with one of her costars suggesting she could be pregnant.

Paul — who has since denied ever thinking she was pregnant — ultimately showed up to film *The Bachelorette* as planned despite the turmoil with Mortensen, with whom she shares son Ever.

When asked what she would tell "night one Taylor," Paul tells **: "I would tell her that I'm proud of her for pulling through, even though it took everything in her to get there."

She continues, "And I'm sure the audience is like, 'She wasn't in a place of being ready,' but I would tell her that those feelings are valid. You were in a very hard spot, but I think it was the best thing you could have done. It was an experience and it got you out of that and showed you that there are great men out there."

Taylor Frankie Paul on 'The Bachelorette'.

Disney/Sami Drasin

Earlier this week, news broke that the Draper City Police Department in Paul's native Utah were investigating an alleged incident between Paul and Mortensen. Fans have since speculated that the recent headlines could mean that Paul went back to Mortensen post-*Bachelorette*, but she cautions them to wait and see.

"It was very unexpected [and] unpredictable," she tells EW of the ending. "And I know given the recent season of *Secret Lives* — which was very predictable, if you will, quote-unquote, but… I don't know what my next move is, to be honest, so I feel like that is also in the season of this."

Paul has been open about accepting the gig as the Bachelorette to help her get away from her "toxicity of a bubble" in Utah, where she is raising Ever with ex Mortensen and two older kids with ex-husband Tate Paul.

"[*The Bachelorette* was] a calm setting," she tells EW. "You don't have those ongoing people around you or triggers… It was a better setting [for me], to be honest."

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She also calls the experience a "fresh start."

"I went into this with no expectations — no list of anything [I wanted]," she says. "Let's just how it goes is how it's supposed to go and we — meaning the men — we did just that. I was just very open with them about anything."

Conflicting reports have surfaced about the details of the alleged incident with Paul and Mortensen — and about how her suitors feel about it. Paul tells EW that she has gone "no contact" with her ex.

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"I didn't want to bring anything to the public eye, making it a bigger deal for the sake of my son, and just everything about to come out," she says.

*The Bachelorette* premieres Sunday, March 22, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.

- Bachelor Universe Fandom

Original Article on Source

Source: “EW Bachelor”