Taylor Frankie Paul, the reality star embroiled in a domestic dispute that led to the cancellation of her season of “The Bachelorette,” accused her ex-boyfriend in a court filing on Tuesday of assaulting her after he became “increasingly possessive,” as the show was about to air.
It was the first time Ms. Paul has shared a detailed account of an altercation in late February that is the subject of a domestic violence investigation in Utah.
Her court petition portrays Dakota Mortensen as an emotionally and physically abusive ex-boyfriend who could not stand her leaving him for good. His court papers depict Ms. Paul as an aggressive partner who carried out a pattern of escalating their interactions to a “dangerous level.”
Ms. Paul pleaded guilty in 2023 to assaulting Mr. Mortensen in a separate encounter. When footage of that confrontation was leaked, showing Ms. Paul kicking Mr. Mortensen and throwing several metal chairs at him, ABC pulled her season of “The Bachelorette” days before it was supposed to premiere.
The former couple have filed dueling petitions for protective orders that include conflicting allegations of domestic violence, and each seeks custody of their 2-year-old son. The filings are not available for public viewing but were obtained by The New York Times.
The escalating legal dispute follows over a year of the couple’s tumultuous off-and-on relationship being documented extensively in “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” the reality show that made Ms. Paul famous. It follows her and a group of other social media influencers known as MomTok.
In Mr. Mortensen’s petition, which was filed last month, he accused Ms. Paul of being the primary aggressor in the most recent encounter. He said in the court documents that she choked him in her home during an argument, and the next night attacked him inside his truck, leading him to push her away.
In Ms. Paul’s petition, filed in state court in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, she disputed his account of events and accused Mr. Mortensen of becoming violent after pleading with her to restart their relationship.
“I am not perfect,” Ms. Paul wrote in a declaration that was filed with the court. “I have owned my mistakes, but Dakota is an abusive individual who refuses to take accountability.”
The filing said that during their altercation in his truck, he slammed her head against the dashboard and then tried to grab her as she attempted to escape. Ms. Paul included a photo of bruising on her forehead that she said resulted from his attack.
A friend of Mr. Mortensen’s reported the encounter to the police, according to documents obtained through a public records request. The police said in the report that they had photographs of scratches on his neck.
“I have begun documenting these incidents,” Mr. Mortensen wrote in his petition, “including taking photo evidence from this occurrence, because I am genuinely concerned for my safety and the safety and well-being of my child.”
The allegations were aired at a court hearing in Salt Lake City on Tuesday related to a temporary protective order that has prevented Ms. Paul from seeing their son. At the hearing, lawyers for both sides also debated a third altercation, in May 2025.
Michael McDonald, a guardian ad litem who was appointed to represent the interests of their son, said that video of that encounter, which has not been publicly released, showed Ms. Paul shoving Mr. Mortensen while he was holding their child. “That makes me very nervous about her ability to control herself,” Mr. McDonald said at the hearing.
In her petition, Ms. Paul said the 2025 argument escalated after Mr. Mortensen refused to leave her home. She lost her footing and fell, the filing said, and Mr. Mortensen kicked her while she was on the ground, leaving bruises.
Several months later, the estranged couple came to an agreement that granted Ms. Paul 70 percent custody of their son. After the February altercation, Mr. Mortensen was temporarily granted full custody.
On Tuesday, Commissioner Russell Minas, who is overseeing the case, granted Ms. Paul supervised visitation but declined to restore custody privileges, citing “concerns about volatility” after reviewing video footage and other evidence submitted by Mr. Mortensen.
“I have concerns going both ways, quite frankly,” the commissioner said at the hearing. “I do have some concerns, on the one hand, that perhaps there has been some, as I indicated, maybe pushing of buttons to get a reaction.”
“Mormon Wives” has followed their turbulent relationship from the show’s first episode, which showed police body camera footage of her 2023 arrest. A video of the attack shared with the police showed Ms. Paul, who was heavily inebriated, throwing several chairs, including one that Mr. Mortensen said had hit her 5-year-old daughter in the head.
Ms. Paul reached a deal with prosecutors in which she pleaded guilty to aggravated assault in exchange for their dismissing charges of domestic violence and reckless child abuse. She took a parenting course, began therapy and agreed to three years of probation. That agreement would be compromised by any further criminal charges, which the district attorney’s office in Salt Lake County is currently considering.
Ms. Paul and Mr. Mortensen remained romantically entangled even after she agreed to search for a new suitor in “The Bachelorette.” Their reconciliations became a central plot point of the most recent season of “Mormon Wives,” during which Ms. Paul’s friends bemoaned the toxic cycles of their relationship.
In her petition, Ms. Paul wrote that Mr. Mortensen attempted in February to get back together, sending her texts explaining how he was “spiraling” and pledging to “still marry you one day.” She said in the filing that they had texted about his getting a tattoo of her initials on the inside of his bottom lip after their relationship ended.
“I tried to emphasize to him that we were not compatible and that our romantic relationship needed to remain in the past,” Ms. Paul wrote in her petition.
She said in the filing that during the early morning hours of Feb. 23, when they were again discussing their relationship, they went inside his truck because her three children were sleeping inside her home. After the altercation, she said, Mr. Mortensen returned to her home and propositioned her for sex over text.
Mr. Mortensen shared a different account of events in his petition, saying that she had tried to block him from exiting her home and then had “forced her way” into the passenger seat of his truck.
At the hearing, Eric Swinyard, a lawyer for Ms. Paul, described Mr. Mortensen as “vindictive” and said their child was safe in his client’s care.
Joel Kittrell, a lawyer representing Mr. Mortensen, declined to comment on Ms. Paul’s account of abuse but said in a statement that Mr. Mortensen’s “only concern” was for his son’s welfare, and that they looked forward to telling the “true story” at another court hearing this month.
Julia Jacobs is an arts and culture reporter who often covers legal issues for The Times.
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